# Traveling the Circumference of the Country



## Mike From CT (Jul 31, 2011)

Many years ago (before there was an Amtrak, or even a Penn Central), I would travel to and from college by train, every chance I got. Living in New York and attending college in Chicago, that meant a roomette on the 20th Century Limited or Broadway Limited. I loved them both.

Two years ago, I had the chance to rekindle my love of traveling by train, as two of my children and I took the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emoryville, en route to Alaska (the long way). In spite of an unfortunate start (before we'd left Illinois the train hit a car, the car hit a signal tower and the signal tower came down on the train, decommissioning the second engine, the first sleeper and minor damage to the second sleeper and the dining car - end result, we were 24 hours behind schedule before we'd left Illinois), the bug had bitten.

So, this summer, my adult daughter and I are taking the ultimate train trip around the edge of the country (as much as possible) by train. Well, mostly by train. We were supposed to start in Boston aboard the Lakeshore Limited on Monday. But there will be no Lake Shore Limited out of Boston on Monday, so we'll be starting our around the country by train trip on a bus from Boston to Albany.

The rest of the trip is Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Empire Builder to Seattle, Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, Sunset Limited to New Orleans, Crescent to New York, and then the very unglorious "Northeast Corridor Service" to Hartford, with several days in the various named cities - mostly so we don't miss the connections but also for a bit of sightseeing and visiting relatives.

I'll keep you informed as we progress. Meanwhile, travel tips and comments are always welcomed....


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## stntylr (Jul 31, 2011)

Sounds like a great trip. Have fun!

If only the Sunset limited still went to Florida then it could be a true lap around the country.


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## Mike From CT (Jul 31, 2011)

stntylr said:


> Sounds like a great trip. Have fun!
> 
> If only the Sunset limited still went to Florida then it could be a true lap around the country.


That was Plan A when we decided to make this our next trip, two years ago - especially since my other daughter (and, more importantly, my granddaughter) lived in the Orlando area at the time. We waited an extra year hoping Amtrak and the local municipalities could come to an agreement. IN the mean time, my daughter and her family moved back to the Boston area and it doesn't look like the Sunset LImited is going to be extended any time soon, so we decided not to wait any longer.

Oh well, there's always the Cardinal, the City of New Orleans, the restarted part of the Sunset Limited and one of the Silvers if they do....


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## Mike From CT (Aug 3, 2011)

First Leg (The Lake Shore Limited)

It was a very easy trip. 3 hour bus trip Boston to Albany, 4 hours waiting for train in Albany since our bus didn't make any intermediate stops, and a train that left on time and arrived in Chicago within an hour of on time. (Okay, it was about 40 minutes late).

Sleeper (The Beach View) was showing its age, but clean and had no creaks or rattles whatsoever.

Attendent was fine - friendly and helpful and full of advice about the rest of trip. Seems a lot of folks wanted their rooms turned down about the same time we did (well after dinner), so was late getting to ours. But next morning when I needed coffee just to get to the diner for breakfast and the machine in our car was broken, he insisted on going down to the lounge/cafe to get me some. I haqd said he had work to do and getting me that coffee wasn't necessary. HIs response was that getting me that coffee _was_ his work. End of discussion 

He was well tipped when we got off.

Dinner was less than spectaular. Okay, mine was awful. I had the fish, in spite of recommendation from dining car attendent that I chose something else - anything else. It was supposed to be fresh rainbow trout, but looked and tasted more like a dessicated, oversized sardine - very, very dry and very very fishy. Oh, well..... two lessons learned:


Stay away from the "fresh" fish
LIsten to the attendant


I won't make those mistake again.

Pleasant diner companions and falling asleeep to the sound of the rails and I'm a happy customer.

Today, the Empire Builder; tomorrow the world. (Well, actually, tomorrow is still the Empire Builder - and so is part of Friday. I really don't want to get bussed from Spokane....


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## jb64 (Aug 4, 2011)

hope you got to stay on the train all the way to Seattle. Enjoying your posts. I had the catfish on the EB and it was pretty good.


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## Mike From CT (Aug 6, 2011)

Second Leg - The Empire Builder

In short, not bad. Not bad at all.

We left bout 40 minutes late - the equipment was slow to arrive.and then got stuck behind a Metra commuter train for a bit, but we weren't expecting on time at all points to begin with, so it didn't bother us. THings got worse outside of Redwing, when we took the siding to wait for a freight and it turned out that that freight had to stop while the police removed some "unauthorized passengers" from the freight. Then, of course, we lost more time travelling the flood weakened tracks across North Dakota (in places, even with the tracks raised, the waters were still awfully close to the ties), so we ran under some slow orders (well, not exactly slow orders so much as "If you can catch the snail on the tracks you're going too fast" orders). BUt we did get to see the results of one derailment where the tracks had given out under a freight, dumping cars and wheat along the track. Seems the derailment happened some days ago (our SCA noted he had seen them there the last time he came through) so kudos to BNSF for getting the tracks repaired, even if they still hadn't recovered the errant cars (my guess - because it would have shut down the line and there was still too much of a backup to permit a further shutdown to the line). Anyway, lots of birds enjoying the flooded land, even if the farmers weren't.

Without all the gory timetable details, we saw North Dakota and Montana a lot longer than expected and hit the scenic parts around Glacier National Park far too late to see anything. We lost some tme and made up some time and arrived in Seattle 4 hours late - not enough to complain about, especially since I was worried we'd end up getting bussed from Spokane.

As is planned for the entire trip, we had a bedroom in the 730 sleeper (Georgia - I'm better with names than car numbers -, on this train). One thing I never expected that requires a bit of a digression....

In the 1960, back when there was a draft, I served in the army for two years. Once, on field maneuvers, I thought I'd lucked out, getting to sleep in the medical Armorered Personel Carrier. It had (as I recall), stretchers stacked four high, with very little space between them and, during the night, I got turned around in my sleeping bag on one of the stretchers. I couldn't get out and I couldn't sit up and, for the only time in my life, I suffered serious claustrophobia. Well, the only time in my life until I climbed into the top bunk in the superliner and had to slither, rather than crawl to the head of the bunk. Long story short, since it didn't bother my daughter, I'll be in the bottom bunk for the rest of the trip (at least until the Crescent, which has more headroom for the upper bunk in it's Viewliners) - and my daughter will have something to hold over my head for the rest of my life.

Outside of that small detail, the accommodations were fine. We didn't see any need to visit the lounge at all. (Might have been different as we passed through Glacier National Park, if that had happened during daylight or dusk hours and the lounge was gone with the Portland section before we hit the Cascades) .

The staff was also great. Our SCA, Stan, had been at his job for almost 35 years and had 17 months left until retirement. Very friendly, very helpful and couldn't wait to retire. He was tasked with training newer SCA's (none on this trip) and didn't think they took sufficient pride in their work. We haven't had a bad experience yet, but we still have three more legs (and we've been warned that the crews out of New Orleans - in our case on the Crescent - aren't the best Amtrak has to offer.). The dining car crew were also fine. Our special of the day (Why does Amtrak call it the special of the day, when it's the same special every day on a given train?) was a pork chop. First night my daughter and I both had it for dinner and it was so good, my daghter stuck with it the second night - when it wasn't quite as good (a tad overcooked and dry). Second dinner, I had the steak (a hanger steak, whatever that is) and it was fine. I wouldn't recommend riding the rails for the cuisine, but our experience so far is that it's still better than my cooking (okay, so that's a very low bar....  ). LUnch was trhe Angus BUrger (and, for the second day, when we got an unscheduled linch) it was a ham and cheese sandwich eaten in the room, snce the dining car crew had to set up for dinner on the eastbound EB that evening, before they got to turn it over to the crew for that trip.

Also learning that it isn't the food that makes a pleasant dining experience on Amtrak. It's the dinner companions. I'm a city boy. To me, the stuff growing in the fields is corn if it has tassles (I'm an authority on corn after sitting in a cornfield for 5 hours on the California Zephyr two years ago). After that if it's tall, it's wheat and if it's short it's soybeans. At one meal, we had companions who were from farming country and I am absolutely delighted to let the world know what I called soybeans really were soybeans. On wheat, well, I learned to differentiate wheat from rye (and promptly forgot, so it'll just be wheat until I get another dinner companion who knows better.) Another companion was a single traveler who, it turns out, was a Mechanical Engineer for the CP. We talked trains and my daughter was a good sport who didn't complain.

On the wine and cheese tasting...., well.... I'm no oenophile, but I'm not rushing out to buy wines from Washington....

Scenery summary: There's a lot space in North Dakota. Whoever designed it, made it far too big. It probably shows a lot of callousness to say I'm glad that much of it had been turned into a bird sanctuary by the flooding. But the Upper Mississippi had some great spots as did the short run along the Colombia and running through the forests in the Cascades also offered some beautiful moments. Now, all I have to do is pass through Glacier National Park in the daytime....

One final note. I am sorry to report that my nswer to the almost universal question, "Where are you headed?" won't' get quite the quite the looks it's gotten so far. I just don't see folks looking quite as perplexed as the ones on the Westbound EB looked when I answered "Hartford, CT - the long way" . Now for a long weekend in Seattle and then, on Monday, the Coast Starlight. If, perchance, anyone reading this is on that train and happens to ask a dining room compnaion where their headed and you get the answer "Hartford, CT - the long way", please do me a favor.... Look perplexed....


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## dan72 (Aug 11, 2011)

We Stan as well on our trip. He's a character, but a good guy. An yes, he has no bones about telling you he can't wait to retire! 

Dan


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## the_traveler (Aug 11, 2011)

Good report so far! Keep it up!

If you want to make somebody look perplexed, do what I did. I was on the Cardinal from CHI to CVS. They asked "Where are you headed?", and I honestly said "Chicago!"




(I was going from CHI to CHI, via CVS, NOL and SAS!



)


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## Mike From CT (Aug 12, 2011)

Third Leg - Coast Starlight

I'm still loving traveling by train. And this one was actually on time arriving in LA.

The sleeper rattled more but folded pieces of notebook paper jammed in the rattling door to the adjacent compartment solved that one. (Traveling tip: include sheets of paper to stop the rattles - they work better than duct tape.) SCA this leg was Bob. Best way to describe him was efficient. Not much of a conversationalist except at the longer station stops. Looks to be a lot younger than I am, but was 75. I should be half that efficient (and proficient) when I'm his age. I'm in love with the Parlour Car. The wi-fi was not working and the movie theater was not working, but it's an amazingly comfortable car and not nearly as crowded as the lounge car. I wish it was a feature on all the trains. (WE skipped both wine tastings - the only time access to the parlour car is restricted although, at my age, "must be over 21" is definitely not a restriction.)

The "character" among the staff on this train was Gregory, in the dining car. Funny and fun, and very irreverent. Definitely not "efficient", but a big laugh and a lot of fun. Also had some great dining companions, including an oceanographer whose home town in Mississippi on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico was wiped out by Katrina and had since moved to Pennsylvania, an author of both technical publications and self-published anecdotal stories, one book of which he gave me. I owe him a private note of thanks and appreciation.

Some really, really beautiful scenery coming through the Cascades (I seem to have an affection for wooded mountain scenery), and a run along the Pacific near the end of the trip (including past the launch towers of Vandenberg AFB). Only sorrow was that we passed Mt. Shasta in the dark. The trip guide says it's beuatiful by moonlight. I can't affirm that as it was cloudy and we didn't see the mountain at all. Some day, I'll repeat the trip in the opposite direction and get to see all the things the night kept us from seeing. But there has been plenty to see.

Only "odd" note on this leg was the repeated warnings about not smoking on the train. I can only guess, but my guess is there was some somewhere on the train.

Fun moment: At 6:30 AM someone on the staff (Dustin in the lounge?) whispered over the PA "Coffee. Fresh Coffee". It was fun for me, anyway. I need my coffee and I was already well awake. Can't speak to the lounge coffee, because Bob already had the coffee in our sleeper ready.

Lessons so far....

How much one enjoys the trip depends a lot on expectations. The food has been more than adequate and I haven't repeated a main dish yet (except the Angus Burgers at lunch). Is it five star dining? Not by a long shot. But there has been only one meal on the trip that was "grousable" - and the dining car attendent tried to warn me off that one. Others have all been good.

I can't scrounge up a single complaint about any of the crew on any train so far (although we've been warned by the crews we've had that the NOL crews are the worst in the system). Some staff members are more memorable than others, but what matters is whether they do their job - and we haven't had a single one who hasn't done his/hers completely.

Shared dining is one of the highlights of traveling by Amtrak. Two years ago, there were three of us traveling together and that kind of squeezed the 4th at meals out of the converstaion. This time, we've met a lot of people who've made the trip even better. I'd be hard-pressed to rank the benefits of train travel, but this has definitely been one of top ones.

I'd add the most important lesson learned is "Never shave on a moving train" but I haven't even dared to try shaving on the train - yet. Maybe on the last leg when, if I'm at risk of death by desanguination, at least I'll have had the experience of most of the trip behind me, instead of still ahead of me.... 

Signed,

Now an Amtrak junkie


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## trainman74 (Aug 12, 2011)

Mike From CT said:


> I'd add the most important lesson learned is "Never shave on a moving train" but I haven't even dared to try shaving on the train - yet.


I shave on the train on every trip and haven't lost any blood.

(I use an electric razor.   )


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## TraneMan (Aug 15, 2011)

trainman74 said:


> Mike From CT said:
> 
> 
> > I'd add the most important lesson learned is "Never shave on a moving train" but I haven't even dared to try shaving on the train - yet.
> ...


Pfft.. Dare you try the real razer!


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## Brandon V (Aug 16, 2011)

Mike From CT said:


> Many years ago (before there was an Amtrak, or even a Penn Central), I would travel to and from college by train, every chance I got. Living in New York and attending college in Chicago, that meant a roomette on the 20th Century Limited or Broadway Limited. I loved them both.
> 
> Two years ago, I had the chance to rekindle my love of traveling by train, as two of my children and I took the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emoryville, en route to Alaska (the long way). In spite of an unfortunate start (before we'd left Illinois the train hit a car, the car hit a signal tower and the signal tower came down on the train, decommissioning the second engine, the first sleeper and minor damage to the second sleeper and the dining car - end result, we were 24 hours behind schedule before we'd left Illinois), the bug had bitten.
> 
> ...


The dreaded...bustitution...  :angry: :giggle:


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## Mike From CT (Aug 16, 2011)

Fourth Leg - Sunset LImited

Los Angeles - New Orleans

Scenic Highlights: (stay with me here, I'm desperately trying to find some....)

Desert - especially the starker terrain of West Texas -- can be impressive, but it needs some serious editing (or a mag-lev train). There's far too much of it. The Pecos River High Bridge is worth watching for and San Antonio looks like a city worth visiting, albeit not at midnight. We were two hours late and advised to stay close to the train, which whould be leaving as quickly as possible. "As quickly as possible" turned out to be the normal two hours - and then some as we moved from the station to the refueling rack east of the station. For time keepers, we arrived in New Orleans on time - that's two trains that did that so far. Color me amazed.... 

Staffing:

It didn't start out well (or I thought it didn't). Our SCA, Ephren(sp?), had our sleeper and the dorm/sleeper to attend to and when we boarded, he was nowhere to be found (turns out he as helping someone in the dorm sleeper). But we found him (or he found us - by now we're experts at finding the E bedroom in -30 car. But Ephren kept the survival center (coffee, juice and water station) stocked for the entire trip and the juice was even on ice. 24 hour coffee may not be a plus for coffee aficionados, but I started life as a programmer and I can't tell the difference between a great cup of coffee and caffeinated sludge oil.

Odds and Ends

A New Tip for those traveling in sleeper bedrooms: Bring baggies. At least it sounds like a great idea, but we didn't. (I've never seen this one) The baggie is to catch drips from the shower head, Getting up at 3 AM for "the call of nature" (something we old folks seem need to do) can turn stockinged feet in soggy stockinged feet if the shower head decides to drip. I suppose a towel on the floor works, but at 3 AM that sounds like it requires too much thinking.

And tomorrow (8/17) we begin the last leg, on the Crescent. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying New Orleans. Like New York City, it never sleeps. (New Orleans :is the only new city on the trip, so pardon that one digression....  )


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## spidersfan351 (Aug 16, 2011)

Mike, sounds like a tremendous trip! Dad and I did the CZ and Empire Builder last December, but reverse of your direction. I'm riding the Sunset from San Antonio to NOL in three weeks, and then the Crescent back to VA Would love to know your thoughts on what to do in NOL and the consist of both trains!


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## Bob Dylan (Aug 16, 2011)

spidersfan351 said:


> Mike, sounds like a tremendous trip! Dad and I did the CZ and Empire Builder last December, but reverse of your direction. I'm riding the Sunset from San Antonio to NOL in three weeks, and then the Crescent back to VA Would love to know your thoughts on what to do in NOL and the consist of both trains!


:hi: Getting to stay in New Orleans is a reward for the endless miles across the deseret that is the SW! Glad you enjoyed the ride, I too am amazed @ the OTP of the Sunset since its been running late recently! Glad the OBS was good too, the Sunset is known for good food and good OBS! Ive ridden your route many times and I still wish I was on the Trains with you! Nice job, look forward to the Crescent ride, hope it goes smooth too! And thats not a cruise ship youre on, its the Crescent crossing the Lake!!!


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## Bob Dylan (Aug 16, 2011)

spidersfan351 said:


> Mike, sounds like a tremendous trip! Dad and I did the CZ and Empire Builder last December, but reverse of your direction. I'm riding the Sunset from San Antonio to NOL in three weeks, and then the Crescent back to VA Would love to know your thoughts on what to do in NOL and the consist of both trains!


Weve had many threads and Trip Reports about New Orleans, Google them up! Just for starters the Street Cars are a must(get a day pass), the Free Ferry to Algiers, the Food,the Music, the Street characters, the French Market, the Garden District(including the Zoo), the Museums etc. etc. Bourbon Street is worth seeing Once IMO (be careful @ night away from the Quarter, use cabs if going far), and last but not least the Fablous Magnolia Room for Sleeping Car pax @ Union Station! (theres no Magnolias there!  :giggle: )

As to the consists, on the Sunset youll have two Engines, Baggage car,Transdorm, Revenue Sleeper,a real Diner, Sightseer Lounge, 3 Coaches. On the Crescent your Engines, Baggage Car, two Sleepers(Viewliner),Heritage Diner,Cafe/ Lounge car, and three Coaches! (I have seen four on the back of this Train!)


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## NETrainfan (Aug 18, 2011)

Am enjoying your trip report, Mike. What an adventure!


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## Mike From CT (Aug 20, 2011)

*Fifth (and last, not including NEC) leg - The Crescent*

New Orleans - New York

*Scenery:*

Okay, so I groused about the barren stretches on the Sunset Limited, so i suppose i can't grouse about the verdant stretches of the Crescent - where we couldn't see anything except trees on both sides of the tracks and the kudzo growing over everything. It was definitely green.... 

Real scenery of note is coming into Washington, DC and seeing the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capital building. I've been top DC any number times 9my daughter went to college at American University), so those aren't new sights or new sites for me, but I still love seeing them. Funny thing is, born in NYC, the NYC skyline wasn't as impressive. I suspect that, if you've never seen it, it makes the top ten list of things to see from the Crescent (aside for DC and NYC, I'd have trouble filling the other eight spaces in the top 10 - although I suppose Atlanta deserves a shout out somewhere on the list).

*Staff:*

Anyone who has been following this thread knows I was looking forward to a less than great crew on the Crescent. IN fact, our SCA (Al, more formally Albert) was the best we had pn the wjhole trip -- and I don't have a complaint about any we had. Al knew our names immediately, checked on us regularly (including advising me of cigarette stops, not that that thrilled my daughter) and even left mints on the beds at night.

*Schedule:*

Actually we arrived in NYC almost a half an hour early. I don't know of anywhere en route we were more than 10 minutes late.

*Equipment:*

I like the Viewliner sleepers better - more head room in the upper bunk. But, truth be told, if I put on another 20 pounds, I won't be able to get into the toilets on either set of cars if the fold-out seat is down - and we always had it down, so we could play cribbage and Uno. I'm not the sveltest guy in town, but I'm not way over weight, so really heavy folks need to beware.

*Miscellaneous:*

I should add some overall impressions, but I think I'll do that in a separate post.


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## Mike From CT (Aug 20, 2011)

*General Impressions:*

*Service:*

Excellent. I've never met an unpleasant Amtrak employee who wasn't willing to go out of his/her way to help. One would expect that, somewhere among the SCA's, dining car staff and lunge attendants there must be a rotten apple. But I didn't meet a single one that was even close and, with five major trains, we met a number of them.

*Food:*

More than adequate. I had one meal I regretted out of perhaps 20+ on this trip. The lunch sandwich (turkey and cheese on a baguette on every train) was nothing to write home about, but nothing to write to Amtrak to complain about, either. I certainly didn't loose weight, in spite of eating in the diners for all or parts of 12 of the 18 days we were gone. And, frankly, meals were the most "fun", meeting a variety of new people.

All that said, I would recommend heading to meals vbery early for the next to the last meal on any trip, as the scheudle for the last meal is very flexible, depending on expected arrival times. Heading into NY on th Crescent, I had a late (9 AM) breakfast), and the only call for lunch was at 10:30. I could have skipped my last Amtrak Angus burger, I suppose. BUt that idea never occurred to me at the time. 

*Keeping to schedule:*

Frankly, this was the most amazing part of the trip. Of the five trains, three were on time or early, one was all of 40 minutes late (which I don't consider a big deal) and one, hampered by slow orders resulting from flooding (The Empire Builder) arrived 4 hours late. Maybe that wouldn't have satisfied Mussolini, but I was expecting a lot worse.

*Best parts of the trip:*

The scenery. Some lasted too long, but seeing the US from ground level is an amazing sight I plan to do again (in the opposite direction so, hopefully, I can see the things I missed in the direction we took). My favorute part is forrested mountgains (The Cascades on this trip, the Sierra Nevadas on the California Zephyr), but it's all fascinating, albeit some of it in smaller doses than actually provided.

Fellow travelers. One 13-year old overly impressed with herself and one breakfast companion who hid behind a book excepted, my thanks to each and everyone of them. The food was fine, but it was meeting new folks I looked forward to most at meals.

*Travel Tips:*

There are a number of suggestions for things to bring along elsewhere in these forums. My experience on this trip was that we didn't need most. Sheets of folding paper (notebook or typewriter) stopped the rattles that bothered my daughter. We never used the large clips to close curtains - there was always enough velcro to keep them closed and I'm willing to donate an unopened roll of duct tape to anyone who things they may want one.

For the hardcore traveler, a CB receiver and a GPS might enhance the trip (the GPS not simply so you know where you are in the morning, but also so you know how fast you are traveling. We had the SCA in the next sleeper on the Crescent who kept his fired up solely for that reason.) I had a CB scanner I'd bought for the CZ trip two years ago, but I didn't bring it, this time.

*Final piece of advice:*

If you've heard getting there is half the fun, don't believe it. It's at least 75% of the fun. If you have the time, go by train. If you don't have the time, go somewhere closer by train.


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## pennyk (Aug 20, 2011)

Great report. Thanks.


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## Mike From CT (Aug 20, 2011)

spidersfan351 said:


> Mike, sounds like a tremendous trip! Dad and I did the CZ and Empire Builder last December, but reverse of your direction. I'm riding the Sunset from San Antonio to NOL in three weeks, and then the Crescent back to VA Would love to know your thoughts on what to do in NOL and the consist of both trains!


We had three nights in NOL (2 1/2 days - the Crescent leaves at the unholy hour of 7 AM). We didn't research what to do, so i don't know if this is the best option, but we did ride the St Charles trolley out to the garden district (past Loyola and Tulane Universities) and back (1.25 each way, exact change or pass required), took the Natchez (a steam driven paddle boat), had beignettes at the Cafe du Monde and walked along the river, took a tour of the bayous and wandered the French Quarter. All were more than worth while. One comment/warning on Bourbon Street. I loved the street musicians (especially a group of perhaps 8-10 who seem to have staked out the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets) and the live music blaring form the local bars. But if you have a young 'un with you there are some sights you might rather they not see, offering rather graphic pictures of the "delights"of some of the "Gentlemen's clubs" on the street. Of course, there was one with a redeeming neon sign: "1000's of beautiful girls and 4 ugly ones". I didn't get to check out that claim....

A side story that is totally irrelevant but we learned during our layover in Seattle....

During the gold rush period, Seattle conducted a census and discovered that there were over 2000 single females who listed their occupation as seamstresses. In an effort to increase tax revenues, the mayor thought that taxing sewing machines might be a way to raise some revenues so he sent out some undercover investigators to estimate how many so machines these 2000 seamstresses had. The investigators didn't find a single sewing machine. So, instead, the city licensed (for $10/month) what the "seamstresses" were really doing....





(If you get to Seattle, take the "Undergound Seattle" tour of the Pioneer Square area - "undergound" is literal, not a euphemism.)


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## Mike From CT (Aug 20, 2011)

spidersfan351 said:


> <snip>
> 
> ... and last but not least the Fablous Magnolia Room for Sleeping Car pax @ Union Station! (theres no Magnolias there!  :giggle: )


How could I have forgotten to mention the Magnolia Room? It was truly (well, maybe not truly "truly") the highlight of New Orleans....


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