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George!
Topic Started: Sep 21 2014, 02:58 PM (847 Views)
George K
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Finally
In the Pacific Parlor Car, about to have dinner:

Posted Image

After dinner, making use of that ice:

Posted Image

By the waterfalls on the way to Mount Hood:

Posted Image

We met a Portlander (Portlandian?) near the falls who was taking her pets for a walk:

Posted Image

At the Columbia River Gorge:

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
At the Japanese Gardens in Portland, where I sprained my ankle within 2 hours of getting off the train....

Posted Image

On Amtrak, you can Bring Your Own Alcohol. However, you have to consume in your sleeper. On the other hand, if you have a coffee cup with a lid on it, nobody's going to ask what's in it....

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
Somewhere in Colorado, we met the Westbound California Zephyr:

Posted Image

Daughter was shocked to see that I knew how to use these eating utensils:

Posted Image

Portland Union Station:

Posted Image
Edited by George K, Sep 30 2014, 06:10 PM.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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brenda
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..............
Such wonderful pictures, George!
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Posted Image

This one is just straightup 100% "I'm about to give an intro to a travel documentary on the Beeb."
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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George K
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Finally
Notice the etched glass dividers?

Posted Image

The Pacific Parlor Car is on the Coast Starlight, which runs from Seattle to Los Angeles. It is a restored lounge car from the 1950s and has a different menu than the regular Amtrak diners. A little more retro, and a LOT more cool.

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
How do you not just hang out in there all day?
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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George K
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Finally
As we descended from the area around Mount Hood, we saw this:

Posted Image

Yep:

Posted Image

And then, this classic:

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
A shot out of the rear window of the train (we were in the last car) of my town as we barreled through on the way to Union Station:

Posted Image

I can see that water tower from my living room window!
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
This gives you an idea of our sleeping accommodations:

Posted Image

Posted Image
#4 is sitting on a chair that is opposite an identical one. There's a small pull-down table between chairs. They fold down to become a bed (where I slept). Above her is a pull-down berth that she climbed into. It felt small at first, but we adjusted quickly. We spent about ˝ our waking hours there, and the rest either in the diner or the observation car.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
Only on a train, do you get shots like these:

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrexhtuLBsU&feature=youtu.be








A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Wow. What a cool experience.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Improviso
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HOLY CARP!!!
Great pictures and vid's, George.

That looks like it was a fantastic trip.
Identifying narcissists isn't difficult. Just look for the person who is constantly fishing for compliments
and admiration while breaking down over even the slightest bit of criticism.

We have the freedom to choose our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences.
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George K
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Finally




A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
That shot of Colorado looks a lot like Glenwood Canyon.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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George K
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Finally
JBryan
Oct 1 2014, 03:24 AM
That shot of Colorado looks a lot like Glenwood Canyon.
I believe it is.

Oh, when I get back from the Audi dealer (yearly maintenance), I'll let you guys know about the trip itself - specifically the Amtrak parts.
Edited by George K, Oct 1 2014, 03:28 AM.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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big al
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Bull-Carp
Great pics, George. Welcome back. I'll be looking forward to the report to accompany them.

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
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George K
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Finally
Well.

I won't comment on the "touristy" parts of San Francisco and Portland - there's nothing I have to say that you can't find elsewhere, other than this: Portland is a neat, neat city. I really liked it. It's navigable, clean, and the people are friendly beyond belief. Yeah, it's, at times, "weird" and it's populated by a bunch of very-well-inked people. I loved the downtown (Pearl District) which is very walkable (even with my sprained ankle) and there are some spectacular vistas.

We loved our trip to Mount Hood, and we got there by avoiding the interstate along the columbia river. That took us to all kinds of interesting places, and we saw spectacular waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge.

Thoughts on Amtrak:

I was told, and I read, that if you have to be somewhere on time, don't take the train. That is painfully true, and there's a good reason for that - Amtrak doesn't own the rails upon which it travels. Instead, it leases them - for a certain period of time. So, if your train is delayed, for any reason (even if by a freight train owned by BNSF, say), the lease expires and you are queued up behind freight traffic.

As I said in my earlier post, we arrived in Portland on time (shocker!), with the Conductor saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Portland, and we have arrived on time, something that happens all the time on Amtrak!" So, despite all the oil traffic, we managed to get there as expected.

I was shocked at how comfortable it was. The seats are spacious, and sleeping on the train was surprisingly easy. Most of the right-of-way is equipped with good rail and there's little to no "clickety clack" as you travel. The ride is quiet and smooth. On two legs of our journey, we were at the end of the train (best spot), so we heard little of the locomotives' engines and the horn was faint and distant. Our roomette was cozy, as I mentioned, but adequate to sit in and sleep in. The only drawback is that to change clothes, you have to be a contortionist or decide to change in the shower room. If I had to do it again, I'd upgrade to the bedroom which has much more room.

The food: basic, good and unremarkable. Still, MUCH better than airline food, and there's something nice about sitting at a table with a linen tablecloth with cloth napkins and real silverware. Unfortunately, the plastic plates (that look like china until you touch them) detract. The menu is limited (steak, half a baked chicken, some fish, and a pasta dish), and that's OK if you're an overnight. But, after 5 days (even if broken up), it got monotonous. The service is snappy and pleasant. You can purchase wine, beer or spirits with your meal (but the meal is included in the sleeper fare).

Each train has a consist that is made up of the following (though not necessarily in this order). Baggage car (always behind the motive power), a "transition sleeper" (a car that is a regular sleeper, but designed for crew. During high occupancy, they may put paying passengers in there - we were supposed to be there on our return journey. I didn't want to be that close to the motive power, and on arriving at our departure from SF, a space had opened up at the rear of the train), a lounge car, a diner, and several sleepers. All of these are double decker cars. The sleepers have 8 bedrooms (with private toilet and shower) and 10 roomettes upstairs. There is a toilet upstairs as well. Downstairs, are two more toilets, the shower, a couple of roomettes, and handicapped accessible bedrooms. The coaches have no bathing facilities, and the toilets are downstairs. The lounge/observation car has a snack bar and small lounge downstairs as well. As I mentioned, on the second leg of the trip, we also had the "Pacific Parlor" car - a holdover from the Pre-Amtrak days (1971) which was built in 1955. It's a little plusher than the lounge car, is available only to sleeping car passengers, and has a different menu for dinner.

More later....
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
I want to try. The only time i ever rode Amtrak was between San Diego and LA, which was no big deal.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
I've ridden them a bunch of times on the Northeast Corridor, usually NYC-PHL or NYC-DC, and occasionally NYC-BOS. But that's quite different from the cross-country stuff.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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George K
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Finally
Daughter just posted this on Facebook....

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
George K
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Finally
Our trip back to Chicago was, well, eventful.

Short version: as I said earlier, if you miss your lease, you're screwed.

Long version: Because of a medical issue, our train was delayed about an hour. Of course, everything got thrown off. Compounding our delay from the medical issue was the fact that that evening we started to get some heavy rain. The rains interfered with the signaling on the Union Pacific right-of-way, so we had to rely on dispatchers clearing us through certain parts of the route. We arrived in Salt Lake City at about 8 am, instead of 4. We were screwed.

When we reached the Moffat Tunnel (6 miles long!) we had to wait for a freight to clear the tunnel. Then, the tunnel had to be blown out by fans to remove the exhaust fumes from that train. We entered it, and we were told that there would be no crossing between cars to prevent exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide from entering our car. Because it was already dark, the tunnel held no fascination - it was just dark outside, like it was...night.

The delays compounded on themselves, so by the time we got to Denver, we were about 5 hours behind schedule, arriving at midnight. For reasons I don't understand, our train had to back into the terminal in Denver. A not-too-pleasant procedure when you're in the last car, where the conductor, terminal operator and engineer are all communicating via walkee talkee. Ugh. I managed to fall back to sleep (having retired at about 10:30).

So, the bad news is that we crossed some of the scenic rockies in the dark.

However, we still saw some of this:

Posted Image

and this:

Posted Image

The good news is that I slept through Omaha.

I had a speedometer app installed on my iPhone. That said, the speed is anything but consistent. Amtrak's speed limit is 79 mph, and when we were flat out, I registered anything from 78 to 81 mph. However, the speed is determined by traffic ahead of you, rail conditions (As I said, we were slowed by bad signals that had been affected by rain) and other factors ("Ladies and gentlemen, we just got notification that the town of XXXXX is unsure as to whether their crossing gates are functioning. Accordingly, we are going to go through at 10 mph. If the gates go down, we will proceed. If not, we will have to stop the train to flag the crossing.")

As we left Iowa, through Princeton Il and Naperville, I was able to snag this shot of my home town as we barreled through:

Posted Image

I shot it, and told other travelers, "Guess what? I can see that water tower from my LIVING ROOM!"

We arrived in Chicago at about 8:30 PM - almost 6 hours late.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
George K
Oct 1 2014, 04:52 PM
Daughter just posted this on Facebook....

Posted Image
Well, that's more demonstrative than most of us ever get with our parents.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Wonderful pictures, George!! What a great trip, and great time spent with #4!!
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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