After visiting with my baby nephew, Disneyland, and caught colds on an unusual California weather- cold, I dropped the rental car off at Ontario airport. I originally planned to catch a city bus to Fontana station, but my friend decided to ride with me to Rancho Cucamonga station to board on Metrolink train (http://www.metrolinktrains.com) which costs $5.75 one way. We headed to Los Angeles Union Station several hours before Amtrak departure to give us ample time to tour around LA downtown. Since I have a suitcase that I don’t want to carry around, I went to the ticket office to drop off the checked baggage. On my last vacation two years ago, I learned a lesson about carrying a carry-on bag on the sidewalks, so I bought a day backpack. It’s a whole lot easier to use it! I strongly recommend everyone to use backpack instead of carry-on if planning to stroll around.
We headed to Grand Central Market via Red Line to grab a tasty late lunch- fattest Mexican burrito you’ve ever seen! Before buying at one of restaurants, we made sure to look at the food inspection grade by the CA Health Inspector. I’ve seen one of them has “C” which you don’t want to buy unless you’re brave enough. My stomach was screaming, “Stop!”, while eating burrito, so I threw ¼ of burrito away. It’s so good! Across the Hill Street, in front of Grand Central Market, there’s a historic Angels Landing Railroad. It used to offer rides, but it was closed down due to accident that cost one life. I’ve rode one time a year before it was closed and the fare was 25 cents!
We headed to Hollywood, via Red Line, to see the Mann Chinese Theater. We got off the subway and headed aboveground. Unfortunately, we got off the wrong station- two stops short. To burn off the calories, we walked all the way toward the Mann’s Chinese Theater. It’s pretty amazing that most of the buildings are kind of rundown until reaching the Stars of Sidewalk. I figured that we walked about 2-3 miles! Great way to kill some time! I saw an Elvis impersonator, an animated thing from Shrek movie, and some weirdos. I noticed that the barricades are setting up at Mann’s Chinese Theater. It’s the night of newest release movie- The Blade: Trinity. We would like to stay a little longer, but the Amtrak departure time is an hour away.
We headed back to LAUS, half hour ride on Red Line from Hollywood. My friend headed back to Metrolink while I was waiting to board on Southwest Chief. I booked on a roomette, second room from the end.
Southwest Chief departed on time. Its consist are: 2 locomotives, 1 baggage, 1 transition sleeper, 2 sleepers, dining, lounge/sightseer, 3 coaches, and 2 refrigerator cars. I’ve never seen the refrigerator cars before, so I took some time to look at. The power is by HEP. One of the coach car is being reserved for school tour from Gallup to Albuquerque. I stayed on the second sleeper, in front of dining car. The sleeper car attendant is very informative and helpful. He asked me if my bed needs to be ready. I told him to be ready at approx. 9 pm, which he did.
I headed to the diner car to grab a really lite dinner- dessert. I ordered a salad and a chocolate cake. It’s good but too cold to my sensitive teeth! My table mates are interesting- elder Amish couples. We had a good chat. They’ve been married for 47 years, raised 9 kids, from Indiana. They returned home from vacation- Tijuana for 2 weeks. They been there 5 times. It’s fun to watch a Amish husband eating a steak without using knife. He used the fork to pull a piece of it. If it’s too tough, he use knife as a last resort.
I decided to take a shower which I’ve never took shower on several Amtrak trips. Unfortunately, it wasn’t happened during high speed. Taking shower is easier than I thought. The dial is easy to use and the water is hot enough. My only complain is the showerhead a little too low since I'm 6'0". Taking shower was refreshing despite bad colds.
During the whole night, I slept on and off. Tracks were a little rough, rocking sideways. It’s a little too much to rock me to sleep. I recommend reserving a room in middle of the car to minimize the motion by the track. Plus, my nose was running like a leaky faucet. It’s a good thing that there’s a tissue box available.
I groggily woke up and discovered a thin layer of fresh snow, starting from Williams Junction to before Albuquerque. I checked on my GPS to find the speed. Most runs top at 90 MPH. Some areas run at 79 MPH.
While walking to diner for breakfast, I said, “Good morning” to an Amish couple that I chatted over dinner a night before in their roomette. I had railroad French toast and orange juice for breakfast and they were delicious.
At Gallup, the stop is taking a little longer than usual. The kids and their chaperones are boarding on a reserved coach car.
The train arrived at 11:22 am, an hour and 7 minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival time. Since it’s a fuel stop, most of the passengers deboarded and take a look at Indian jewelries at a new location while the group of school tour walked to the street. Parking lot was gone due to construction to build a new station for Amtrak and commuter train. Commuter train is expected to run to Belen this year and Santa Fe in 2008. I gave him a good tip to my sleeper car attendant for his excellent service.
I discovered a damaged suitcase when I claimed my baggage. It was being crushed under the load. I spoke with baggage handler about it. To verify a damaged baggage, he asked his boss to give him an okay. Then he was looking for a form and it took him about 5 minutes to find one. I’m assuming that it’s a rare one. He gave me a form to fill out. Unfortunately, I didn’t fill it out sooner enough. It expired a month after the incident. So much for the holiday season.
I walked to the Alvarado Transportation Center next door and hop up on bus #50. The driver has a heavy foot, so it’s a rough ride. I hopped off to the off-site airport parking lot and said, “I’m back!” to my pick-up. I reached home after 4 hours of driving.
I had a good trip despite the colds. I’m definitely ready to book another Amtrak trip this year.
We headed to Grand Central Market via Red Line to grab a tasty late lunch- fattest Mexican burrito you’ve ever seen! Before buying at one of restaurants, we made sure to look at the food inspection grade by the CA Health Inspector. I’ve seen one of them has “C” which you don’t want to buy unless you’re brave enough. My stomach was screaming, “Stop!”, while eating burrito, so I threw ¼ of burrito away. It’s so good! Across the Hill Street, in front of Grand Central Market, there’s a historic Angels Landing Railroad. It used to offer rides, but it was closed down due to accident that cost one life. I’ve rode one time a year before it was closed and the fare was 25 cents!
We headed to Hollywood, via Red Line, to see the Mann Chinese Theater. We got off the subway and headed aboveground. Unfortunately, we got off the wrong station- two stops short. To burn off the calories, we walked all the way toward the Mann’s Chinese Theater. It’s pretty amazing that most of the buildings are kind of rundown until reaching the Stars of Sidewalk. I figured that we walked about 2-3 miles! Great way to kill some time! I saw an Elvis impersonator, an animated thing from Shrek movie, and some weirdos. I noticed that the barricades are setting up at Mann’s Chinese Theater. It’s the night of newest release movie- The Blade: Trinity. We would like to stay a little longer, but the Amtrak departure time is an hour away.
We headed back to LAUS, half hour ride on Red Line from Hollywood. My friend headed back to Metrolink while I was waiting to board on Southwest Chief. I booked on a roomette, second room from the end.
Southwest Chief departed on time. Its consist are: 2 locomotives, 1 baggage, 1 transition sleeper, 2 sleepers, dining, lounge/sightseer, 3 coaches, and 2 refrigerator cars. I’ve never seen the refrigerator cars before, so I took some time to look at. The power is by HEP. One of the coach car is being reserved for school tour from Gallup to Albuquerque. I stayed on the second sleeper, in front of dining car. The sleeper car attendant is very informative and helpful. He asked me if my bed needs to be ready. I told him to be ready at approx. 9 pm, which he did.
I headed to the diner car to grab a really lite dinner- dessert. I ordered a salad and a chocolate cake. It’s good but too cold to my sensitive teeth! My table mates are interesting- elder Amish couples. We had a good chat. They’ve been married for 47 years, raised 9 kids, from Indiana. They returned home from vacation- Tijuana for 2 weeks. They been there 5 times. It’s fun to watch a Amish husband eating a steak without using knife. He used the fork to pull a piece of it. If it’s too tough, he use knife as a last resort.
I decided to take a shower which I’ve never took shower on several Amtrak trips. Unfortunately, it wasn’t happened during high speed. Taking shower is easier than I thought. The dial is easy to use and the water is hot enough. My only complain is the showerhead a little too low since I'm 6'0". Taking shower was refreshing despite bad colds.
During the whole night, I slept on and off. Tracks were a little rough, rocking sideways. It’s a little too much to rock me to sleep. I recommend reserving a room in middle of the car to minimize the motion by the track. Plus, my nose was running like a leaky faucet. It’s a good thing that there’s a tissue box available.
I groggily woke up and discovered a thin layer of fresh snow, starting from Williams Junction to before Albuquerque. I checked on my GPS to find the speed. Most runs top at 90 MPH. Some areas run at 79 MPH.
While walking to diner for breakfast, I said, “Good morning” to an Amish couple that I chatted over dinner a night before in their roomette. I had railroad French toast and orange juice for breakfast and they were delicious.
At Gallup, the stop is taking a little longer than usual. The kids and their chaperones are boarding on a reserved coach car.
The train arrived at 11:22 am, an hour and 7 minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival time. Since it’s a fuel stop, most of the passengers deboarded and take a look at Indian jewelries at a new location while the group of school tour walked to the street. Parking lot was gone due to construction to build a new station for Amtrak and commuter train. Commuter train is expected to run to Belen this year and Santa Fe in 2008. I gave him a good tip to my sleeper car attendant for his excellent service.
I discovered a damaged suitcase when I claimed my baggage. It was being crushed under the load. I spoke with baggage handler about it. To verify a damaged baggage, he asked his boss to give him an okay. Then he was looking for a form and it took him about 5 minutes to find one. I’m assuming that it’s a rare one. He gave me a form to fill out. Unfortunately, I didn’t fill it out sooner enough. It expired a month after the incident. So much for the holiday season.
I walked to the Alvarado Transportation Center next door and hop up on bus #50. The driver has a heavy foot, so it’s a rough ride. I hopped off to the off-site airport parking lot and said, “I’m back!” to my pick-up. I reached home after 4 hours of driving.
I had a good trip despite the colds. I’m definitely ready to book another Amtrak trip this year.
