Maglev
Conductor
At the Rosario Resort employee Christmas party in 2005, I won two free nights at the Coeur d'Alene Resort in Idaho. My first thought was, "Let's take the train!" This was the first of many expenses for this trip. Of course, we had to at least have a Roomette. It looks as if the fare was about $200 each way, timed for a Valentine's full moon.
We drove to Seattle, and were amazed at the cost of parking near the station (I seem to recall $60 per day). Before catching the train, we went to Seattle Lighting Company across the street from the station and spent over $1,500 on four Hubbardton Forge fixtures for our new home on Orcas Island.
From Seattle, we rode the Empire Builder to Spokane, then caught a hotel shuttle to Coeur d'Alene; on the return, we rode the shuttle to Sandpoint for an earlier boarding. The shuttle was $49 (plus a generous tip) each way. A couple memories of the train were mutton for dinner, and a delayed departure from Sandpoint.
While at the resort, we had several nice meals in the restaurant, including a lavish Valentine's evening special dinner. My wife had spa treatments. We went shopping in town. One thing we got was a framed print of what looked like the moonlight view from our window on the train on the outbound trip. I also got a grey Pendleton fedora, which I wore once on an Amtrak trip to Eugene in 2019--the hat was such a bother that I haven't worn it since. We spent a lot of money in Coeur d'Alene... We also paid for an extra half day at the hotel, since the train was late at night.
One the way back, we had been uncomfortable together in the Roomette and wanted to upgrade to a Bedroom. I don't remember if I called Amtrak in advance, but we had a Bedroom from Sandpoint to Seattle, although I had to get off in Spokane to be re-ticketed. I was, shall we say, rather tipsy; and very annoyed by the whole process. But apparently the Bedroom was priced lower than what we paid for the Roomette, and I was given a $6.30 credit--the only bargain on the whole trip!
A porch light that we ordered in Seattle:
A framed print that we thought looked like our view out the window of the train on a full moon (the silver frame represents a Superliner sleeper):
Note that the date of issuance of the printed ticket is after the date of boarding (after midnight in Spokane). Also shown is the credit slip.
We drove to Seattle, and were amazed at the cost of parking near the station (I seem to recall $60 per day). Before catching the train, we went to Seattle Lighting Company across the street from the station and spent over $1,500 on four Hubbardton Forge fixtures for our new home on Orcas Island.
From Seattle, we rode the Empire Builder to Spokane, then caught a hotel shuttle to Coeur d'Alene; on the return, we rode the shuttle to Sandpoint for an earlier boarding. The shuttle was $49 (plus a generous tip) each way. A couple memories of the train were mutton for dinner, and a delayed departure from Sandpoint.
While at the resort, we had several nice meals in the restaurant, including a lavish Valentine's evening special dinner. My wife had spa treatments. We went shopping in town. One thing we got was a framed print of what looked like the moonlight view from our window on the train on the outbound trip. I also got a grey Pendleton fedora, which I wore once on an Amtrak trip to Eugene in 2019--the hat was such a bother that I haven't worn it since. We spent a lot of money in Coeur d'Alene... We also paid for an extra half day at the hotel, since the train was late at night.
One the way back, we had been uncomfortable together in the Roomette and wanted to upgrade to a Bedroom. I don't remember if I called Amtrak in advance, but we had a Bedroom from Sandpoint to Seattle, although I had to get off in Spokane to be re-ticketed. I was, shall we say, rather tipsy; and very annoyed by the whole process. But apparently the Bedroom was priced lower than what we paid for the Roomette, and I was given a $6.30 credit--the only bargain on the whole trip!
A porch light that we ordered in Seattle:
A framed print that we thought looked like our view out the window of the train on a full moon (the silver frame represents a Superliner sleeper):
Note that the date of issuance of the printed ticket is after the date of boarding (after midnight in Spokane). Also shown is the credit slip.
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