Seaboard92
Engineer
Well here is another trip report seeing I'm in the mood to finically get around to typing them up.
November 23 Thanksgiving
After devouring a good turkey with my family at my house. Which is a very rare event because we usually end up with a very dry turkey that no one wants to eat. Alas after saying goodbye my dad drove me to the Megabus stop.
The Columbia Megabus is really in a horrible location from a personal safety standpoint. The bus arrived late from Washington by about twenty minutes which was to be expected with holiday traffic. I had paid the extra five dollars to reserve the front seat of the upper deck.
As it was on this bus I was the only person who elected to spend the money so I had the front five rows of the bus to myself. As my dad was driving away next to the bus to head home in my car I noticed the low fuel light had come on. So I lucked out on that expense.
We quickly entered the interstate and about fifteen minutes later the bus driver came on the loud speaker to tell us we were low on fuel and we were making a gas stop where we would all have to get off.
About thirty minutes later we all got back on the bus and back on I20. I spent the entire bus ride reading from a book about the pre Amtrak Seaboard Airline passenger services that I was loaning to a friend in exchange for a book from his library.
Once I arrived in Atlanta at that megabus stop I caught the MARTA to the Five Points then from there to the end of the blue line to the Holmes station. At Holmes I met my best friend Richard and went to his house for the night.
On the way to Richard's house we stopped by the Waffle House then we went to his house which is like a Railroad Library. Him and I didn't stop talking till about four AM because we just had so much to talk about. And I had a lot of reading to look at. We both decided at four to leave the house at 530 for my flight that we probably should get sleep.
November 24: Black Friday
Well both of us got up at five and drove straight to Atlanta Hartsfield Airport and proceeded to get lost due to bad signage at the airport. I said goodbye to Richard at departures and proceeded in and breezed past security. I was expecting a huge amount of people but I was the only one in line.
I went straight to my gate for my first plane to Salt Lake City which was on an A330-300. Lucky for me I had an entire row to myself so I slept the entire flight to make up for the time I should have slept the night before. I don't remember take off or landing. Or anything in between.
I had a quick hour long connection in Salt Lake City which really when you count the time to deplane and enplane was about thirty minutes. I caught my next flight to Portland on the last row of an A319. During this flight I played Risk on my phone which made it go by rapidly.
I arrived in Portland where I managed to get very lucky that my friend I was staying with who runs a travel agency and drives for Uber was at the airport. So we went for a lovely drive out to Hood River. Along the way we saw one UP train.
We arrived into Hood River just as the Iowa Pacific Christmas train was leaving so the two of us gave a short chase and caught the train multiple times. What makes that route unique is the switchback.
After chasing the Mount Hood Railroad we stopped in a McDonald's for a snack then crossed over to the Washington side of the river. We drove mostly into the sun and only seen one train on the way to Vancouver.
We arrived in Vancouver in time to see the Portland and Western Freight arrive, the Coast Starlight, the Baby Builder, and a local freight come by. It's a great place to railfan if you want constant action and enjoy plane spotting.
After watching the sunset there Tom dropped me off at Union Station in Portland for me to meet my ex Julia and her new boyfriend Kevin for dinner. They were running a bit late so I managed to see train 507 go to Eugene before I walked to Portland City Grill to have dinner with them.
Portland City Grill is an amazing place to eat. The view is amazing and the company was even better. After that Julia had to make a return so we went to deal with that before going to the airport to pick up My other friend Melissa flying back from thanksgiving.
After dropping Melissa off they dropped me at a Max station and I went to Toms house for bed.
November 25: Small Business Saturday
Well after sleeping in by east coast standards to 8 am I was ready for the day. Julia and I planned to meet up at ten at Powels books. I walked from the townhouse to Max Blue line which took me about thirty minutes walking past the Nike Headquarters.
It was an easy short ride into the city where I walked to Powells. Powels is amazing and has every book you never knew you needed. After that we went to a local diner for lunch which was enjoyable. She told me she was wanting to run for an elected office despite that her boyfriend doesn't want her too. Naturally I am supporting her idea of running for office. I'm supporting it so much I've written her first speech.
After lunch we went back to their apartment to play board games the rest of the day. She beat me in scrabble every time. According to Kevin she is undefeated which I would believe. Then Kevin beat me in chess. All in all I didn't win a single game.
After I went back to Tom's we watched "Unwatchable" which really is Unstoppable.
Sunday 26th
Well this morning Julia had to work so I wouldn't see her till sometime in 2018. So tom and I went to loom at the RDCs trimet bought from Trinity Rail in Texas and then to Ridgeland in Washington state.
It was very enjoyable railfaning in Washington state. We even saw my train the Coast Starlight pass behind a freight before I would catch it down the line in Portland.
After saying goodbye to Tom till the New Year I went thru the station and directly on board the mighty Coast Starlight. After wandering around the platform taking some photos of the amount Rainier talgo I went on board and straight to the diner.
I had a lovely lunch with a music publisher from SFO and a lovely couple making the trip the entire way to LAX like me. After lunch the music publisher Randy and I went to the Parlor car and continued to talk for about three hours about music, and private rail cars. After he went to his room to sleep a bit around five I went to my room to see the Darkened cascades from my roomette with the lights off.
After an hour I gave up on seeing anything and went back to the parlor car where I say with a Union Pacific engineer deadheading back to K Falls. I had dinner with two older women one of who was a former flight attendant for British Overseas Airways.
She said I would do good on my interview and the food was good. After dinner I went back to the parlor car to just sit and relax a bit. I retired to my room around midnight.
I slept great and woke up as we were pulling into Sacramento. I took advantage of being twenty minutes early into Sacramento to stretch my legs and to get fresh air.
After we left I had breakfast in the Parlor Car with the Randy and his partner who boarded at Sacramento. The breakfast Buffett I thought was a nice little touch.
We ended up getting delayed by two boats near I want to say Martinez at the draw bridge. Then it was a fast run down to the Bay Area where every stop is a fresh air stop it seams and I took advantage of all of them.
After San Jose I spent most of my time in the Parlor Car and enjoyed a nice ride. I had lunch in the diner with a family in coach going from SEA-LAX. They weren't the most talkative lot but it was alright.
I enjoyed going thru the Valleys that we were negotiating to reach San Luis Obispo. California is a really scenic state.
We reached the coast right at sunset so I managed to see the sun set over the Pacific from the Parlor Car. After that I went to the diner for dinner before arriving in LAX. After dinner I got to know Darren the PPC attendant a little bit better. He is one of Amtrak's shining stars. I enjoyed talking to him. All too soon we arrived in Union Station.
After arriving I took the Fly Away Bus to the airport where we ended up stuck in endless traffic which was rather annoying. My hotel shuttle was going to be an hour so I took a taxi cab which I believe over charged me. But I was tired and didn't care.
When I went to take a shower I noticed bullet holes in the window over the shower.
Tuesday NOV 28 interview day.
When I told the front desk about the gunshots in the window they were surprised to learn of if. I then walked the mile down to where the interview was for Norwegian. As always I arrived early as one always should for an interview. We did a swim test in the hotel pool, a group assessment to see how we did in a team, then personal interviews, lastly we concluded with a uniform fitting.
It was a good interview and I felt great about it despite not getting the job and a bad surprise at the interview.
I then took the Westin shuttle back to the airport and checked in for my flight. There I sat and waited for my red eye back to Atlanta.
After a smooth flight to Atlanta at a fairly low altitude 19,000 ft) I went to pick up my checked bag. What is interesting is that American has their own private luggage carousels. I waited for my mega bus in the baggage claim till I thought it was time to catch Marta for the civic center.
The bus ride was alright I had a seat mate this time. I felt sick the entire bus which wasn't great but tried to sleep it off. My dad picked me up and we stopped off for chicken on the way home.
All in all a great trip.
Photos coming up next.
November 23 Thanksgiving
After devouring a good turkey with my family at my house. Which is a very rare event because we usually end up with a very dry turkey that no one wants to eat. Alas after saying goodbye my dad drove me to the Megabus stop.
The Columbia Megabus is really in a horrible location from a personal safety standpoint. The bus arrived late from Washington by about twenty minutes which was to be expected with holiday traffic. I had paid the extra five dollars to reserve the front seat of the upper deck.
As it was on this bus I was the only person who elected to spend the money so I had the front five rows of the bus to myself. As my dad was driving away next to the bus to head home in my car I noticed the low fuel light had come on. So I lucked out on that expense.
We quickly entered the interstate and about fifteen minutes later the bus driver came on the loud speaker to tell us we were low on fuel and we were making a gas stop where we would all have to get off.
About thirty minutes later we all got back on the bus and back on I20. I spent the entire bus ride reading from a book about the pre Amtrak Seaboard Airline passenger services that I was loaning to a friend in exchange for a book from his library.
Once I arrived in Atlanta at that megabus stop I caught the MARTA to the Five Points then from there to the end of the blue line to the Holmes station. At Holmes I met my best friend Richard and went to his house for the night.
On the way to Richard's house we stopped by the Waffle House then we went to his house which is like a Railroad Library. Him and I didn't stop talking till about four AM because we just had so much to talk about. And I had a lot of reading to look at. We both decided at four to leave the house at 530 for my flight that we probably should get sleep.
November 24: Black Friday
Well both of us got up at five and drove straight to Atlanta Hartsfield Airport and proceeded to get lost due to bad signage at the airport. I said goodbye to Richard at departures and proceeded in and breezed past security. I was expecting a huge amount of people but I was the only one in line.
I went straight to my gate for my first plane to Salt Lake City which was on an A330-300. Lucky for me I had an entire row to myself so I slept the entire flight to make up for the time I should have slept the night before. I don't remember take off or landing. Or anything in between.
I had a quick hour long connection in Salt Lake City which really when you count the time to deplane and enplane was about thirty minutes. I caught my next flight to Portland on the last row of an A319. During this flight I played Risk on my phone which made it go by rapidly.
I arrived in Portland where I managed to get very lucky that my friend I was staying with who runs a travel agency and drives for Uber was at the airport. So we went for a lovely drive out to Hood River. Along the way we saw one UP train.
We arrived into Hood River just as the Iowa Pacific Christmas train was leaving so the two of us gave a short chase and caught the train multiple times. What makes that route unique is the switchback.
After chasing the Mount Hood Railroad we stopped in a McDonald's for a snack then crossed over to the Washington side of the river. We drove mostly into the sun and only seen one train on the way to Vancouver.
We arrived in Vancouver in time to see the Portland and Western Freight arrive, the Coast Starlight, the Baby Builder, and a local freight come by. It's a great place to railfan if you want constant action and enjoy plane spotting.
After watching the sunset there Tom dropped me off at Union Station in Portland for me to meet my ex Julia and her new boyfriend Kevin for dinner. They were running a bit late so I managed to see train 507 go to Eugene before I walked to Portland City Grill to have dinner with them.
Portland City Grill is an amazing place to eat. The view is amazing and the company was even better. After that Julia had to make a return so we went to deal with that before going to the airport to pick up My other friend Melissa flying back from thanksgiving.
After dropping Melissa off they dropped me at a Max station and I went to Toms house for bed.
November 25: Small Business Saturday
Well after sleeping in by east coast standards to 8 am I was ready for the day. Julia and I planned to meet up at ten at Powels books. I walked from the townhouse to Max Blue line which took me about thirty minutes walking past the Nike Headquarters.
It was an easy short ride into the city where I walked to Powells. Powels is amazing and has every book you never knew you needed. After that we went to a local diner for lunch which was enjoyable. She told me she was wanting to run for an elected office despite that her boyfriend doesn't want her too. Naturally I am supporting her idea of running for office. I'm supporting it so much I've written her first speech.
After lunch we went back to their apartment to play board games the rest of the day. She beat me in scrabble every time. According to Kevin she is undefeated which I would believe. Then Kevin beat me in chess. All in all I didn't win a single game.
After I went back to Tom's we watched "Unwatchable" which really is Unstoppable.
Sunday 26th
Well this morning Julia had to work so I wouldn't see her till sometime in 2018. So tom and I went to loom at the RDCs trimet bought from Trinity Rail in Texas and then to Ridgeland in Washington state.
It was very enjoyable railfaning in Washington state. We even saw my train the Coast Starlight pass behind a freight before I would catch it down the line in Portland.
After saying goodbye to Tom till the New Year I went thru the station and directly on board the mighty Coast Starlight. After wandering around the platform taking some photos of the amount Rainier talgo I went on board and straight to the diner.
I had a lovely lunch with a music publisher from SFO and a lovely couple making the trip the entire way to LAX like me. After lunch the music publisher Randy and I went to the Parlor car and continued to talk for about three hours about music, and private rail cars. After he went to his room to sleep a bit around five I went to my room to see the Darkened cascades from my roomette with the lights off.
After an hour I gave up on seeing anything and went back to the parlor car where I say with a Union Pacific engineer deadheading back to K Falls. I had dinner with two older women one of who was a former flight attendant for British Overseas Airways.
She said I would do good on my interview and the food was good. After dinner I went back to the parlor car to just sit and relax a bit. I retired to my room around midnight.
I slept great and woke up as we were pulling into Sacramento. I took advantage of being twenty minutes early into Sacramento to stretch my legs and to get fresh air.
After we left I had breakfast in the Parlor Car with the Randy and his partner who boarded at Sacramento. The breakfast Buffett I thought was a nice little touch.
We ended up getting delayed by two boats near I want to say Martinez at the draw bridge. Then it was a fast run down to the Bay Area where every stop is a fresh air stop it seams and I took advantage of all of them.
After San Jose I spent most of my time in the Parlor Car and enjoyed a nice ride. I had lunch in the diner with a family in coach going from SEA-LAX. They weren't the most talkative lot but it was alright.
I enjoyed going thru the Valleys that we were negotiating to reach San Luis Obispo. California is a really scenic state.
We reached the coast right at sunset so I managed to see the sun set over the Pacific from the Parlor Car. After that I went to the diner for dinner before arriving in LAX. After dinner I got to know Darren the PPC attendant a little bit better. He is one of Amtrak's shining stars. I enjoyed talking to him. All too soon we arrived in Union Station.
After arriving I took the Fly Away Bus to the airport where we ended up stuck in endless traffic which was rather annoying. My hotel shuttle was going to be an hour so I took a taxi cab which I believe over charged me. But I was tired and didn't care.
When I went to take a shower I noticed bullet holes in the window over the shower.
Tuesday NOV 28 interview day.
When I told the front desk about the gunshots in the window they were surprised to learn of if. I then walked the mile down to where the interview was for Norwegian. As always I arrived early as one always should for an interview. We did a swim test in the hotel pool, a group assessment to see how we did in a team, then personal interviews, lastly we concluded with a uniform fitting.
It was a good interview and I felt great about it despite not getting the job and a bad surprise at the interview.
I then took the Westin shuttle back to the airport and checked in for my flight. There I sat and waited for my red eye back to Atlanta.
After a smooth flight to Atlanta at a fairly low altitude 19,000 ft) I went to pick up my checked bag. What is interesting is that American has their own private luggage carousels. I waited for my mega bus in the baggage claim till I thought it was time to catch Marta for the civic center.
The bus ride was alright I had a seat mate this time. I felt sick the entire bus which wasn't great but tried to sleep it off. My dad picked me up and we stopped off for chicken on the way home.
All in all a great trip.
Photos coming up next.
