Rail Freak
Engineer
Well, I made it! Sort of! I walked a block to catch the Max line for the 1st time and, for some reason felt like I was in a hurry. That's where the Jelly Belly took over & I punched the button for 10- 2 hour tickets! :blink: Don't ask cause I dont know why!!! Any way I was quite popular there for a few minutes while I handed out free tickets!!! 
A couple felt sorry for me and since they were headed to the airport also ( on my tickets) they baby sat me on the green line thru the transfer to the red line @ the Rose Qutr. headed to the airport. The reason I went to the airport was because my Wyndham hotels had Airport Shuttles!!! Pretty simple, I just called the Ho Jo( $60/PN ) & they sent the shuttle for me. $5 tip beats the hell out of a $35 cab ride from Union Station, with that 1 little exception of 10 ticket finger twitch,LOL! Picked Wyndham hotels because of the 1K per stay promo! ( I'll let ya know how it all works out) Nice enough hotel with an Idian Restaurant & Bar on sight, a convenience store & Domino's next door!
The next day, I took the Ho Jo airport shuttle & once there called the Ramada ($70) Shuttle to pick me up for my 2nd nites stay. Once at the hotel, I threw my bags in the room & walked a few blocks to the blue line/ to Pioneer Square, where I people watched & took in the Visitors Center. I decided to take in the Chinese Garden (showin my age) & I must say, enjoyed it!!! As I walked toward the Max Line stop, A Pink Trolley drove up & placed a sign on the side walk. Apparently, it's a new service/business that does 90 minute narrated tours around Portland, but it's like the Old Town Trolley Tours where you can hop on & off all day for $24. Sounded like a good idea (& it was) so I hopped on there & did the remaining15 minutes of his 1st tour of the day while stopping to put out his side walk signs. BTW, Beautiful Portland day, 75 degrees & sunny!!! Once at Pioneer Square I got a delicious Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and sat down @ people watched some more, then back on the trolley for a really enjoyable trip!!! Once back at the square, I took the yellow line up to Union Station, then transfered to the blue line back to the hotel.Mind you, all this without buying any more extra tickets!!! :lol:
The next day was wet so I decided I needed a break to relax, so I did laundry at the hotel facilities , of course after I took the Airport Shuttle back to the airport & called the 1st days hotel shuutle for another stay!!!
(Keep in mind that this Portland stay was because i cancelled my plans in West Glacier because of lost confidence in the Empire Buider)
Then on the day I was to depart Portland the Hotel Shuttle figured out what I was doing & just dropped me off at the red line stop closest to the hotel where I took the Max Line to Union Station for the Coast Starlight # 11. Went to the Metropolitan Lounge where I was the only sleeper Pax to board as the #28 was 7 hrs. late. I had lunch with a Pasco couple who said Amtrak called them in the wee hrs to cancel their reservation with no alternatives. So, they rented a car & drove to Portland to jump on the #11!!!
I was in #13 in the 1131. No one in #12,14 orFamily Room, Alot of emty rooms because of the misconnect of the #28. Our car filled up a bit thru the night! Up @ 4:30 for shower but no towels, but I brought an extra along just in case & all was good. Grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the PPC where I ran into a pax that was on the #11 on the way up to Portland, but he had gone to Seattle.
Now, I made reservations on the #11 to MTZ so I could get breakfast & reduce layover time in SAC! While having breakfast I noticed something wasn't quite right. No announcements at all, breakast-cafe- Davis stop- nothing! I had another Jelly Belly feeling so I cut breakfast short & went back to my room. Since I had everything packed & ready to detrain, I just stood there while we stopped @ Martinez (connecting to the #6 CZ), without annoncements, & watched as folks from other cars were headed into the station!!! :help: Panic set in & I ran upstairs & spotted an 0range bag laying in the hall way, rushed to the room & there was my SCA shooting the breeze with the PAX in that room!!! :blink: !!! Well, we both ran down the stairs & she opened the door, & I swear, I hadn't taken 3 steps when I heard the toot toot & they were off! Now we were on time & I could have caught the CZ in Richmond I guess, buttttttttttt!!!!!!!!
The CZ rolled in on time I was in #13 in the 631 car with Will as SCA. Seems strange with no PPC! The last train trip was in Feb & there was snow everywhere! There is still some left in the Sierra Nevadas but most has melted & filling the lakes & rivers all over. The cafe car attendant had a satelite radio and listening to a base ball game. 2 plain clothes cops were walking the train looking for someone & they were met in Reno with a Canine unit. Carried away one fella but were still looking for more!
On my final day, I was up at 4:30, showered & in the SL til 6:30 breakfast. At our stop in Grand Junction, I had enough time (20 min) to walk over to a bank's ATM to resupply my tip fund. Shortly after leaving GJ they dumped the brakes all of a sudden. Seems as though a Dump Truck stalled on the tracks but we were able to stop in time. After a quick inspection, we were off again. There was a lady and her 11 year old son in #12 that seemed familiar & after half the day, it hit me! They had had lunch with me in the PPC 3 years ago on my 1st train trip! Small World! Crossing thru Grandby and Frazier I got very light headed like I did in Feb. Must be an age thing! :lol:
We were a litle early to Denver. The La Quinta hotel ( another summer Point Promo) was only a $4 cab ride & had a convenience store, Mc Dnalds & sports bar next to it. very nice.
Well it's 2:30 am & I'm waiting on the airport shuttle to fly home. What a Trip this Trip was!!!!
Had Fun
A couple felt sorry for me and since they were headed to the airport also ( on my tickets) they baby sat me on the green line thru the transfer to the red line @ the Rose Qutr. headed to the airport. The reason I went to the airport was because my Wyndham hotels had Airport Shuttles!!! Pretty simple, I just called the Ho Jo( $60/PN ) & they sent the shuttle for me. $5 tip beats the hell out of a $35 cab ride from Union Station, with that 1 little exception of 10 ticket finger twitch,LOL! Picked Wyndham hotels because of the 1K per stay promo! ( I'll let ya know how it all works out) Nice enough hotel with an Idian Restaurant & Bar on sight, a convenience store & Domino's next door!The next day, I took the Ho Jo airport shuttle & once there called the Ramada ($70) Shuttle to pick me up for my 2nd nites stay. Once at the hotel, I threw my bags in the room & walked a few blocks to the blue line/ to Pioneer Square, where I people watched & took in the Visitors Center. I decided to take in the Chinese Garden (showin my age) & I must say, enjoyed it!!! As I walked toward the Max Line stop, A Pink Trolley drove up & placed a sign on the side walk. Apparently, it's a new service/business that does 90 minute narrated tours around Portland, but it's like the Old Town Trolley Tours where you can hop on & off all day for $24. Sounded like a good idea (& it was) so I hopped on there & did the remaining15 minutes of his 1st tour of the day while stopping to put out his side walk signs. BTW, Beautiful Portland day, 75 degrees & sunny!!! Once at Pioneer Square I got a delicious Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and sat down @ people watched some more, then back on the trolley for a really enjoyable trip!!! Once back at the square, I took the yellow line up to Union Station, then transfered to the blue line back to the hotel.Mind you, all this without buying any more extra tickets!!! :lol:
The next day was wet so I decided I needed a break to relax, so I did laundry at the hotel facilities , of course after I took the Airport Shuttle back to the airport & called the 1st days hotel shuutle for another stay!!!
(Keep in mind that this Portland stay was because i cancelled my plans in West Glacier because of lost confidence in the Empire Buider)
Then on the day I was to depart Portland the Hotel Shuttle figured out what I was doing & just dropped me off at the red line stop closest to the hotel where I took the Max Line to Union Station for the Coast Starlight # 11. Went to the Metropolitan Lounge where I was the only sleeper Pax to board as the #28 was 7 hrs. late. I had lunch with a Pasco couple who said Amtrak called them in the wee hrs to cancel their reservation with no alternatives. So, they rented a car & drove to Portland to jump on the #11!!!
I was in #13 in the 1131. No one in #12,14 orFamily Room, Alot of emty rooms because of the misconnect of the #28. Our car filled up a bit thru the night! Up @ 4:30 for shower but no towels, but I brought an extra along just in case & all was good. Grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the PPC where I ran into a pax that was on the #11 on the way up to Portland, but he had gone to Seattle.
Now, I made reservations on the #11 to MTZ so I could get breakfast & reduce layover time in SAC! While having breakfast I noticed something wasn't quite right. No announcements at all, breakast-cafe- Davis stop- nothing! I had another Jelly Belly feeling so I cut breakfast short & went back to my room. Since I had everything packed & ready to detrain, I just stood there while we stopped @ Martinez (connecting to the #6 CZ), without annoncements, & watched as folks from other cars were headed into the station!!! :help: Panic set in & I ran upstairs & spotted an 0range bag laying in the hall way, rushed to the room & there was my SCA shooting the breeze with the PAX in that room!!! :blink: !!! Well, we both ran down the stairs & she opened the door, & I swear, I hadn't taken 3 steps when I heard the toot toot & they were off! Now we were on time & I could have caught the CZ in Richmond I guess, buttttttttttt!!!!!!!!
The CZ rolled in on time I was in #13 in the 631 car with Will as SCA. Seems strange with no PPC! The last train trip was in Feb & there was snow everywhere! There is still some left in the Sierra Nevadas but most has melted & filling the lakes & rivers all over. The cafe car attendant had a satelite radio and listening to a base ball game. 2 plain clothes cops were walking the train looking for someone & they were met in Reno with a Canine unit. Carried away one fella but were still looking for more!
On my final day, I was up at 4:30, showered & in the SL til 6:30 breakfast. At our stop in Grand Junction, I had enough time (20 min) to walk over to a bank's ATM to resupply my tip fund. Shortly after leaving GJ they dumped the brakes all of a sudden. Seems as though a Dump Truck stalled on the tracks but we were able to stop in time. After a quick inspection, we were off again. There was a lady and her 11 year old son in #12 that seemed familiar & after half the day, it hit me! They had had lunch with me in the PPC 3 years ago on my 1st train trip! Small World! Crossing thru Grandby and Frazier I got very light headed like I did in Feb. Must be an age thing! :lol:
We were a litle early to Denver. The La Quinta hotel ( another summer Point Promo) was only a $4 cab ride & had a convenience store, Mc Dnalds & sports bar next to it. very nice.
Well it's 2:30 am & I'm waiting on the airport shuttle to fly home. What a Trip this Trip was!!!!
Had Fun
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