Day 1: 2 Trains
Left this morning at about 6:30 (thanks to Dad for taking us to the Amtrak station downtown...and extra kudos for showing up at 5 a.m. to do so!) on a coach class train to Chicago. My very first train ride, not counting the Frisco-Wabash out in Glencoe or the Zoo-line train. I was impressed by the roomy seats and big windows. I was not impressed by the airliner-type potties and two bucks for a can of pop. Breakfast was good: a ham, egg and cheese biscuit samich that M would never in a million years eat if he weren't on vacation.
My sinus infection is clearing up, although it's currently left me pretty speechless. My voice is shot, cutting in and out randomly and many times not showing up at all. I guess you could say my voice is on vacation, too. M says his ears are on vacation. I say he's a smartass.
We're sitting in Amtrak's Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago now, waiting for our train, the Southwest Chief, to board at 2:45 p.m. Been here a couple hours...lunch at Burrito Beach, then a bit of wandering to find the lounge and get out of all the riff-raff, including the guy who kept hitting us up for a few bucks so he and his brother could catch the Amtrak to South Bend, Indiana. The fact that he kept coming by and lingering near us made me nervous, so we beat it to the relative safety of the lounge and discovered, to our great delight, free Wi-Fi.
After we sat here for a bit (and I visited the potty and M got a free beverage), M observed that we are the youngest people, by far, in the lounge. I looked around and realized he's right. By about 40 years. I guess young whipper snappers don't travel by train these days. They're missing a good gig. I like stopping traffic all across the mid-west while watching the world glide by outside our window.
I know I said I was going to post our itinerary here, but then I got busy finalizing things for the trip (and Zozer's stay at Camps Grandma and Grandpa) and didn't get around to it. So here it is, in a nutshell:
Today: train from STL to Chi, where we board the Southwest Chief headed for Los Angeles. It'll take a couple days to get out there, and we then catch the Coast Starlight that gets us to San Jose. We arrive late Friday night, grab our rental car, and head for our hotel in Santa Cruz.
Saturday: I'm not quite sure how this worked out (I must be the luckiest girl alive), but I get to have breakfast with Mr. Ted Orland, photographer extraordinaire. For those of you who don't remember, he's the way-cool guy who sent me the new Photographic Truths poster. I thought the least I could do is buy him breakfast to say thanks. In setting that up with him, he let me know about an event at a Carmel gallery that involves a panel of Ansel Adams' assistants (including Mr. Orland himself) remembering "the good old days," a tour of the exhibit by Michael Adams, AA's son, and then a closing reception for the exhibit. I'm not sure how the planets aligned to allow me to attend these things, but they did and I'll be forever grateful. And, as if that's not enough, Saturday night I'm sleeping at Bodie House, where Edward Weston lived and where his grandson still lives and works (as a photographer).
Sunday: Shooting Weston Beach, Point Lobos, etc. Then heading to Yosemite, where we'll enter the southern part of the park and stay at Wawona.
Monday: Morning will be shooting the giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove, then driving up to Yosemite Valley, where we're staying Yosemite Lodge in rooms that do not require us to stuff our belongings in a bear locker (thank gawd).
Tuesday: More Yosemite.
Wednesday: More Yosemite, then driving back out to San Jose to turn in our rental car and re-catch the Coast Starlight, this time taking it to Emeryville. We'll spend the night in another Hampton Inn there, catching the California Zephyr to come back home Thursday morning.
Thursday: On the train.
Friday: On the train.
Saturday: On the train, transferring again in Chicago to catch the coach class train back home. We arrive a little after midnight on Sunday.
So, it's a worldwind trip with lots of relaxation at the beginning and the end. Sounds good to us!
Probably won't have wi-fi until we arrive at the Hampton Inn in Santa Cruz in a few days, and it'll be late when we arrive so I'm not sure how much I'll feel like blogging. In fact, I'm not sure there'll be much to blog about: "We sat in our roomette, we ate, we slept, we sat in the observation car, we slept, we ate..." We pretty much plan to just play brain dead for the next couple days.
A few things I noticed out our train windows this morning: a house with a fridge (looked like in good working condition) on the front porch, a house with an exercycle in the front yard, a mowed corn field with two poles and a giant banner strung between that read, "MODELS." This puzzled me, and I spent several minutes pondering what sort of models to which it was referring, and what target market it was trying to hit. Still no clue...if any of you have any ideas, I'm open.
M is grabbing our bags from the redcap now, as we're boarding in 10 minutes or so. Guess that's my cue to sign out and say, "Happy rails!" Or whatever it is you say when you're going on a train trip.
My sinus infection is clearing up, although it's currently left me pretty speechless. My voice is shot, cutting in and out randomly and many times not showing up at all. I guess you could say my voice is on vacation, too. M says his ears are on vacation. I say he's a smartass.
We're sitting in Amtrak's Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago now, waiting for our train, the Southwest Chief, to board at 2:45 p.m. Been here a couple hours...lunch at Burrito Beach, then a bit of wandering to find the lounge and get out of all the riff-raff, including the guy who kept hitting us up for a few bucks so he and his brother could catch the Amtrak to South Bend, Indiana. The fact that he kept coming by and lingering near us made me nervous, so we beat it to the relative safety of the lounge and discovered, to our great delight, free Wi-Fi.
After we sat here for a bit (and I visited the potty and M got a free beverage), M observed that we are the youngest people, by far, in the lounge. I looked around and realized he's right. By about 40 years. I guess young whipper snappers don't travel by train these days. They're missing a good gig. I like stopping traffic all across the mid-west while watching the world glide by outside our window.
I know I said I was going to post our itinerary here, but then I got busy finalizing things for the trip (and Zozer's stay at Camps Grandma and Grandpa) and didn't get around to it. So here it is, in a nutshell:
Today: train from STL to Chi, where we board the Southwest Chief headed for Los Angeles. It'll take a couple days to get out there, and we then catch the Coast Starlight that gets us to San Jose. We arrive late Friday night, grab our rental car, and head for our hotel in Santa Cruz.
Saturday: I'm not quite sure how this worked out (I must be the luckiest girl alive), but I get to have breakfast with Mr. Ted Orland, photographer extraordinaire. For those of you who don't remember, he's the way-cool guy who sent me the new Photographic Truths poster. I thought the least I could do is buy him breakfast to say thanks. In setting that up with him, he let me know about an event at a Carmel gallery that involves a panel of Ansel Adams' assistants (including Mr. Orland himself) remembering "the good old days," a tour of the exhibit by Michael Adams, AA's son, and then a closing reception for the exhibit. I'm not sure how the planets aligned to allow me to attend these things, but they did and I'll be forever grateful. And, as if that's not enough, Saturday night I'm sleeping at Bodie House, where Edward Weston lived and where his grandson still lives and works (as a photographer).
Sunday: Shooting Weston Beach, Point Lobos, etc. Then heading to Yosemite, where we'll enter the southern part of the park and stay at Wawona.
Monday: Morning will be shooting the giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove, then driving up to Yosemite Valley, where we're staying Yosemite Lodge in rooms that do not require us to stuff our belongings in a bear locker (thank gawd).
Tuesday: More Yosemite.
Wednesday: More Yosemite, then driving back out to San Jose to turn in our rental car and re-catch the Coast Starlight, this time taking it to Emeryville. We'll spend the night in another Hampton Inn there, catching the California Zephyr to come back home Thursday morning.
Thursday: On the train.
Friday: On the train.
Saturday: On the train, transferring again in Chicago to catch the coach class train back home. We arrive a little after midnight on Sunday.
So, it's a worldwind trip with lots of relaxation at the beginning and the end. Sounds good to us!
Probably won't have wi-fi until we arrive at the Hampton Inn in Santa Cruz in a few days, and it'll be late when we arrive so I'm not sure how much I'll feel like blogging. In fact, I'm not sure there'll be much to blog about: "We sat in our roomette, we ate, we slept, we sat in the observation car, we slept, we ate..." We pretty much plan to just play brain dead for the next couple days.
A few things I noticed out our train windows this morning: a house with a fridge (looked like in good working condition) on the front porch, a house with an exercycle in the front yard, a mowed corn field with two poles and a giant banner strung between that read, "MODELS." This puzzled me, and I spent several minutes pondering what sort of models to which it was referring, and what target market it was trying to hit. Still no clue...if any of you have any ideas, I'm open.
M is grabbing our bags from the redcap now, as we're boarding in 10 minutes or so. Guess that's my cue to sign out and say, "Happy rails!" Or whatever it is you say when you're going on a train trip.
posted by Amy at 2:10 PM
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