Ways to entertain an adult man.

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He's 67 is he? You do know 67 is the new 50 right? Haha.

Seriously, unless he has health issues, he probably doesn't need to be entertained or drawn into this or that activity. He can likely figure it out on his own.
 
I'm 65 and also stay pretty busy.

On the train my GPS, the scenery, and conversations at meal times in the dining car keep me occupied all day long.

But I study the route and know when we are approaching various sights or curves that accord a view of the locomotives out a side window.

I move around on the train quite a bit too instead of putting down roots in my Roomette - railfan window, SSL, stroll through the coach cars to visit the Trans dorm and look out the side windows at the front of that car.
 
railiner said:
I find this 'role reversal' fascinating....usually it is the parent taking the child along for their first train ride....as well as worrying about entertaining said child....very interesting.... :)

All of the above suggestion's sound good to me....you know your dad the best, so I'm sure you will figure it out....probably just a chance for him to spend lots of "quality time" with you, is the greatest thing about your trip.. ;)
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I'd think it's probably not the first time dad's been on a train. I'd be surprised at someone who hasn't been on some sort of train, whether it's maybe just a commuter train. If streetcars or light rail are included, that would be really surprising. Maybe the first time on some sort of intercity train.

I remember the first time my dad took me on a heavy-rail train. It was Caltrain on a Christmas Day. None of the station ticket windows were open so we had to purchase the tickets from the conductor. There was also pretty much nothing we could do when we got to the destination since most stores were closed. There's the possibility that I was on a train earlier than that, but I sure didn't remember it.

I actually never took Amtrak until about 5 years ago. I'd been on intercity trains in Australia and China, but never Amtrak. Heck - I'd even been on HSR in China before I ever took Amtrak.
 
Cina said:
I'm sure he'll spend lots of time shooting the breeze with people, as hes good at that :) I thought about packing a deck of cards but didn't know any good 3-player card games. Our favorite is pitch, maybe we'll just have to invite some fellow passengers :lol:
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Both Wizard and Euchre can be played three handed.
 
I think like some others are thinking, you're worrying too much. Fist of all its going to ruin your trip if you are worried about someone who wanted to go, finds things to keep himself busy at home Im sure he'll do just fine on a train. Get a GPS,that'll keep him busy keeping up with where your at plus three meals, a couple of glasses of wine and a walk through the train and hell be complaining about not enough hours in a day.
 
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I don't think your dad'll get bored. There are the three anchors of the day in the Dining Car (breakfast, lunch, dinner) where he'll meet nice people and there's the Sightseer Lounge as well. And, last but not least, there's the beautiful scenery so watching that go by will keep him occupied.
 
If your dad prefers paper rather than electronic screens, you might pick up a set of fairly large-scale maps covering the route he'll take and mark the route the train takes with a highlighter. Suitable maps are free for the asking at any AAA office, if you're a member.
 
Ryan said:
Cina said:
I'm sure he'll spend lots of time shooting the breeze with people, as hes good at that :) I thought about packing a deck of cards but didn't know any good 3-player card games. Our favorite is pitch, maybe we'll just have to invite some fellow passengers :lol:
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Both Wizard and Euchre can be played three handed.
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Well, all of us only have two hands, unfortunately :rolleyes: I'll see myself out.
 
I think your dad would benefit from the game of Pillow (S)Talk.. It is quite entertaining, appeals to the sense of adventure and breaks up long journeys.

Cina said:
Ryan said:
Cina said:
I'm sure he'll spend lots of time shooting the breeze with people, as hes good at that :) I thought about packing a deck of cards but didn't know any good 3-player card games. Our favorite is pitch, maybe we'll just have to invite some fellow passengers :lol:
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Both Wizard and Euchre can be played three handed.
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Well, all of us only have two hands, unfortunately :rolleyes: I'll see myself out.
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Will you be here all week? When you leave, see if you can throw in a plug about tipping the waitstaff.
 
I quickly read through the thread and I don't think this has been suggested. If your Dad likes geography and history you can buy route guides that are very detail and help you identify what you are seeing outside the window. I have the Flashing Yellow Guides for the California Zephyr. They are very detailed and available from http://www.outsidetherails.com/. I am not associated with author of guides or Outside the Rails. Guides are available for most routes. The Old Man shortened form TOM
 
anumberone said:
I think like some others are thinking, you're worrying too much. Fist of all its going to ruin your trip if you are worried about someone who wanted to go, finds things to keep himself busy at home Im sure he'll do just fine on a train. Get a GPS,that'll keep him busy keeping up with where your at plus three meals, a couple of glasses of wine and a walk through the train and hell be complaining about not enough hours in a day.
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It sounds like the thread is at least partially tongue-in-cheek. That being said, it also sounds as though perhaps the dad may be coming along as an unmotivated participant. Daughter convinces mom to join her and then mom convinces dad to join his wife. If the father had so little interest in passenger rail that he never had a reason to ride Amtrak at any time over the last four decades then maybe this just isn't his kind of thing. Imagine if your first scheduled airline flight lasted three days. How do you think that might impact your view of flying? I've been on Amtrak with people who had booked extended journeys and were dying to get off the train after running out of distractions and becoming a little stir crazy. Oddly enough these usually weren't single people but folks with families who simply got tired of being cooped up together for days on end.
 
Good luck. It was a whole lot easier to entertain a 7 year old than a 65 year old grandpa on our first trip. The fact that he's hyperactive didn't help. But he found people to talk to and generally had a good time. IMG_0134.JPG
 
Trainmans daughter said:
Good luck. It was a whole lot easier to entertain a 7 year old than a 65 year old grandpa on our first trip. The fact that he's hyperactive didn't help. But he found people to talk to and generally had a good time.
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Ha! That picture says it all :)

As far as what DA posited, although I said my mom "convinced" him to go in my first post, it really was just what we always do when we've taken trips together, which is to say "you should come!" but not really expect him to. He never really liked taking time off work in the past, so we never really pushed it, though we did think he'd have fun. He always talked about coming along "some summer".

What changed is, my dad's brother/best friend was diagnosed with cancer in February and passed away two weeks ago. Ever since he was diagnosed, my dad's taken a lot more time off, gone fishing with his sons every weekend, and agreed to a lot more experiences than he used to. So this year when we asked him, he said yes. He'd always said "wow, that sounds fun, we should do that some summer", and now I think he's realizing, as we all are, that you never know how many summers you'll have to go do things like this.

Anyway, back to dumb jokes. :)
 
If he likes scenery, he'll have a great time.

At the "smoke stops", get out and look at the pretty stations. That always helps. (But don't leave the platform!)
 
Devil's Advocate said:
ehbowen said:
AmtrakBlue said:
I'm surprised no one took the bait the title of thread gave. :ph34r:
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We wanted to keep the thread family friendly. But not too much family, and not too friendly....
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Anybody who needs sophomoric braggadocio and sexual vulgarity in their lives is already following our fearless president's twitter feed.
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Trump doesn't know what "sophomoric braggadocio" means but he's offended anyway. Sad!
 
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