Longhorn
Train Attendant
First leg of trip:
My husband and I flew from Austin to LAX on SWA on the evening of 8/13. We took the Flyaway bus from LAX to Union Station. That is a well-run organization. We only had to wait about 15 minutes to catch the bus, though it took awhile to get out of the airport since we were at the first stop and there were several more after ours. Note: you pay for the trip at a kiosk when you get to Union Station and they only take cash, though they can make change.
We decided to pick up our tickets that evening but the machine had no record of our reservation so we went to a window. It turns out, we couldn't do it at the machine because we had an $8 credit voucher from when I changed our reservation from Fisherman's Wharf to the Ferry Building. No problem at the window, though.
We then rolled our two suitcases and four carry-ons the three blocks to the Metro Plaza Hotel, which we thought was a nice, comfortable place to stay (with free wireless internet.) The next morning, we walked a block to Phillipe's French Dip and had pork French dip sandwiches for breakfast and bought two jars of mustard. Then we walked a few block around Chinatown and returned to the hotel to get our bags and walked to Union Station.
We waited almost an hour at the Coast Starlight lounge and enjoyed some coffee and juice. Every staff person we met at Union Station was extremely polite and helpful. We could have ridden the electric cart to the train with the redcap but decided to get some exercise and followed the conductor. We stowed our two big bags downstairs on the luggage rack and climbed the narrow steps up to Room 3 of car 1431. We were located on the east side of the train so we immediately went to the Parlor Car and spent most of the morning there. In fact, we ate lunch in there, too. We both had the chicken cherry walnut salad and thought it was quite tasty. We split a piece of carrot cake -- again, very good.
After an hour or so back in the roomette, we decided to get off the train to stretch our legs in San Luis Obispo. Now, here's a surprise! I'm a moderator on a political board and I had told my fellow moderators that I would be making this trip. One of the mods is from SLO and he sent me a PM telling me to watch for the balloons. I honestly thought he was joking and wasn't thinking about it at all when I saw a guy standing at the side of the track with two purple mylar balloons and a sign with my screen name! We visited for a few minutes before we had to get back on board. I'll never forget how sweet that was!
We returned to the Parlor Car for the wine tasting, which we also enjoyed. We made dinner reservations during the wine-tasting. We were going to buy some wine for dinner (which they will hold and chill) and another bottle to bring to our daughter but by the time we made up our minds, no one was manning the counter.
After another rest in our room, we returned to the dining room for our 7:15 dinner reservations. We were seated with a lovely older couple from San Luis Obispo who were headed to Oregon to visit family. My husband had the flat iron steak and I had the "pasta of the day," which was tortellini. I had the decadent chocolate tort while my husband had the cheesecake tort.
As the day went on, we lost a few minutes here and there until we were about half an hour late getting into Oakland. It took a few minutes for everyone to get on the bus and then the driver went in a different order so we were the next-to-the-last stop at the Ferry Building. A nice lady from Australia also got off there and was staying at the same hotel -- the Club Quarters on Clay near Battery -- so we walked with her since it was after 11 p.m.
The Club Quarters is a nice, modern hotel with free wireless internet. It is just five blocks from The Embarcadero. On our first full day in San Francisco, we walked up The Embarcadero to Pier 39 and had breakfast at the Eagle's Nest, a great restaurant overlooking the Bay where we had eaten on our last trip here seven years ago. We then walked over to Leavenworth and Jefferson to pick up our "hop on, hop off" double-decker bus passes that we had ordered through Expedia. The Golden Gate tour was just about to leave so we got on the bus on the upper level. While the tour was nice, it was also very cold and windy crossing the Golden Gate bridge. They have blankets but I didn't get one until just before our return. When we got back, we got some ice cream and then "hopped on" for the downtown tour and our hotel. Only it turns out, we accidentally got on another Golden Gate tour bus (no one ever checked our passes!) We decided to get off at the Museum of Fine Arts and catch a bus. With no bus route map, we had to walk a few blocks before we found a bus that would take us back to our hotel. The bus driver and passengers were very friendly and directed us to a transfer bus -- after a 30-second wait, we were on a bus that took us back to the hotel.
We rested for a few hours and then walked down to Pier 3 to catch the Hornblower dinner/dance cruise that we had also reserved through Expedia. Because the Golden Gate bridge was socked in with fog, we went under the Bay Bridge all the way up to Oakland and back. The food and service were wonderful and we enjoyed the three-piece jazz/cover band.
Today we went to catch the "hop on, hop off" bus and then realized it wouldn't get to our part of town until well after 10 a.m. So we found another bus that took us to Pier 39 and then we walked back to Leavenworth to rent bikes. On the way, I got a hoodie because I was determined not to freeze biking across the Golden Gate bridge. It's supposed to be an easy 8-mile trip but I couldn't ride up most of the inclines leading to the bridge (I'm just three weeks out from my last chemotherapy treatment and I haven't been exercising since I got my diagnosis on March 2.) But once we got on the bridge, it was a lot of fun and with all that sweat worked up, I didn't need the hoodie. We rode downhill all the way to Sausalito, parked the bikes, and ate a great lunch on the deck of a restaurant right on the Bay with fantastic views of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco -- at least, what we could see that wasn't covered with fog. After lunch, we walked around a little and then got our bikes and got in line to take the ferry to the Ferry Building. We rode our bikes on The Embarcadero back to Leavenworth and decided to take the "hop on, hop off" bus back to our hotel. This time, after a half-hour wait, we got on the right bus and got most of the downtown tour.
I was really wishing we had a bathtub and not just a shower in our room because I was definitely feeling the ride. The Club Quarters Hotel has a deal with several restaurants that you can order food for delivery and they just charge it to your room and bring it up to you for a $2.50 charge, so we stayed in and ordered Chinese food.
My conclusions:
The Coast Starlight lived up to its reputation in both service and beautiful scenery. The day flew by -- we could hardly believe we spent ten hours on the train!
The "hop on, hop off" bus wasn't worth it. If I had it to do over, I'd buy a Muni pass and a good map and take the buses wherever we wanted to go.
The Hornblower dinner/dance cruise was very special and enjoyable.
The bike trip across the Golden Gate Bridge was worth all the grunting and aches and pains. We rented our bikes from Bike and Roll. The ferry back to the Ferry Building (there's also one that goes to Fisherman's Wharf) was also a well-run entity.
The Club Quarters Hotel is a convenient, comfortable, and economical place to stay.
The next leg begins tomorrow morning with our trip to Denver on the California Zephyr!
My husband and I flew from Austin to LAX on SWA on the evening of 8/13. We took the Flyaway bus from LAX to Union Station. That is a well-run organization. We only had to wait about 15 minutes to catch the bus, though it took awhile to get out of the airport since we were at the first stop and there were several more after ours. Note: you pay for the trip at a kiosk when you get to Union Station and they only take cash, though they can make change.
We decided to pick up our tickets that evening but the machine had no record of our reservation so we went to a window. It turns out, we couldn't do it at the machine because we had an $8 credit voucher from when I changed our reservation from Fisherman's Wharf to the Ferry Building. No problem at the window, though.
We then rolled our two suitcases and four carry-ons the three blocks to the Metro Plaza Hotel, which we thought was a nice, comfortable place to stay (with free wireless internet.) The next morning, we walked a block to Phillipe's French Dip and had pork French dip sandwiches for breakfast and bought two jars of mustard. Then we walked a few block around Chinatown and returned to the hotel to get our bags and walked to Union Station.
We waited almost an hour at the Coast Starlight lounge and enjoyed some coffee and juice. Every staff person we met at Union Station was extremely polite and helpful. We could have ridden the electric cart to the train with the redcap but decided to get some exercise and followed the conductor. We stowed our two big bags downstairs on the luggage rack and climbed the narrow steps up to Room 3 of car 1431. We were located on the east side of the train so we immediately went to the Parlor Car and spent most of the morning there. In fact, we ate lunch in there, too. We both had the chicken cherry walnut salad and thought it was quite tasty. We split a piece of carrot cake -- again, very good.
After an hour or so back in the roomette, we decided to get off the train to stretch our legs in San Luis Obispo. Now, here's a surprise! I'm a moderator on a political board and I had told my fellow moderators that I would be making this trip. One of the mods is from SLO and he sent me a PM telling me to watch for the balloons. I honestly thought he was joking and wasn't thinking about it at all when I saw a guy standing at the side of the track with two purple mylar balloons and a sign with my screen name! We visited for a few minutes before we had to get back on board. I'll never forget how sweet that was!
We returned to the Parlor Car for the wine tasting, which we also enjoyed. We made dinner reservations during the wine-tasting. We were going to buy some wine for dinner (which they will hold and chill) and another bottle to bring to our daughter but by the time we made up our minds, no one was manning the counter.
After another rest in our room, we returned to the dining room for our 7:15 dinner reservations. We were seated with a lovely older couple from San Luis Obispo who were headed to Oregon to visit family. My husband had the flat iron steak and I had the "pasta of the day," which was tortellini. I had the decadent chocolate tort while my husband had the cheesecake tort.
As the day went on, we lost a few minutes here and there until we were about half an hour late getting into Oakland. It took a few minutes for everyone to get on the bus and then the driver went in a different order so we were the next-to-the-last stop at the Ferry Building. A nice lady from Australia also got off there and was staying at the same hotel -- the Club Quarters on Clay near Battery -- so we walked with her since it was after 11 p.m.
The Club Quarters is a nice, modern hotel with free wireless internet. It is just five blocks from The Embarcadero. On our first full day in San Francisco, we walked up The Embarcadero to Pier 39 and had breakfast at the Eagle's Nest, a great restaurant overlooking the Bay where we had eaten on our last trip here seven years ago. We then walked over to Leavenworth and Jefferson to pick up our "hop on, hop off" double-decker bus passes that we had ordered through Expedia. The Golden Gate tour was just about to leave so we got on the bus on the upper level. While the tour was nice, it was also very cold and windy crossing the Golden Gate bridge. They have blankets but I didn't get one until just before our return. When we got back, we got some ice cream and then "hopped on" for the downtown tour and our hotel. Only it turns out, we accidentally got on another Golden Gate tour bus (no one ever checked our passes!) We decided to get off at the Museum of Fine Arts and catch a bus. With no bus route map, we had to walk a few blocks before we found a bus that would take us back to our hotel. The bus driver and passengers were very friendly and directed us to a transfer bus -- after a 30-second wait, we were on a bus that took us back to the hotel.
We rested for a few hours and then walked down to Pier 3 to catch the Hornblower dinner/dance cruise that we had also reserved through Expedia. Because the Golden Gate bridge was socked in with fog, we went under the Bay Bridge all the way up to Oakland and back. The food and service were wonderful and we enjoyed the three-piece jazz/cover band.
Today we went to catch the "hop on, hop off" bus and then realized it wouldn't get to our part of town until well after 10 a.m. So we found another bus that took us to Pier 39 and then we walked back to Leavenworth to rent bikes. On the way, I got a hoodie because I was determined not to freeze biking across the Golden Gate bridge. It's supposed to be an easy 8-mile trip but I couldn't ride up most of the inclines leading to the bridge (I'm just three weeks out from my last chemotherapy treatment and I haven't been exercising since I got my diagnosis on March 2.) But once we got on the bridge, it was a lot of fun and with all that sweat worked up, I didn't need the hoodie. We rode downhill all the way to Sausalito, parked the bikes, and ate a great lunch on the deck of a restaurant right on the Bay with fantastic views of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco -- at least, what we could see that wasn't covered with fog. After lunch, we walked around a little and then got our bikes and got in line to take the ferry to the Ferry Building. We rode our bikes on The Embarcadero back to Leavenworth and decided to take the "hop on, hop off" bus back to our hotel. This time, after a half-hour wait, we got on the right bus and got most of the downtown tour.
I was really wishing we had a bathtub and not just a shower in our room because I was definitely feeling the ride. The Club Quarters Hotel has a deal with several restaurants that you can order food for delivery and they just charge it to your room and bring it up to you for a $2.50 charge, so we stayed in and ordered Chinese food.
My conclusions:
The Coast Starlight lived up to its reputation in both service and beautiful scenery. The day flew by -- we could hardly believe we spent ten hours on the train!
The "hop on, hop off" bus wasn't worth it. If I had it to do over, I'd buy a Muni pass and a good map and take the buses wherever we wanted to go.
The Hornblower dinner/dance cruise was very special and enjoyable.
The bike trip across the Golden Gate Bridge was worth all the grunting and aches and pains. We rented our bikes from Bike and Roll. The ferry back to the Ferry Building (there's also one that goes to Fisherman's Wharf) was also a well-run entity.
The Club Quarters Hotel is a convenient, comfortable, and economical place to stay.
The next leg begins tomorrow morning with our trip to Denver on the California Zephyr!
