Backyard View

I'll try again on a clearer day.

OK, another Update!

So now I have left Laguna and returned to San Clemente where I am residing in a nice house with a beautiful view! Washer and Dryer included, huge yard, closer to San Onofre. Life is Ok.

Changes...Again

I moved last week and am now living in Laguna Beach. That makes the drive to San Onofre about 25 minutes. longer than I would like, but shorter than it could be. I will continue to make my almost daily trek but will keep my eye on the weather and only go when the conditions are favorable.

I moved into a funky old house is the best way I can describe it. Converted attic with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. I share the place with a friend who has lived here for 17 years. Rent is very reasonable considering I am about a block from Main Beach. Traffic will be terrible come summer, but I will have to adjust and live with it.

That's all!

That's all the pictures I found that were halfway fit to post. All-in-all the trip was a blast. One thing though, sleeping on a train is not my cup of tea. I got one fair night of sleep out of the four I spent on the train. It feels like an earthquake that never ends, at least when you are trying to sleep. Other than that, the ride was fun. One the return trip, we were blessed to have Richard as our sleeper car attendant, he took great care of us, especially my dad and stepmother.

When we boarded the train in Sacramento, I went to my 'roomette' as it is called, only to find that someone had been in there and spilled coffee all over one of the seats, the one that faced forward and the one I wanted to sit in. I had my roomette changed to a different one, in the other sleeper car. This turned out to be a good thing, as the bathrooms in the other car stopped working once we hit some elevation. They had a flushing mechanism triggered by lowering the seat lid. In my car, the toilets all had push button mechanisms that continued to work throughout the trip. My dad decided to change rooms to one in my car as the stench was overbearing.

On the return trip, we were once again in a car that had the lid flush. Richard, the attendant, informed us that we would need to reset the toilets every time they were used if we wanted a smell free trip. He took someone from every room or roomette and showed us how to flip the switch to reset, down on the main breaker box. We had an odor free return. Mahalo, Richard!

On the first leg, we stopped in Denver for a servicing of the train. It was about 7:00 in the evening and it was about 76 degrees! I expected it to be cold! After all, it's a mile high! I couldn't believe how warm it was.

Chicago was fun. 54 degrees and as normal, quite windy. We stayed at a nice hotel and had a great meal in a restaurant in the hotel. Since we arrived at about 3:00 in the afternoon, the next morning I walked around the city a bit. I really am not a big city kind of person, but it was fun looking at all the tall buildings. When I returned, we went for pizza! I expected more and was kind of disappointed. Maybe it's where we went, but there was nothing special about the pizza, I've had as good here in San Clemente.

On the trip I saw caribou, buffalo, deer and I think a cougar. Lots of trash in New Mexico, beautiful mountains in Nevada, and a lot of flat farmland in the midwest. It was well worth the trip.

Seen at the station in Albuquerque.

Not our train. Albuquerque.

New Mexico.

Buffalo, or is it a Bison?

Our pullers.

Caribou!

Our sleeper car attendant Richard, with my father. Richard did one heck of a fine job taking care of our needs during the return ride.

Richard.

New Mexico.

Chicago Pictures

Street legal?

Tree hugger.

John Hancock building.

The Seneca hotel where we stayed overnight.

Day 2

Next up, a few pictures of Chicago.

Water for Denver.

Not that much snow in the Rockies.

Coming in to the Rockies.

Colorado.

Colorado.

Red mountain.

Nevada, I think.

Nevada.

Something was kicking up dust. Somewhere in Nevada.

Nevada.

Nevada.

Nevada.

Somewhere in Nevada.

Day 1

I am posting some photos from the first day of the train trip as well as some from Old Sacramento where I stayed overnight on the Delta King before embarking on my ride. More will follow.

My traveling companions.

Out the window, day 1.

Snowing in the Sierra's. Train day 1.

Old Sacramento.

Old Sacramento.

California State Railroad Museum.

California State Railroad Museum.

California State Railroad Museum.

California State Railroad Museum.

Old Sacramento.

Sacramento airport.

Age Breeds Forgetfulness

I am soooo stupid sometimes. I forgot the power cord for my laptop so I was unable to post pictures during my travels since the battery was dead. I am back and will go through the photos and post some in the next day or two.

Train is Leaving

I board the California Zephyr Saturday morning and in two days will arrive in Chicago. Twenty-four hours later, I board the Southwest Chief for the return trip which will take another two days. Camera will be used extensively, since there won't be much else to do. I am going to attempt to quit smoking those darn cigarettes. No smoking on the train, there are a couple of stops where I could disembark and light one up, but it's at something like 3:00 a.m. Might as well try to stop. I will post pictures at every opportunity.

Update

Once again, it seems like I have been lax posting here. That will change later in March as I am going on a train trip to Chicago and am planning to post pictures of the trip. Stay tuned!

10.5.2008

Garage Door Chris. #1.

#2.

Flying

I am getting real familiar with the Oakland and San Francisco airports. I am here in Alameda at my daughter's place, cat sitting. Yesterday, I took my daughter to the Oakland airport where she was flying to San Diego and then on to Minneapolis for her cousin's wedding, which is tomorrow. Due to her flight (Southwest) to San Diego being late, she missed her connection. Northwest would not wait 5 minutes as she dashed through the airport for the flight. They then wanted $2000.00 to rebook her, so she came back. Her uncle, who works for Northwest, then told her to go to San Francisco and he would get her on another flight, leaving at midnight. Standby. Off we went to San Francisco. She didn't make it on, so I had to return to the airport at 12:30 A.M. to pick her up. We got back around 1:30 A.M. Her uncle had told her that if she didn't make it on that flight that there was another leaving at 6:45 A.M. At 4:00 A.M. she woke me so we could return to the airport. She didn't make it on that one either. The rest of Northwest's flight for the day were overbooked, so she was out of luck. This time, she took BART and the bus home as traffic would have been killer for me. Needless to say, by the time she got home she was in a less than happy mood.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending. After returning home, her aunt called her and told her that she would find a flight on whatever airline she could and get her to the wedding. Shortly after, she called back and had booked a flight via US Air, no standby, a real seat! So at 11:00 A.M. we headed back to San Francisco. We got there with plenty of time to spare and she made her flight. She called me a short while ago to tell me she made it, but an hour and a half late! The plane had a stop in Denver and she said they circled Denver for that hour and a half waiting for the weather to cooperate. Apparently they were experiencing thunderstorms in Denver.

It's kind of funny. I have been on 7 flight so far this month. Not one of them was late. I'm not sure what to expect Tuesday when I leave. At least it's from Oakland airport which is about 10 minutes away, unlike the 45 minutes to San Francisco. I sure hope her return flights are without incident.

Oakland

Well, now my travels have taken me to Oakland for a week. I have been to Arizona, Minnesota and Wisconsin this month. I am over airplanes.

I'll see about snapping some pictures and posting them.

Looking out of my room at the Mighty Mississippi. St. Paul again.