AUNTIE C's ADVENTURE JUNE 2015
(these first bits will appear in each post -- scoll down to get to the new stuff)
ORL to WAS = Orlando, Fla., to Washington, D.C., on Silver Meteor 98; sleeper car roomette -- "Auntie C begins her grand tour"
WAS to CHI = Washington to Chicago, Ill., on Capitol Limited 29; sleeper car roomette -- "Auntie C gains perspective"
CHI to PDX = Chicago to Portland, Ore., on Empire Builder 27; sleeper car roomette -- "Auntie C beholds the Empire"
PDX to EUG = Portland to Eugene, Ore, on Coast Starlight 11 coach seat -- "Auntie C arrives at her destination"
return trip
EUG to SAC = Eugene to Sacramento, Calif., on Coast Starlight 11; sleeper car roomettte -- "Auntie C goes to California"
SAC to CHI = Sacramento to Chicago on California Zephyr 6; sleeper car roomette "Auntie C cuts through the middle"
Special edition: "Auntie C takes a detour"
CHI to WAS = Chicago to Washington on Capitol Limited 30; sleeper car /b/e/d/r/o/o/m/ -- now roomette
WAS to ORL = Washington to Orlando on Silver Meteor 97; sleeper car roomette
I'll not mention cars or rooms until after I've completed that leg of the trip. Nor do I intend to give the full names of Amtrak crew members -- the nametags state first initial and last name, but they tend to introduce themselves by first name.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
I picked these up from other trip reports, and will post atop each of mine to remind myself what terms I should use, adding as I learn more. (Then I'll forget and fail to use them.)
LSA-D lead service attendant - diner
TA-SC train attendant - sleeper car
TA-C train atendant - coach
waiter - other service attendants in diner car, as I'm not sure what the official name might be (I will probably end up calling most all diner staff something else, as I did not notice nametags on either attendant during the first leg of my trip -- likely under the aprons.) Non-gender specific.
Red Cap staff member at stations who helps travelers get to and from trains, the club lounges and, I assume, the outside world. Non-gender specific.
INTRODUCTION
I am a 45-year-old Floridian visiting relatives in Oregon after about five years with little contact and no other big vacations. I'm introverted, so comments about struggling to chat with other passengers should be viewed as my own hangup, not any character flaws on their parts.
I've taken two-plus weeks off work for this, my first Amtrak rail journey, to attend a life event for my niece -- hence my chosen moniker for this forum.
I trust the more knowledgeable members of Amtrak Unlimited will correct any errors I make in describing particuars of the trains, stations or other aspects of rail travel. Thanks in advance, and while I won't take such corrections personally, I also won't likely thank you individually.
My primary audience for this are my parents. Dad's a steam train enthusiast in theory, but as Mom doesn't travel well, they don't take vacations, either. I hope my descriptions help them travel vicariously with me to visit their only grandchild a continent away.
I do not intend to post photos, mostly as I can't figure out how to downsize the images my iPad takes with its cracked screen.
I'll slug all my posts with "Auntie C" this or that, for ease of finding (or avoiding) them.
FORMAT
I'm compiling these trip reports from emails I send to a handful of kith and kin, taking out the duller bits (I hope). For the first leg, I started typing while on the Silver Meteor, so real-time intrusions into the narrative are separated by ellipses and perhaps time signatures. If I continue to type as I go, this format might persist. It makes sense to me, an you are welcome to stop reading if it does not appeal to you.
My Bluetooth keyboard, as I discovered in my first email, tends to double some characters. I doubt I'll be diligent in proofing, so please forgive typos.
return LEG 2.5: overnight in Chicago (area) at Amtrak's expense, Saturday, June 13, 2015
11:30 p.m. Central time, in the Quality Inn Burr Ridge 20-some miles outside Chicago, room 227
The No. 6 California Zephyr pulled in to Chicago's Union Station at 8:50 p.m. Saturday. The sleeper csars being st the end of the train it was a long hike up the platform and through the station to Passenger Services, where I stood in line with others waiting to sort out our travel arrangements.
The two Amtrak staffers behind the counter were calmly helping bleary-eyed, someties grouchy passengers as quickly as they could. I appreciated their efforts.
I and many of the others received hotel ($103 and change, it stated) and meal vouchers (good for $10 inside CUS at any restaurant).
Then I was sent across the hall to ticketing to arrange for my next leg of travel -- except the nice lady there said Sunday's Capitol Limited was booked full in the sleeper cars, so I'd have to wait in line again at Passenger Services to see what they proposed. I could do it tonight, or in the morning.
As I was not sure when the bus was leaving for the hotel, I opted to sit with others awaiting rides.
By 9:50 p.m., I was sitting on a big white motorcoach, the nice driver placing everyone's luggage in the compartments below. We sat there maybe 20 minutes as the bud filled, then we took off through the city and up a highway ramp -- I saw Ashland station, which the Empire Builder had stopped at on my way west last week -- into Chicago traffic and light rain.
By 10:50 p.m., I was at the Quality Inn, standing in line again as everyone patiently waited for the two clerks (I think one got called in special to help) who made photocopies of our IDs but did not ask for credit cards from anyone. They said the hotel has free wifi and breakfast beginning at 6 a.m.
Before he left, the driver said he'd be back in the morning to return us to CUS -- he'll arrive by 10:30 and leave at 11.
Now at 11:40 p.m., I have plugged my dead cellphone into an outlet in the bathroom, and it seems to be charging. I was able to check messages and send a quick text to love ones (telling them to use email) before I shut it off again to fully power up overnight.
So. Many. People. My rural county in Florida claims fewer than 150,000 population, including the two incorporated towns. I think they'd all fit inside Chicago's Union Station, or one of the many skyscrapers.
There were more people walking past the train station last night at 10 p.m. than I would have dreamed possible -- couples returning from dinner dates, confused students trying to show their bus passes to our driver, random other travelers. This is when my hermit tendencies kick into high gear. I'm not officially agoraphobic, but I avoid crowds. More than three people I don't already know counts.
A city full of strangers? Torture. They might all be very nice individuals, but I start seeing them as a crowd.
I'd love to describe Chicago by night -- I got a crick in my neck, peering up at tthe skyscrapers as the bus left the city -- but I need sleep and a shower. Whatt must be urban derring-do on the part of drived in relatively tiny cars scooting into the lane used by the bus seemed more like reckless abandon to me.
7:36 a.m. CST Sunday, June 14, 2015, still at the hotel
Hooray, my cellphone is now fully charged. I take it for granted as an appendage, until circumstances such as insufficient/different electrical current prevent me from using it for two days. (It seems my car battery at home died, too, when Best Beloved tried to move it around for me. So glad I did not drive to the train station myself.)
Now to investigate the wonders of the Quality Inn's free breakfast.
8:23 a.m. cereal, pastries, bread, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, meat, other meat, toaster, microwave, all-you-can-slurp coffee and juice, with hot water for tea or oatmeal and -- drumroll, please -- a flip-it-yourself WAFFLEMAKER!
Breakfast bliss. I sampled several items while watching Chicago news on the television: rain, deaths, a park grand opening, hockey playoffs.
I plucked a Chicago attractions map out of the tourist-brochure rack. I know we passed signs for the airport last night, but I can't find Burr Ridge. ... Ah, I was looking north, not southish. We're on the border of Cook and DuPage counties, near the intersection of Interstates 55 and 294.
One of my favorite authors, Jim Butcher, sets his bestselling Harry Dresden urban fantasy series in Chicago. The city, in his books, has seen fairies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, mobsters, evil magicians, various monsters and a zombie dinosaur. With this map, I might now reread the first books to know what places he mentions.
The cars zipping past on the interstate outside provide a constant white noise, much like the running of a train.
10:20 a.m., same driver is outside as I turn in my room key, loading luggage into the storage area of the bus. As he said last night he would not leave until 11, we might have a long wait for the stragglers. I estimate slightly fewer than half the people who rode out are on board now.
I snagged a seat just behind the driver, to get a good view as we drive.
This section of Burr View seems a standard layout for interstate exits: a long strip of medium-sized business offices interspersed with hotels, restaurants and, closer to the exits, gas stations, all buffering the residences from the road noise. I am guessing on that last part, as I did not walk to the back of the hotel to see if there truly are homes on the other side of the shrubbery and fences.
11:07 a.m. the driver closed the doors, saying we have four who don't want to go or who left already. I think it mght be the Mennonite family, as I heard the young wife on her cellphone saying something about an early bus/train out.
CHICAGO BY DAY
12:06 p.m., inside the Metropolitan Lounge
It's an intermittently rainy, overcast day, but the view of the city as we approached was impressive and intimidating. I don't think I'll be wandering about on my own today, but I might venture out of the Metropolitan Lounge to use my $10 food voucher. (I wonder if Nuts on Clark counts? I saw many happy people munching popcorn and peanuts during my layover on the trip out last week.)
The uppermost floors and spires of the tallest tower (you know the one), got lost in passing clouds, making it a true skyscraper.
Driving in on I-55, we passed a massive factory with a distinctive chimney or cooling stack in an industrial area, then a long series of warehouses used by graffiti artists to showcase their works -- the one with initials STM gets around, as I saw those same letters later on another building.
Traffic increased the closer we got to downtown. Just after passing the fading Canal Street memorial to the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks, the driver exited down to street level (Canaal Street itself) to get to Union Station. I now know which way to walk to get to a shopping district with a Whole Foods grocery store, assumming I ever would walk that far. Waiting for the cars in the bus lane to clear took longer than driving the ssside streets, it seemed -- the drive finally gave up hope one vehicle would move, and let us out with the motorcoach still angled slightly into traffic.
I returned to Passenger Services, where a nice lady named Linda escorted me over to ticketing again -- my space on today's No. 30 Capitol Limited was already in the computer, so she was baffled by someone last night telling me the train was full without me. Perhaps it was because I had originally books a bedroom -- I now find myself in a roomette.
Having checked my suitcase in the lounge, I now have six hours to wander, or sit, or both, before I need to return and prepare to board my train. The staff behind the lounge reception desk took my dinner seating reservation (earliest possible for me, 7 p.m.) Judging by the roomette number, I might get to try the lower lever this trip.
Now I'm back on track for my journey, I'll save any further sttation hijinks for my next trip report.
(these first bits will appear in each post -- scoll down to get to the new stuff)
ORL to WAS = Orlando, Fla., to Washington, D.C., on Silver Meteor 98; sleeper car roomette -- "Auntie C begins her grand tour"
WAS to CHI = Washington to Chicago, Ill., on Capitol Limited 29; sleeper car roomette -- "Auntie C gains perspective"
CHI to PDX = Chicago to Portland, Ore., on Empire Builder 27; sleeper car roomette -- "Auntie C beholds the Empire"
PDX to EUG = Portland to Eugene, Ore, on Coast Starlight 11 coach seat -- "Auntie C arrives at her destination"
return trip
EUG to SAC = Eugene to Sacramento, Calif., on Coast Starlight 11; sleeper car roomettte -- "Auntie C goes to California"
SAC to CHI = Sacramento to Chicago on California Zephyr 6; sleeper car roomette "Auntie C cuts through the middle"
Special edition: "Auntie C takes a detour"
CHI to WAS = Chicago to Washington on Capitol Limited 30; sleeper car /b/e/d/r/o/o/m/ -- now roomette
WAS to ORL = Washington to Orlando on Silver Meteor 97; sleeper car roomette
I'll not mention cars or rooms until after I've completed that leg of the trip. Nor do I intend to give the full names of Amtrak crew members -- the nametags state first initial and last name, but they tend to introduce themselves by first name.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
I picked these up from other trip reports, and will post atop each of mine to remind myself what terms I should use, adding as I learn more. (Then I'll forget and fail to use them.)
LSA-D lead service attendant - diner
TA-SC train attendant - sleeper car
TA-C train atendant - coach
waiter - other service attendants in diner car, as I'm not sure what the official name might be (I will probably end up calling most all diner staff something else, as I did not notice nametags on either attendant during the first leg of my trip -- likely under the aprons.) Non-gender specific.
Red Cap staff member at stations who helps travelers get to and from trains, the club lounges and, I assume, the outside world. Non-gender specific.
INTRODUCTION
I am a 45-year-old Floridian visiting relatives in Oregon after about five years with little contact and no other big vacations. I'm introverted, so comments about struggling to chat with other passengers should be viewed as my own hangup, not any character flaws on their parts.
I've taken two-plus weeks off work for this, my first Amtrak rail journey, to attend a life event for my niece -- hence my chosen moniker for this forum.
I trust the more knowledgeable members of Amtrak Unlimited will correct any errors I make in describing particuars of the trains, stations or other aspects of rail travel. Thanks in advance, and while I won't take such corrections personally, I also won't likely thank you individually.
My primary audience for this are my parents. Dad's a steam train enthusiast in theory, but as Mom doesn't travel well, they don't take vacations, either. I hope my descriptions help them travel vicariously with me to visit their only grandchild a continent away.
I do not intend to post photos, mostly as I can't figure out how to downsize the images my iPad takes with its cracked screen.
I'll slug all my posts with "Auntie C" this or that, for ease of finding (or avoiding) them.
FORMAT
I'm compiling these trip reports from emails I send to a handful of kith and kin, taking out the duller bits (I hope). For the first leg, I started typing while on the Silver Meteor, so real-time intrusions into the narrative are separated by ellipses and perhaps time signatures. If I continue to type as I go, this format might persist. It makes sense to me, an you are welcome to stop reading if it does not appeal to you.
My Bluetooth keyboard, as I discovered in my first email, tends to double some characters. I doubt I'll be diligent in proofing, so please forgive typos.
return LEG 2.5: overnight in Chicago (area) at Amtrak's expense, Saturday, June 13, 2015
11:30 p.m. Central time, in the Quality Inn Burr Ridge 20-some miles outside Chicago, room 227
The No. 6 California Zephyr pulled in to Chicago's Union Station at 8:50 p.m. Saturday. The sleeper csars being st the end of the train it was a long hike up the platform and through the station to Passenger Services, where I stood in line with others waiting to sort out our travel arrangements.
The two Amtrak staffers behind the counter were calmly helping bleary-eyed, someties grouchy passengers as quickly as they could. I appreciated their efforts.
I and many of the others received hotel ($103 and change, it stated) and meal vouchers (good for $10 inside CUS at any restaurant).
Then I was sent across the hall to ticketing to arrange for my next leg of travel -- except the nice lady there said Sunday's Capitol Limited was booked full in the sleeper cars, so I'd have to wait in line again at Passenger Services to see what they proposed. I could do it tonight, or in the morning.
As I was not sure when the bus was leaving for the hotel, I opted to sit with others awaiting rides.
By 9:50 p.m., I was sitting on a big white motorcoach, the nice driver placing everyone's luggage in the compartments below. We sat there maybe 20 minutes as the bud filled, then we took off through the city and up a highway ramp -- I saw Ashland station, which the Empire Builder had stopped at on my way west last week -- into Chicago traffic and light rain.
By 10:50 p.m., I was at the Quality Inn, standing in line again as everyone patiently waited for the two clerks (I think one got called in special to help) who made photocopies of our IDs but did not ask for credit cards from anyone. They said the hotel has free wifi and breakfast beginning at 6 a.m.
Before he left, the driver said he'd be back in the morning to return us to CUS -- he'll arrive by 10:30 and leave at 11.
Now at 11:40 p.m., I have plugged my dead cellphone into an outlet in the bathroom, and it seems to be charging. I was able to check messages and send a quick text to love ones (telling them to use email) before I shut it off again to fully power up overnight.
So. Many. People. My rural county in Florida claims fewer than 150,000 population, including the two incorporated towns. I think they'd all fit inside Chicago's Union Station, or one of the many skyscrapers.
There were more people walking past the train station last night at 10 p.m. than I would have dreamed possible -- couples returning from dinner dates, confused students trying to show their bus passes to our driver, random other travelers. This is when my hermit tendencies kick into high gear. I'm not officially agoraphobic, but I avoid crowds. More than three people I don't already know counts.
A city full of strangers? Torture. They might all be very nice individuals, but I start seeing them as a crowd.
I'd love to describe Chicago by night -- I got a crick in my neck, peering up at tthe skyscrapers as the bus left the city -- but I need sleep and a shower. Whatt must be urban derring-do on the part of drived in relatively tiny cars scooting into the lane used by the bus seemed more like reckless abandon to me.
7:36 a.m. CST Sunday, June 14, 2015, still at the hotel
Hooray, my cellphone is now fully charged. I take it for granted as an appendage, until circumstances such as insufficient/different electrical current prevent me from using it for two days. (It seems my car battery at home died, too, when Best Beloved tried to move it around for me. So glad I did not drive to the train station myself.)
Now to investigate the wonders of the Quality Inn's free breakfast.
8:23 a.m. cereal, pastries, bread, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, meat, other meat, toaster, microwave, all-you-can-slurp coffee and juice, with hot water for tea or oatmeal and -- drumroll, please -- a flip-it-yourself WAFFLEMAKER!
Breakfast bliss. I sampled several items while watching Chicago news on the television: rain, deaths, a park grand opening, hockey playoffs.
I plucked a Chicago attractions map out of the tourist-brochure rack. I know we passed signs for the airport last night, but I can't find Burr Ridge. ... Ah, I was looking north, not southish. We're on the border of Cook and DuPage counties, near the intersection of Interstates 55 and 294.
One of my favorite authors, Jim Butcher, sets his bestselling Harry Dresden urban fantasy series in Chicago. The city, in his books, has seen fairies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, mobsters, evil magicians, various monsters and a zombie dinosaur. With this map, I might now reread the first books to know what places he mentions.
The cars zipping past on the interstate outside provide a constant white noise, much like the running of a train.
10:20 a.m., same driver is outside as I turn in my room key, loading luggage into the storage area of the bus. As he said last night he would not leave until 11, we might have a long wait for the stragglers. I estimate slightly fewer than half the people who rode out are on board now.
I snagged a seat just behind the driver, to get a good view as we drive.
This section of Burr View seems a standard layout for interstate exits: a long strip of medium-sized business offices interspersed with hotels, restaurants and, closer to the exits, gas stations, all buffering the residences from the road noise. I am guessing on that last part, as I did not walk to the back of the hotel to see if there truly are homes on the other side of the shrubbery and fences.
11:07 a.m. the driver closed the doors, saying we have four who don't want to go or who left already. I think it mght be the Mennonite family, as I heard the young wife on her cellphone saying something about an early bus/train out.
CHICAGO BY DAY
12:06 p.m., inside the Metropolitan Lounge
It's an intermittently rainy, overcast day, but the view of the city as we approached was impressive and intimidating. I don't think I'll be wandering about on my own today, but I might venture out of the Metropolitan Lounge to use my $10 food voucher. (I wonder if Nuts on Clark counts? I saw many happy people munching popcorn and peanuts during my layover on the trip out last week.)
The uppermost floors and spires of the tallest tower (you know the one), got lost in passing clouds, making it a true skyscraper.
Driving in on I-55, we passed a massive factory with a distinctive chimney or cooling stack in an industrial area, then a long series of warehouses used by graffiti artists to showcase their works -- the one with initials STM gets around, as I saw those same letters later on another building.
Traffic increased the closer we got to downtown. Just after passing the fading Canal Street memorial to the Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks, the driver exited down to street level (Canaal Street itself) to get to Union Station. I now know which way to walk to get to a shopping district with a Whole Foods grocery store, assumming I ever would walk that far. Waiting for the cars in the bus lane to clear took longer than driving the ssside streets, it seemed -- the drive finally gave up hope one vehicle would move, and let us out with the motorcoach still angled slightly into traffic.
I returned to Passenger Services, where a nice lady named Linda escorted me over to ticketing again -- my space on today's No. 30 Capitol Limited was already in the computer, so she was baffled by someone last night telling me the train was full without me. Perhaps it was because I had originally books a bedroom -- I now find myself in a roomette.
Having checked my suitcase in the lounge, I now have six hours to wander, or sit, or both, before I need to return and prepare to board my train. The staff behind the lounge reception desk took my dinner seating reservation (earliest possible for me, 7 p.m.) Judging by the roomette number, I might get to try the lower lever this trip.
Now I'm back on track for my journey, I'll save any further sttation hijinks for my next trip report.
