More San Diego, The City on the Sea

Last I posted, The first day of exploration of San Diego was under way.  In this posting, we explore more of the city's charms.

Day Five – Forward Down The Field – or maybe not.

After the really good buffet, it was  time to head to Qualcomm and the reason for the trip, Lions/Chargers (yes, and to have a welcome trip with my mate.) The more I find about some of the San Diego infrastructure, the more impressed I am.  The Green line was a breeze to use, and dropped us off right at the doors of the stadium.  A huge tailgate party was going on in the parking lot featuring $5 beer and big screen tv’s showing some of the games in progress (!.)  After pictures with the Charger Girls, the gates were opened. Inside the stadium, although quite warm, (ok, hot) there was a breeze that at least made it tolerable to be among all those people.  I really need to take a moment in this narrative to make the following comment about the Chargers fan in back of me.  Although cute, she was the loudest, most obnoxious bitch I’ve ever been around. (Is that too harsh?)  Ended up pouring some of the water I had bought on to the towel I wrapped over my head. Whatever works.

After the Lions won the first half (memo to team – there are two halves,) we took the Green Line back to the hotel. Arriving back after a half hour ride, there was time to clean up, then go over to the harbor and the dinner cruise aboard the Flagship Princess.  A very good prime rib dinner, and a 2 ½ hour cruise of the harbor and the San Diego skyline.  Any pictures taken with a phone from the boat  did not do justice to the view.  Very reasonably priced for what was delivered.

Day Six – The Panda was stuffed (on bamboo)

Today was a trip to the San Diego Zoo; one of those places you hear so much about but usually comes up short.  Not so here.  As zoos go, this was first rate.  Lots of animals (although we bypassed the gorillas, and did not get very good pictures of the koalas,) giraffes were up close, and saw our first panda.  Sitting in the shade, eating bamboo, and ignoring humans as much as possible.  I did get some good pictures of the panda, just to show everyone I saw one.  This zoo however, would not be recommended for the walking tour.  Lots of uphill, and of course, downhill.  Dinner was excellent at the Fish Market restaurant after our return, and as has been the case on this trip, early to retire to the room.

San Diego awaits along with the sunshine

So we made it to San Diego, today we begin to explore the city.


Day Four – Priorities, Priorities

The Embassy Suites has a really good buffet breakfast. With that out of the way, the rest of the day fell in to place pretty easily.  In the morning we headed uptown to find a fruit store and a pharmacy (not in one place,) then returned to watch part of the Michigan/Oregon State game,, then walked the harbor walk again, stopping for strawberry margaritas along the way.  When we got back to the hotel, our friends had arrived from their flight in, and we watched Michigan State beat Oregon and hoped it was a harbinger of things to come tomorrow.  A late dinner, while needed, may have been too much, too late.

The train arrives, San Diego awaits

When last we left our journey, the Southwest Chief was about to arrive.  In today's entry, we embrace Southern California.

Day Three – It’s California, it’s supposed to be hot!

Up at 5:30 this morning and were able to get a quick breakfast in before de-training in Fullerton.  Dorothy (the car attendant on the Southwest Chief) was right.  We just crossed over the tracks, waited about 30 minutes and got on the Pacific Surfliner.

After passing through Anaheim, Mission Viejo, and others, we got our first view of the Pacific near San Juan Capistrano, and followed it most of the way until we got into San Diego.  The Surfliner was a smooth, scenic ride. After de-training at the Santa Fe Depot, It was about a 4 block walk to the Embassy Suites.  After 2 ½ days on various trains, the walk was welcome.  After checking in (and upgrading to a harbor view room on the 12th floor,) we walked over to the Seaport complex, a series of shops and restaurants both across the street from the hotel and also down on the water.  The weather was more humid than we had expected, even the locals said it was uncomfortable. The north end of the complex on the water was dwarfed by the USS Midway aircraft carrier and museum.  Found a few possibilities for future dinners, then returned to the room for much needed rest.

Rockin' along with Amtrak

Earlier we started our California trip, with the first day on the Southwest Chief.  Today, a full day across America or, Rockin' With Amtrak.

Day Two – No parsley, lots of sage, no one named Rosemary, no thyme.

One noticeable difference is the smoothness of the rail itself.  This is a pretty rocky ride, and instead of being rocked to sleep, you’re at times rocked awake.  Even the staff admits that because of the heavy usage of the line, it’s not a smooth ride.

Slept through most of Missouri, all of Kansas, and awoke in Colorado.  After breakfast, the first chance to get off the train came in La Junta, CO.  Along the walkway the natives had tables set up with trinkets, junk jewelry, and things that passengers might need (ear plugs, headphones, etc.).  After passing Fort Carson, the first hints of mountains are coming in to view.  Say what you will, in spite of the rocky rail, the Chief is running pretty much on time.

Going through the first tunnel of the trip, not too far from the New Mexico border.  It’s a long one. My ears are telling me we’re climbing, but it’s gradual. Memo #2 to Amtrak: clean the car windows once in a while.  There must have been a fire through here not too long ago, we can see scorched trees and new, green growth.

New Mexico was fairly boring until we got near Albuquerque when the mountains came in to view.  In many of the backyards abutting the track are lots of old cars and trucks, parked but still looking pretty solid.  Now, through western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, red buttes, fields of sage (always,) and best of all, triple track.  Lots of BNSF freight traffic going both ways.

The train had to actually make two stops in Williams, there were so many people getting off that they let the first class people off first, then pulled up to let the coach people off.  It was getting dark, so the “station” (actually a shack on a siding,) couldn’t be seen too well.  It was totally dark when we got to Flagstaff and Kingman, but as the saying goes, “I remember them well.”

Instead of going all the way to LA, we’re going to de-train tomorrow morning in Fullerton, CA., on suggestion of the car attendant.  Day 3 will be updated from the Pacific Surfliner (hopefully.)

California, here we blog

As mentioned in my last post, we had planned, and now have taken a cross country trip by rail (mostly) to California.  It ended up being a great trip, and for the next few posts, come along for the ride.  All Aboard!!!!

Day One - The Odyssey Begins

Memo to Amtrak: Five O'clock in the morning is way too early to board a train.    This will get us into Chicago having a 4 hour layover before boarding the Southwest Chief. Supposedly because we have a bedroom, we are considered "Premier" passengers meaning we get use of the “Metropolitan Lounge.” Nice room with comfortable seating, but for the love of God, can someone provide a remote control to get rid of Fox daytime talk shows??

When booking a trip such as this, there is no way that one should try and do the booking themselves.  Since bedrooms fill up first, and there are multiple changes along the route, it's better to go through the friendly people at Amtrak.

To try to compare the first day travel on the Southwest Chief to that of the Empire Builder is not a fair comparison.  The Builder went north through the Chicago suburbs, then through Milwaukee and on to Minneapolis.  The Chief, within an hour of departure out of Chicago is traveling through farms and small towns with a much different landscape.

Once out of the Racetrack and on to the double track, it seems like a rougher ride than what we had before.  Or, maybe since it’s been 6 years we might have forgotten what the first ride was like.

Corn, beans, graineries, silos and farms as far as the eye can see, of course with a cell tower thrown in here and there. The route followed US-34 for a while, but that is far gone now. Darkness seemed to come earlier than usual and once the room was turned down sleep came quickly – most likely because we were exhausted after the eventful day (ear plugs helped.)

I've had visitors??

I found out that there is a stats page associated with this blog.  Who knew?? Anyhow, I've seen that there have actually been people that look at these entries.  I don't know who you are, but thanks.  Like what I write or not, it's nice to see someone looking at this.  As I said on the first entry, I don't know where this is going, but thanks for sharing the ride.

In the future, I may take off on a different direction for a while.  I'm in the planning stages for a cross country trip by rail for a couple weeks and instead of starting a journal I may post entries of the trip here.  Again, I don't know where it will go, but check out the ride.