The train has been running ahead of schedule. Between that and three time zone changes I haven’t been sure of where or when I am some place until I get there or they call us for a meal. Our last meal on the train was dinner last night. This morning we arrived in Los Angeles about 5 AM which was early in any case. Those of us in the sleeper cars had been told we didn’t need to leave until 6:30 AM which helped. We got dressed casually and headed into Union Station. The station has been expanded and refreshed and more since I last visited.
We met the station manager who led us to the sleeper passenger waiting area which had comfortable seats, refreshments and a place to store luggage. We stowed our overnight bags and headed out for Olvera Street in spite of the early hour. It was clean and fresh there with banners for Dia del los Muertos. We couldn’t wait that long but luckily a few shops were starting to cook real Mexican food for the early workers in the area. We got great breakfast burritos to go and headed back to the station. I stayed behind later when Laurie went out for a last chance to shop before our train boarded to leave about 10 AM.
 |
| Some of the great art at Olvera Street |
 |
| A little early for the party but we had a nice visit |
 |
| Union Station across the street |
The new sleeper is a tidy replica of our last one and the menu looks very familiar too. There is a parlor car with additional limited menu and drinks, wifi and oldies music. The view was great from there so I never made it back to the actual observation car. We dined with a grandmother from Brazil who loved the Pantanal like we did and Kurt from Eugene on his way home from a family visit. We talked kids and lifestyles and found quite a bit of overlap and stimulating discussion.
The ocean views were spectacular like the weather with pelicans, deer and lots of other wildlife entertaining us too. As we continued up and more inland the views were up close and very interesting too. This leg of the trip reminded me how special the region we live in is and how much I enjoy and need to get out and do more of just that.
 |
| Leaving LA |
 |
| I’ve got to tell Elle about these weird looking bike “lockers”! |
 |
| The ocean was shimmering with rich colors |
 |
| A little fall color, California coast style |
We had distractions from home and family about future dates and travel plans but resisted that to stay on this trip a little longer and the intermittent communication made it difficult to do more anyway. Our dinner was with an interesting couple, retired cop and ice skater, from Coos Bay. We talked families, aging and health, and travel and it was quite thought provoking for all. The train was running late when we saw our friends Bob and Deb from San Antonio off in Salinas in the dark. They seemed to be OK with their Amtrak bus connection to Monterey. We sent them off with good wishes in the narrow hall between our rooms.
The ride in the dark seemed slower and quieter. It way hard to stay awake at times but we managed to keep an eye on the towns rolling by. Our turn to de-train came about 12:30 AM. We had to wait a bit for our bags and found it cool at that hour. We grabbed a cab and stumbled in after 1 AM. Our house was clean, cold, dark, and quiet. We had too much energy to just go to sleep so we prowled around the house doing a few chores like changing linen and some unpacking. We went to sleep knowing that tomorrow would be a long and high energy day full of errands done without a car so that we got Laurie ready for her ECOS environmentalist of the year award the same night. After that, we can rest and come down from the high level of stimulus this great trip has provided.
No comments:
Post a Comment