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gswager

Engineer
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
2,973
Location
southern Idaho
I reserved for Southwest Chief from Las Vegas, NV to LAUS in May, with roundtrip. To will be coach and return trip will be on roomette.

The agent gave me the room number 10, and I knew it is on end of a car, so I asked for different room. She showed 2 and others on bottom level. I immediately take #2.

Next step is to rent car. Found that Hertz is a rip-off at LAUS, so I'll have to go to either Burbank airport or LAX via public transportation. More fun to research!

Anyone else are planning to go on Amtrak for adventure?
 
gswager said:
Anyone else are planning to go on Amtrak for adventure?
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Well if my reply counts, then yeah! It is an adventure every week as no trip is the same as another! LOL.... OBS... :lol:
 
Two of my sons, the 11 and 13 year olds will be joining me for a guy thing on the Southwest Chief leaving Hutchinson Kansas on May 31 for Albuquerque for a few days and returning on the 3rd of June. No point in getting any first class accomodations on that stretch of railroad and at those times of departure and arrival. This will be the first real " absolutely no reason but ride the rails" trip I've taken. Maybe the last chance to go over Raton Pass. I'll have a chance to figure out that bridge in Apache Canyon too. The boys love to ride Amtrak too, so we will have a great time. I had a $100.00 travel voucher from Amtrak for a blooper on our Chicago trip last December. Figured I'd better get it used before GW invalidates it.
 
Spoke with Jon Stein (Amfleet) today, and he made reservations for our trip today. He will fly down to South Florida June 26. We will leave from Miami on Train 92 June 27 in Room 2 (for now) in Car 11 (we're trying to switch into an odd numbered room so the beds face the right way). Fortunately this will happen a few days after 92 begins running to Tampa again, so we will both get to ride the length of the run. We arrive in New York on the 28th. We will hang out in New York until 66 (that way I will have covered the entire corridor in daylight, since it should be getting light by the time we get to New Haven, and we may be able to go see a show or a Mets game in between trains). We will arrive in Boston, and do some train riding at some point, MBTA, maybe the Downeaster. I'm also going to try to get to a Red Sox game since they will be in town, and spend time in Orleans at one of my teacher's Inn. I will remain on the Cape until July 3 or 4 when I will make my way to Brattleboro to spend time with some friends. I will fly home most likely July 11. Going to be a fun trip.
 
gswager said:
Next step is to rent car. Found that Hertz is a rip-off at LAUS, so I'll have to go to either Burbank airport or LAX via public transportation. More fun to research!
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There is a Budget rental car counter at LAUPT right next to the Hertz counter; they have rental cars on site in the same lot Hertz does just a few feet away. Their rates are about 1/3 that of the adjacent Hertz counter. Go to the Budget rentals website and look for their location at 800 N. Alameda (Union Station). Those are the only two agenices that rent cars at LAUPT.
 
As soon as I can adjust my schedule, I plan to ride the City of New Orleans to Chicago to visit an aunt that I have never met before.

I always enjoy the train, and I always enjoy Chicago, but right now my heart is overwhelmed with the chance to see my grandfather's youngest sister for the first time ever!

I do plan to take some notes and send a trip report.
 
gswager said:
Midland Valley said:
I'll have a chance to figure out that bridge in Apache Canyon too.
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So am I!

If you have any questions about ABQ area, let me know.
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We are staying at the Double Tree downtown. I am presuming we can walk from the train station to the hotel. How about Bus service from there to the Natural History or Science museum. And is the rattle snake museum a must see? Where is the thing that goes up on top of the mountain (tram or whatever) and is it easy to get to? Anything else two boys need to experience in Albuquerque?
 
Yeah I'm flying to San Francisco then going cross country on the Califonia Zephyr and the CapItol Limited, spending a couple days in DC and the the Silver Meteor to Winter Park.
 
jccollins said:
gswager said:
Next step is to rent car.  Found that Hertz is a rip-off at LAUS, so I'll have to go to either Burbank airport or LAX via public transportation.  More fun to research!
Click to expand...
There is a Budget rental car counter at LAUPT right next to the Hertz counter; they have rental cars on site in the same lot Hertz does just a few feet away. Their rates are about 1/3 that of the adjacent Hertz counter. Go to the Budget rentals website and look for their location at 800 N. Alameda (Union Station). Those are the only two agenices that rent cars at LAUPT.
Click to expand...
Yes, I checked that out and it's on par with Hertz. Yesterday's quote was cheap than today's quote.
 
Midland Valley said:
We are staying at the Double Tree downtown.  I am presuming we can walk from the train station to the hotel.  How about Bus service from there to the Natural History or Science museum.  And is the rattle snake museum a must see?  Where is the thing that goes up on top of the mountain (tram or whatever) and is it easy to get to?  Anything else two boys need to experience in Albuquerque?
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Double Tree- yes you can walk about 5-6 blocks. It is very interesting place to walk, esp. along Central Ave (Historic 66 Route), if you carry light.

It has a website for ABQ Bus.

Only museum that I've been there is Albuquerque Biological Park/Aquarium. If you're a nature lover, it's a good place to see, including butterflies if it's in season.

For tram, it's a Sandia Peak Tram. It a must to see! You can ride up and hike down. Here's the map for the trails. There's no bus route for that.

There's semi-pro baseball team- ABQ Isotopes.

I'll leave that to you to explore on a map of bus routes.
 
rmadisonwi said:
gswager said:
There's semi-pro baseball team- ABQ Isotopes.
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Off topic, but I have to ask. Was this team so named before or after the Simpsons episode?
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I beleive New Mexico was a center for uranium mining in the 1950's and the Isotopes nickname is derived from that area activity. While there is still some mining in NM, much of today's uranium comes from Canada and Australia.

The Isotopes in Springfield are, of course, named for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Mr. Burns in charge.
 
Even if the car rental rates are higher at LAUS, to me one pays for the convenience of picking up and dropping the car off right there. That is worth a few dollars. For the life of me, I cannot picture getting off a train and then trodding all the way across town to LAX or Burbank when a car is right there.

Even more so on the return, when one is usually more pressed for time. When I dropped my car off last time (counter closed at 6PM, though I later found out that I could have dropped keys off after hours), we then had a nice, leisdurely dinner at Traxx in the station, before our 10:30PM Sunset Limited departure.
 
I would imagine that 'topes nickname also alludes to the presence nearby of Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories.
 
rmadisonwi said:
gswager said:
There's semi-pro baseball team- ABQ Isotopes.
Click to expand...
Off topic, but I have to ask. Was this team so named before or after the Simpsons episode?
Click to expand...
Yep, it's from Simpsons.

The new team name comes from an episode of "The Simpsons," in which the owner of the hometown Springfield Isotopes--so named because of the local nuclear power plant--considers moving the team to Albuquerque. Thanks to a hunger strike by Homer Simpson, the team remains in Springfield.

It comes from Baseball America.
 
The Topes are a "new" team so to speak. They were formerly the Calgary Cannons and moved to Albequerque a few years back. When they had the name the team contest Isoptopes was suggested and won.

On a seperate note, Jon was able to move us into Room 1. :D
 
Aaaah..summertime and time for my next Amtrak adventure. My trip lasts nine days and will take me across the country and back..New York to Jacksonville on the Siver Star, Jacksonville to Los Angeles in a roomette..a day in LA..catching the Bakersfield bus at 1:15am connecting with the San Juaquin to Oakland..a day in oakland=San Francisco, catching the Coast Starlight to Portland.,connecting with the Empire Builder, roomette to Chicago,Lake Shore Limited back to NY..totally by train..One of my vacations each year is a train trip..this is my itinerary this year..can't wait..the anticipation is always there no matter how many train journeys I take!
 

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