A Grand Tour kind of trip

Laurie had a forestry conference in San Luis Obispo and I had a chance to tag along. We planned to take the train down for a slow relaxing journey. It got complicated with all day talks on Saturday and need to be back for Sunday morning cancer group. We decided driving would be best.

Things started accumulating. First, a pickup of 50 pounds of Urea for Peig. I still don't know why but assume one of her many art projects. No problem and we changed our route to include delivery in Stockton. Next Elle found the perfect bike upgrade for littler son who is outgrowing his first pedal ride. She beat a horde with similar needs and we added a stop in Saratoga for pickup and hauling the rest of the trip.

Two stops down we visited my mom to exchange late xmas gifts, work on her computer and sort out how to help her in contact with our scattered family. That didn't go well and made for a frustrating experience before hitting the road for our destination. We got in after dark just in time for the famous Thursday farmers market.

Laurie opted to skip her Friday field trip so we visited two of many coffee shops, watched butterflies at the mission, and got yarn she has wanted since last fall. We drove to a Monarch garden enjoying the warm afternoon, funny docent talk, took digicam photos and watched a mating pair climb Laurie to get airborne. Lots of fun and a perfect way to finish “Chasing Monarchs” by Robert Pyle. Now I have to write up what I've learned about climate change and other issues for the threatened migration of this iconic species. Warm winter temperatures in the high 70s reminded us while we enjoyed them. A Greek dinner and quiet evening rounded out the full day.

Saturday had us up early for a shuttle to the Cal Poly meeting. I walked back for a good free breakfast, loaded the car and checked us out. A three mile walk across town found a popular coffee shop. I had the day to explore before picking up Laurie. I walked 12 miles and drove out to Morro Bay where everyone else was already enjoying fine weather. On the way back I stopped at Toro regional park to check out the botanical garden. Back with time to rest in the parking lot before picking up Laurie for our 4 hour drive home. We had a picnic in the car and ran into heavy fog for much of the drive but who could be bothered by such minor details.

A very full and fun trip indeed. Next time we’ll likely take the train and mix biking, walking and exploring but this was a most efficient and colorful trip.

Largest known Monarch overwintering site in California

Looks promising

Sunning Monarchs

Close-up view spotting scope view

Mating pair found Laurie to get off the ground

Maybe an idea for some new earrings?

Techy Blog Note

This techy blog note is for anyone who may care about such things while traveling.

We used our trusty iPad minis again for all computer related activities on this trip that our iPhones weren't suited for. They worked great in Europe last year and even more so this trip. We’ve had more time to discover software and learn more about using these devices effectively. One thing that still needs work is maintaining a blog while traveling. We created our blog on Goggle's free blog site before leaving. It’s too hard to use the Google Blog website on a small screen to maintain the blog while traveling so we used tricks like sending email to the blog or ipad apps for that purpose. None of these methods were completely reliable and we often had to take extra steps to clean things up either before or after posting on the internet. This lead to more than a little frustration and the goal is to have a better solution before our next trip. Yikes, I said the same thing last year when we had similar problems. Meanwhile we were able to post lots of notes and photos from the trip on the blog while we travelled.

We got lots of input from telecomm companies and decided not to put Canadian SIM cards in our iPhones or iPads for Internet access while on the train etc. There were limitations in being able to purchase those cards because we weren't going to be in Canada for at least 3 months it seems. Instead, we used Skype, FaceTime and Google Voice which still allowed us to make calls where we had an internet connection. That worked well because we were often in or close to cities. Some trains had wireless which was also available in most train stations, all the places we stayed at or often those places we visited during our journey. We did turn our phones on for a few important short calls home.

We had better iPhone 5s phones on this trip which take better photos and handle all the other things one does including email, tweets, websites and much more. We weren't tempted to go for the new and much bigger iPhone 6s and besides they weren't available. I did have fun getting my hands on the biggest one in the Big Apple Apple Store no less.

The new iPhone 6+ is nearly as big as my iPad mini

 

The best camera is the one you have with you

What about next year? It's likely we'll use the same equipment with some new software. We might need local SIM cards more if we go out of the country and we away from urban areas. That would mean different numbers for us but necessary to stay in touch and make connections on such a trip. Laurie does have her small Panasonic Lumix digital camera with many gigs of storage and we did finally learn more about getting more of its powerful features to work for us on this trip. We intend to create a slide show of the trip and expect many of the photos will come from her camera. That's still on the list of things to do since we got back.

The Grand Tour Continued, at least for our package

One of the things that we’ve learned about our travel mode, is that we need to keep things light so that we can make those public transit connections on time and carry our own bags up the narrow flights of stairs that seem to always be present in the great places we stay. As we travel, we do tend to gather piles of new information, cool gifts and personal items, and find out that some of our careful packing just wasn’t needed. The solution for all of these things is to get a box and pack all such items up and send them back home. Not cheap, but it is hard to put a price on having space in your luggage again and being able to pick those bags up for boarding or rough pavement. This great plan has worked well for several trips now and saved us much in the way of time, effort, and aching backs.

Unfortunately, the large box we mailed to Elle from Portland Maine never made it there. Well it did sort of but due to a zipcode mistake (last digit off by one) our large package entered into a loop between two local post offices and a postal distribution center in West Sacramento. This went on for at least a week as we tried to catch up with the package. We were running out of ideas when a call came in this morning from one post office telling us that the missing package was going to the other post office. We dashed over only to find it wasn’t there but might be out for delivery. We took turns camping out at Elle’s until the mail man arrived this afternoon. He went back and looked and sure enough the package was there and looking not too bad for all the extra travel and bumps it picked up.

We had a great time discovering all the good stuff and old clothes waiting inside. It was a great reminder of all the places we visited and some excellent xmas gifts that will be shared after all. We got some great help in spite of a system that could use some updating. I know a lot more than I ever wanted about package delivery now.

Whew!

Who knew one little digit could cause such a hassle

Not shown on this list is the time the package spent in southern California waiting for a new label. It got one but that had a zipcode error too…

Day 45 "Bonus Day!" 11-28-14

We consider this as a vacation day because we would be just leaving New Orleans if not for the ECOS award Laurie is being honored with. We stirred slowly back at home but were moving after 9 AM. There was no food or clean clothes to speak of in the house so we started out with coffee at Weatherstone’s. We continued biking and went to the Arden Mall and discovered new bike racks just where we needed them. We set out looking for some good clothing for Laurie to accept an award in. That worked out and our good luck continued when the car valet staff kept someone from messing with our locked bikes outside.


Laurie is “not” a good clothes shopper…

The rest of the day went quickly and on little food or drink. We were joined by Elle and the little guys and all bicycled down to the event about 5:30 PM. There we found live music, snacks and refreshments and well over 100 people already. There were quite a few friends and some family there to wish Laurie well too. Before we knew it, Laurie got a great introduction and was up giving a motivating acceptance speech. We were all very proud of her and know how hard she works to make the world better. She was quite surprised to be told she was getting this award just before we left on the trip and certainly had it on her mind as we traveled too. After the event ended we were soon biking back home in the cool dark. Now we can slow down and begin to rest with little reserve remaining, just like we planned it.


Her special cheering section came along to see “Nama” get an award!


The awards were great looking too


A table of excellent family support was ready to applaud


Laurie was a little nervous getting lots of good attention


Surrounded by her excellent introduction crew


Laurie provided some great encouragement and thanks while challenging us all to find our passion and “own it”!


Footnote: It has been a bit harder than expected to find the right balance of rest and chores these last couple of days as we have both felt fragile and shaky at times. In between, we go out and get our errands done like food shopping and picking up 6+ weeks of mail.

No parking hassles at the Coop and we can carry lots of good food home

At the PO before we picked up 6 weeks of mail and a box sent home during the trip

Day 44 "Homeward Bound" 10-27-14

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.

Day 43 "Crossing Texas" 10-26-14

"The sun has risen,
the sun has set,
and here we are,
in Texas yet"
(quote from unknown source repeated in observation car this morning)

In our case it was more like the sun setting in Texas and still being there the next morning. The train is running on schedule. I woke up late last night and set foot in San Antonio. I slept lightly looking forward to today, enjoying the baseball results and listening to music on my iPad. We got up about 7 and met Bob and Deb from San Antonio over breakfast. They were on their way to Monterey and we exchanged tips about there and Big Bend. Bob gave me his card for future travel discussions.
We stopped in Alpine Texas, the gateway to Big Bend at about 4500 feet. Among other things Alpine holds a cowboy poetry meet-up. Later we stopped in El Paso long enough to get out and walk around. It was obvious that Mexico, Juarez, was just a stone throw away. Other stops were less memorable. It didn't take nearly as long to cross anew Mexico and Arizona.

Alpine Texas is the gateway to Big Bend

Local map

Alpine has lots of other activities too

El Paso was less appealing

Juarez was very near

Big views in New Mexico

We met nice people still each meal today including Don from Chicago and arena from LA at lunch and Kat currently living in Newport Beach. We traded stories, caravel tips and well wishes with each of them. LA comes early in the morning and we will get off the train and be there until mid morning. From there it is on the Coast Starlight until home sometime around midnight. What an amazing trip!

Sunset near Tucson

Day 42 "Heading west across the Gulf" 10-25-14

We had set our alarm early so we could be checked out of the Frenchmen hotel around 7. We discovered last night we could catch a trolley behind the French Market and get a lift right to the Union Passenger Terminal. That made things much easier with our luggage. We enjoyed the ride and learned this is the hardest trolley route because it serves the French Quarter including Bourbon street. No such problems on our early morning ride when most of he city was still sleeping except for those that clean it up or live outside. At the station we had our sleeper car waiting room complete with TV and morning news. Didn't need that reminder.

Waiting for an early morning trolley

Sunrise finds New Orleans quiet

We have a downstairs sleeper for the first time but are right next to the dining car and the observation car is on the other side so we have great access. The views across Louisiana and parts of eastern Texas remind me of Florida and I spotted lots of birds and some other wildlife. Lots to other things experienced too such as crossing the longest bridge in the US, the Huey P. Lewis.

Lots of woods to see

Plenty of wetlands too

Texas didn't have as much to see

The menu looks very familiar and is the same as when we came down from DC but everything still tastes great and there are a few more options. We can tell we are tired and on the home stretch as we are less chatty. We had fun playing gin rummy with a new deck of Amtrak cards in our room this afternoon. We are hanging out waiting for our room to be made up for bed so we can crawl in and read. Meanwhile I am trying to help the Giants tie the series and Laurie has lots of Sudoku games to play. Two more days on the rails will get us home.

We had dinner looking at the Houston skyline