Sunday January 15 After a restful night’s sleep I went downstairs to pick up a few breakfast items to tide me over until we met Pat for brunch. The breakfast bar was full of a variety of items and also had access to a computer for Internet checks. We left around 8:00am and met Pat at her home in NE Tampa area. We had a good conversation, met her full size poodle and then decided to head out for brunch.
It was about a five mile ride to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant, but the lines were so long we opted for a Waffle House instead. A brief wait there and then we were seated. Good waffles, eggs, potatoes, toast were the bill of fare. We continued our conversations re: “Person of Interest” show, health issues and her possible visit to Ohio next May.
After dropping Pat back at her house we started down I-75. Not too much traffic on a Sunday morning and with three lanes it kept most of the flow moving well. We stopped near Punta Gorda to pick up some refreshment and stretch the legs. By 2PM we were at Bonita Springs and decided to go over to old Route 41 to see the Bonita Springs Art Show. After locating a parking spot in the crowded lots we walked around the pavilions and saw many varied examples of art and craft items from professional dealers across the country. Lots of high end jewelry, artworks, pottery, wall hangings, fossils, but no railroad art.
At around 4pm we head for our hotel in Naples, The Comfort inn & Suites on I-75 and Collier Blvd. We have stayed here several times in the past. Although it is several miles from downtown, it is convenient to Marco Island and the mall and has some restaurant choices nearby. We are in a room on the second floor at the end of the hall, which provides for some quiet and access to the outside stairs.
After we unpacked we decided we had enough time to make it to Lowdermilk Park to watch the sunset over Naples beaches. We make it with a few minutes to spare and see a very nice sunset. We stop at a Publix to pick up some snacks, water and sunscreen and then make our way back to the hotel.
Supper will be at the Cracker Barrel next door. We are waited on by a young Russian girl who is going to college in Naples. She is very personable and we enjoy a large meal of sirloin, baked potatoes, salads and milk. A short walk back to our room on a very nice evening. Watched some NFL football and NCIS before going off to sleep.
Monday January 16. We awaken and head downstairs for the free breakfast. The room is full of people at 8am and we have a difficult time finding a place to sit. Plenty of scrambled eggs, pastries, cereal, waffles and meats available. We finally get a place to sit and must endure a rather obnoxious lady who tries to hoard the table with her purse. :angry2: After eating we head out on a nice sunny morning.
We head down Radio Rd and then left on Airport Rd and into town. We stopped at the Verizon store which had taken over the Alltel store to see if they could fix my phone. No luck there. Stopped at the library. You now must have a library card or pay $10 to use the Internet, so that was out as well. We then stop at an antique shop on Central Ave, but nothing of interest there as well. Next is a stop at 3rd Avenue shops in Naples. Many empty stores, fewer galleries. Plenty of places to park. Stop at a native American jewelry and pottery shop and Claudia has some discussion with them on their art sales procedures.
We go down the Tamiami Trail to see the old post office at Ochopee and then over to Everglades City and Chokoloskee. A few new houses and many of the old buildings that were there in the 1960s are now gone. Anglers Motel and the large RV park haven’t change much in the last five years. There is a bike path on the causeway and the Smallwood country store is still on the island. My family had vacationed with my grandparents on this island since 1961. Oh how things have changed in 50 years. We drive back and take the original road via Goodland to Marco Island.
I wanted to check out the South Beach area since it is supposedly nice and easier to reach than Tiger Tail. After a lunch at Burger King we travel along the main road and find South Beach parking area. It is $8 for a parking permit for all day. A walk across the main road and a short boardwalk brings you directly onto the beach. No long walk around the dunes and a quieter beach. There are no concessions, boat rentals, umbrella rentals like at Tiger Tail but better shelling, some fishing to watch and plenty of birds. We spend a couple of hours walking along the beach and Claudia is able to find some nice shells. Time to leave Marco Island and head back to the mainland.
We eat supper at the Mall and have some Philly Cheese Steaks before moving to Lowdermilk Park to watch a beautiful sunset on the beach. This one was more brilliant than last night with more clouds on the horizon. Back to hotel to catch Pickers and Pawn Stars on TV.
Tuesday January 17
Breakfast at the hotel and then off to Naples. We decide to go out to the Naples Pier and find a spot a couple blocks from the beach to park. It is a nice day with many people on the beach. Take some pictures of some birds and then we walk out on the pier. There are a group of Hispanic guys playing dominoes under the pier on the sand. A few people fishing and watching birds. Some dolphins make an appearance that stirs interest in the crowd.
After an hour we head back to the car and go over to Tin City. We used to find some interesting shops there but many have closed up in the one section and the others just have some cheap trinkets. Restaurants there are too expensive. We take off for the north Trail to Mel’s Diner. We used to eat here often. Good food and reasonable price. Everything is themed from the 50s. A good meal before going out to Bealls for shopping.
But unfortunately, there is a noise in our front tire as we pull into the parking lot. Claudia sees a bolt head sticking out of the tire tread. Not sure what to do, and after trying to get help from Beall’s employees, we decide to go back to the hotel and find a Wal-Mart that might be able to fix it or replace it. Luckily there is a Wal-Mart just down Collier Blvd from the hotel and they can look at it. Some Jamaican/Nigerian/Hispanic guys take a look and find the hole. Although the Wal-Mart computers went down, they told us to pull it in the garage, patched the hole and only charge us $10. Such a deal.
We decide to eat at Cracker Barrel that evening to make sure the tire will be o.k. Another good meal with haddock dinners. Walk back to the hotel to watch NCIS and some other TV before going to bed.
Wednesday January 18 Breakfast at the hotel and then off to Marco for a morning at the beach. South Beach for more shelling and bird watching. Afterward we stop at McDonalds for lunch, a beach shop for a tee shirt, then a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up detergent and then to the laundry for clothes washing. Afterward we return to Bealls for some shopping. Return to hotel to fold and organize clothes. Then to a restaurant for some Chinese and return to hotel.
Thursday January 19 Breakfast at the hotel and then pack up the car. Stop at the bank to get some money for the antique show on Friday. Out on Pine Ridge to the I-75 and north we go. Stop at Punta Gorda for gas and then to Sarasota to visit cousin L Dutton. He lives in a gated community with very nice condos. Good to see him again and we sat and talked about his life without his wife who died five years ago. He is keeping active and has many friends in the complex and at his church. His son Tim lives in Sarasota and other sons live in Vermont and near Washington DC.
We go to the Red Elephant for lunch and have a nice meal and conversation. On the way back to his condo we pass some houses where they once lived and talk about train travel and family history. We leave there around 4 and head for I-75 and back to the Hampton Inn where we stayed last Saturday night. Again a positive experience. Dinner at Bob Evans and watch “Person of Interest” before going to bed.
Friday January 20 We are up and on the road by 8am as we still have over a hundred miles to get to Mt Dora for the big Antique Extravaganza. A nice ride through the rolling hills of central Florida and into Leesburg. Lots of traffic on US 441 and we finally make it to the grounds at just 10:15 when things open up. A good parking spot at the back of the grounds gives us an advantage on the crowd at the front gate.
Lots of territory to cover and there are hundreds of dealers set up in every piece of ground on the hills and dales. I eventually find three railroad lanterns and a neat RR sign and Claudia finds two pieces of Indian jewelry. There are lots of goodies but we must find a way to get it all home without a car. We have a lunch of fish and chips in the food vendor area. Many interesting people and if not for the walking, one could spend all day here and probably not see everything.
Around 1 we head back to the car and work our way back to Winter Park. Heavy traffic in Altamonte Springs and so it takes a while to get back to Interstate 4.
We check into our hotel at the Mt Vernon Inn. We must go down to the post office to find some boxes for packing the lanterns for shipping. I get some free newspapers and we go back to the room to pack. Around 4:30 we are back at the post office and get the two boxes mailed to Ohio. We have dinner and then return to watch some TV. A group of loud neighbors makes for an early evening noise fest. Things finally calm down and we are able to get to sleep.
Saturday January 21 We have some time to kill before our train arrives at 1:45 but must return our rental car before noon. We head to Burger King for breakfast and then check with the WPK station agent, M. Scott, to see if we can store our bags at the station. He is very congenial and says we can put all of our bags behind the counter while we do some last minute exploring. We take the car back to Enterprise and they give us a lift back to the station.
Looks like our train #98 has left Miami on time and so we will walk down to the Farmer’s Market and enjoy the beautiful morning. Lots of flowers, food and fidos again. We get a couple of hot dogs and some cheese Danish and blueberry muffins to tide us over until lunch on the train.
A nice day to sit in the park waiting for the train. There is a musical group playing Irish music near a fountain that is very good. Kids playing and dogs running. Squirrels playing in the trees. We see the southbound Meteor come in on time at 12:30 and an hour later we hear the announcement for our train. We thank M Scott for holding our bags and offer a gratuity for his service. A big smile and a real asset to Amtrak.
Our Silver Meteor #98 arrives just a minute late. Locomotives #140 and #192 are at the front. We are in Car 9810 Bedroom B and our car attendant is Billy Miner, a congenial gentleman who helps get our baggage on board. We store away the big bags in the bins above the room and are told we can head down to lunch in the dining car.
We are joined by two sisters from Ann Arbor, Michigan who are antique dealers and who also attended the Mt Dora Show on Friday. We had great stories to share about our years collecting. We have the Angus Burgers and some Hagen Daas ice cream. We will see our new friends often since they will be getting on the Capitol Ltd with us in WAS and leaving the train in Toledo for the bus ride to Ann Arbor.
We return to our room after lunch and enjoy the ride across northern Florida via Deland and Palatka. Several new passengers get on board there as we make good time into Jacksonville arriving about 10 minutes early. A nice walk on the platform and I have time to go into the station to get Claudia a Mountain Dew. It is a very modern station with a capacity for many passengers in the waiting room. The skies are starting to cloud up and the forecast is for rain across the southern US with some possible storms. We leave JAX at 5:08 and move toward the Georgia border via a large CSX freight yard.
We pass through Folkston Ga and arrive in Jessup on time. We are scheduled for supper at 5:30 and with a very efficient dining crew we are called right on time. We join an interesting young man who is a jazz cello player moving from Miami to New York City. He has an apartment in the Bronx and will be playing with a jazz group in NY. He had been playing on a cruise ship and also in a jazz ensemble in Miami. A bright and talented guy who was interested in our train travels. Our other dinner companion was an interesting lady traveling from Miami to NYC as well. She joins us in the conversations and we have a nice dinner together. This is really what train travel is about. Meeting so many interesting people and sharing a bit of our lives before we all fade into a distant memory.
Claudia has the pasta special which is a bit gooey but tasty. I try the chef’s special large pork chop with baked potato. It is very good as well. Topped off with some cheesecake and a glass of milk.
As we return to our room, Billy stops by and will put up our bed around 8pm. The skies are lighting up with storms and some bolts hit close to the train. What a show as we leave Savannah and head toward Charleston SC. I stay up awhile and watch the small towns pass in the night but eventually am asleep by the time we reach Florence.
Sunday January 22. We are up around 5:30 and Billy is convinced we will get breakfast before our Washington DC stop but as we enter Richmond on time I knew the padding would get us to WAS very early. So no breakfast on the train as we entered the station nearly 45 minutes early at 6:30am. We got our bags and headed for the Acela Lounge on a cold morning. After storing our bags and grabbing a free pastry and juice, we headed over to McDonalds for a more substantial breakfast. The station was relatively quiet with just a few young people in a tour group joining us for breakfast. Most of the stores are closed this early in the morning.
We decided that our initial plan of walking around the city should be curtailed due to weather. We did walk over to the National Gallery at 11am and take in a couple of interesting exhibits on Renaissance Bronze works and an interesting painting by Samuel F.B. Morse on display. We renewed our acquaintance with the American and European collections and then had lunch in the gallery cafeteria. My sandwich had too much Chipotle sauce and was nearly inedible but I managed to scarf off the meat and cheese without undue stomach damage.
We walked back to the station around 1:30 and watched some TV and used the Internet computer for the remainder of the afternoon. Not nearly as many people in the lounge as we saw last time with fewer trains on Sunday. We said hello to our two friends from Ann Arbor and saw a few others that had been on the morning Meteor. At 3:45 a call for passengers on the Capitol Ltd was made and we pulled our bags to the waiting train. We are in Car 2901 Room E. This time we leave our heavy bags downstairs in the luggage racks and just take our small bag upstairs. Much better idea@@.
Our SCA is Elliott, a personable young man, who has set up our evening meal for 5:30. We watch as our train leaves DC and must stop in Rockville to pick up several passengers. A couple has come up on the wrong side of the platform and the conductor instructs them to go back and come up the other side. We are delayed by a few minutes and then we are off for Harpers Ferry. A nice ride in the dusk light along the C&O Canal.
We have a nice dinner with an interesting lady we met in the Acela Lounge. She is on her way to Minneapolis to see her ailing father. She is from New Haven Ct but has been down to DC to see other relatives. She has severe asthma but is determined not to let it get her down. We have an informative conversation about train travel and health concerns. After dinner we have Elliott put our beds down, but I stay up and watch the darkened scenery until we reach Connellsville.
I wake up as we are leaving Pittsburgh and enjoy looking at the Conway Yards now controlled by NS. Lots of locomotives on the turntable and freights moving through the yards in the early morning mist. I fall back asleep as we leave the Ohio River and after a two hour ride we are just north of Alliance. The conductor and Elliott both stop by to see we are awake. We are ready to go and hope that our car will start after sitting in the cold Cleveland winter for nearly two weeks. Luckily the heavy snowfall from Friday has mostly melted away and when we detrain we find the car on wet ground instead of buried in snow. The van starts right up and we are relieved that in a little over an hour we will be home with our little cat.
Another Amtrak journey has come to an end. What a fun ride it was. We had arrived in CLE nearly 20 minutes early and this was typical of all of our trains on this trip. Our car attendants and dining car staffs were all excellent, the food was very good, and we enjoyed our trip on a new train, the Silver Meteor. It’s now time to plot our next Amtrak Adventure. Thanks to all the AU Group and especially PennyK for organizing the Mini Gathering.
Some photos of our return adventures are found below.
http://amtrakvacations.shutterfly.com/
It was about a five mile ride to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant, but the lines were so long we opted for a Waffle House instead. A brief wait there and then we were seated. Good waffles, eggs, potatoes, toast were the bill of fare. We continued our conversations re: “Person of Interest” show, health issues and her possible visit to Ohio next May.
After dropping Pat back at her house we started down I-75. Not too much traffic on a Sunday morning and with three lanes it kept most of the flow moving well. We stopped near Punta Gorda to pick up some refreshment and stretch the legs. By 2PM we were at Bonita Springs and decided to go over to old Route 41 to see the Bonita Springs Art Show. After locating a parking spot in the crowded lots we walked around the pavilions and saw many varied examples of art and craft items from professional dealers across the country. Lots of high end jewelry, artworks, pottery, wall hangings, fossils, but no railroad art.
At around 4pm we head for our hotel in Naples, The Comfort inn & Suites on I-75 and Collier Blvd. We have stayed here several times in the past. Although it is several miles from downtown, it is convenient to Marco Island and the mall and has some restaurant choices nearby. We are in a room on the second floor at the end of the hall, which provides for some quiet and access to the outside stairs.
After we unpacked we decided we had enough time to make it to Lowdermilk Park to watch the sunset over Naples beaches. We make it with a few minutes to spare and see a very nice sunset.
We stop at a Publix to pick up some snacks, water and sunscreen and then make our way back to the hotel. Supper will be at the Cracker Barrel next door. We are waited on by a young Russian girl who is going to college in Naples. She is very personable and we enjoy a large meal of sirloin, baked potatoes, salads and milk. A short walk back to our room on a very nice evening. Watched some NFL football and NCIS before going off to sleep.
Monday January 16. We awaken and head downstairs for the free breakfast. The room is full of people at 8am and we have a difficult time finding a place to sit. Plenty of scrambled eggs, pastries, cereal, waffles and meats available. We finally get a place to sit and must endure a rather obnoxious lady who tries to hoard the table with her purse. :angry2: After eating we head out on a nice sunny morning.
We head down Radio Rd and then left on Airport Rd and into town. We stopped at the Verizon store which had taken over the Alltel store to see if they could fix my phone. No luck there. Stopped at the library. You now must have a library card or pay $10 to use the Internet, so that was out as well. We then stop at an antique shop on Central Ave, but nothing of interest there as well. Next is a stop at 3rd Avenue shops in Naples. Many empty stores, fewer galleries. Plenty of places to park. Stop at a native American jewelry and pottery shop and Claudia has some discussion with them on their art sales procedures.
We go down the Tamiami Trail to see the old post office at Ochopee and then over to Everglades City and Chokoloskee. A few new houses and many of the old buildings that were there in the 1960s are now gone. Anglers Motel and the large RV park haven’t change much in the last five years. There is a bike path on the causeway and the Smallwood country store is still on the island. My family had vacationed with my grandparents on this island since 1961. Oh how things have changed in 50 years.
We drive back and take the original road via Goodland to Marco Island. I wanted to check out the South Beach area since it is supposedly nice and easier to reach than Tiger Tail. After a lunch at Burger King we travel along the main road and find South Beach parking area. It is $8 for a parking permit for all day. A walk across the main road and a short boardwalk brings you directly onto the beach. No long walk around the dunes and a quieter beach. There are no concessions, boat rentals, umbrella rentals like at Tiger Tail but better shelling, some fishing to watch and plenty of birds. We spend a couple of hours walking along the beach and Claudia is able to find some nice shells. Time to leave Marco Island and head back to the mainland.
We eat supper at the Mall and have some Philly Cheese Steaks before moving to Lowdermilk Park to watch a beautiful sunset on the beach. This one was more brilliant than last night with more clouds on the horizon.
Back to hotel to catch Pickers and Pawn Stars on TV. Tuesday January 17
Breakfast at the hotel and then off to Naples. We decide to go out to the Naples Pier and find a spot a couple blocks from the beach to park. It is a nice day with many people on the beach. Take some pictures of some birds and then we walk out on the pier. There are a group of Hispanic guys playing dominoes under the pier on the sand. A few people fishing and watching birds. Some dolphins make an appearance that stirs interest in the crowd.
After an hour we head back to the car and go over to Tin City. We used to find some interesting shops there but many have closed up in the one section and the others just have some cheap trinkets. Restaurants there are too expensive. We take off for the north Trail to Mel’s Diner. We used to eat here often. Good food and reasonable price.
Everything is themed from the 50s. A good meal before going out to Bealls for shopping. But unfortunately, there is a noise in our front tire as we pull into the parking lot. Claudia sees a bolt head sticking out of the tire tread. Not sure what to do, and after trying to get help from Beall’s employees, we decide to go back to the hotel and find a Wal-Mart that might be able to fix it or replace it. Luckily there is a Wal-Mart just down Collier Blvd from the hotel and they can look at it. Some Jamaican/Nigerian/Hispanic guys take a look and find the hole. Although the Wal-Mart computers went down, they told us to pull it in the garage, patched the hole and only charge us $10. Such a deal.
We decide to eat at Cracker Barrel that evening to make sure the tire will be o.k. Another good meal with haddock dinners. Walk back to the hotel to watch NCIS and some other TV before going to bed.
Wednesday January 18 Breakfast at the hotel and then off to Marco for a morning at the beach. South Beach for more shelling and bird watching. Afterward we stop at McDonalds for lunch, a beach shop for a tee shirt, then a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up detergent and then to the laundry for clothes washing. Afterward we return to Bealls for some shopping. Return to hotel to fold and organize clothes. Then to a restaurant for some Chinese and return to hotel.
Thursday January 19 Breakfast at the hotel and then pack up the car. Stop at the bank to get some money for the antique show on Friday. Out on Pine Ridge to the I-75 and north we go. Stop at Punta Gorda for gas and then to Sarasota to visit cousin L Dutton. He lives in a gated community with very nice condos. Good to see him again and we sat and talked about his life without his wife who died five years ago. He is keeping active and has many friends in the complex and at his church. His son Tim lives in Sarasota and other sons live in Vermont and near Washington DC.
We go to the Red Elephant for lunch and have a nice meal and conversation. On the way back to his condo we pass some houses where they once lived and talk about train travel and family history. We leave there around 4 and head for I-75 and back to the Hampton Inn where we stayed last Saturday night. Again a positive experience. Dinner at Bob Evans and watch “Person of Interest” before going to bed.
Friday January 20 We are up and on the road by 8am as we still have over a hundred miles to get to Mt Dora for the big Antique Extravaganza. A nice ride through the rolling hills of central Florida and into Leesburg. Lots of traffic on US 441 and we finally make it to the grounds at just 10:15 when things open up. A good parking spot at the back of the grounds gives us an advantage on the crowd at the front gate.
Lots of territory to cover and there are hundreds of dealers set up in every piece of ground on the hills and dales. I eventually find three railroad lanterns and a neat RR sign and Claudia finds two pieces of Indian jewelry. There are lots of goodies but we must find a way to get it all home without a car. We have a lunch of fish and chips in the food vendor area. Many interesting people and if not for the walking, one could spend all day here and probably not see everything.
Around 1 we head back to the car and work our way back to Winter Park. Heavy traffic in Altamonte Springs and so it takes a while to get back to Interstate 4.
We check into our hotel at the Mt Vernon Inn. We must go down to the post office to find some boxes for packing the lanterns for shipping. I get some free newspapers and we go back to the room to pack. Around 4:30 we are back at the post office and get the two boxes mailed to Ohio. We have dinner and then return to watch some TV. A group of loud neighbors makes for an early evening noise fest.
Things finally calm down and we are able to get to sleep. Saturday January 21 We have some time to kill before our train arrives at 1:45 but must return our rental car before noon. We head to Burger King for breakfast and then check with the WPK station agent, M. Scott, to see if we can store our bags at the station. He is very congenial and says we can put all of our bags behind the counter while we do some last minute exploring. We take the car back to Enterprise and they give us a lift back to the station.
Looks like our train #98 has left Miami on time and so we will walk down to the Farmer’s Market and enjoy the beautiful morning. Lots of flowers, food and fidos again. We get a couple of hot dogs and some cheese Danish and blueberry muffins to tide us over until lunch on the train.
A nice day to sit in the park waiting for the train. There is a musical group playing Irish music near a fountain that is very good. Kids playing and dogs running. Squirrels playing in the trees. We see the southbound Meteor come in on time at 12:30 and an hour later we hear the announcement for our train. We thank M Scott for holding our bags and offer a gratuity for his service. A big smile and a real asset to Amtrak.
Our Silver Meteor #98 arrives just a minute late. Locomotives #140 and #192 are at the front. We are in Car 9810 Bedroom B and our car attendant is Billy Miner, a congenial gentleman who helps get our baggage on board. We store away the big bags in the bins above the room and are told we can head down to lunch in the dining car.
We are joined by two sisters from Ann Arbor, Michigan who are antique dealers and who also attended the Mt Dora Show on Friday. We had great stories to share about our years collecting. We have the Angus Burgers and some Hagen Daas ice cream. We will see our new friends often since they will be getting on the Capitol Ltd with us in WAS and leaving the train in Toledo for the bus ride to Ann Arbor.
We return to our room after lunch and enjoy the ride across northern Florida via Deland and Palatka. Several new passengers get on board there as we make good time into Jacksonville arriving about 10 minutes early. A nice walk on the platform and I have time to go into the station to get Claudia a Mountain Dew. It is a very modern station with a capacity for many passengers in the waiting room. The skies are starting to cloud up and the forecast is for rain across the southern US with some possible storms. We leave JAX at 5:08 and move toward the Georgia border via a large CSX freight yard.
We pass through Folkston Ga and arrive in Jessup on time. We are scheduled for supper at 5:30 and with a very efficient dining crew we are called right on time. We join an interesting young man who is a jazz cello player moving from Miami to New York City. He has an apartment in the Bronx and will be playing with a jazz group in NY. He had been playing on a cruise ship and also in a jazz ensemble in Miami. A bright and talented guy who was interested in our train travels. Our other dinner companion was an interesting lady traveling from Miami to NYC as well. She joins us in the conversations and we have a nice dinner together. This is really what train travel is about. Meeting so many interesting people and sharing a bit of our lives before we all fade into a distant memory.
Claudia has the pasta special which is a bit gooey but tasty. I try the chef’s special large pork chop with baked potato. It is very good as well. Topped off with some cheesecake and a glass of milk.
As we return to our room, Billy stops by and will put up our bed around 8pm. The skies are lighting up with storms and some bolts hit close to the train. What a show as we leave Savannah and head toward Charleston SC. I stay up awhile and watch the small towns pass in the night but eventually am asleep by the time we reach Florence.
Sunday January 22. We are up around 5:30 and Billy is convinced we will get breakfast before our Washington DC stop but as we enter Richmond on time I knew the padding would get us to WAS very early. So no breakfast on the train as we entered the station nearly 45 minutes early at 6:30am.
We got our bags and headed for the Acela Lounge on a cold morning. After storing our bags and grabbing a free pastry and juice, we headed over to McDonalds for a more substantial breakfast. The station was relatively quiet with just a few young people in a tour group joining us for breakfast. Most of the stores are closed this early in the morning. We decided that our initial plan of walking around the city should be curtailed due to weather. We did walk over to the National Gallery at 11am and take in a couple of interesting exhibits on Renaissance Bronze works and an interesting painting by Samuel F.B. Morse on display. We renewed our acquaintance with the American and European collections and then had lunch in the gallery cafeteria. My sandwich had too much Chipotle sauce and was nearly inedible but I managed to scarf off the meat and cheese without undue stomach damage.
We walked back to the station around 1:30 and watched some TV and used the Internet computer for the remainder of the afternoon. Not nearly as many people in the lounge as we saw last time with fewer trains on Sunday. We said hello to our two friends from Ann Arbor and saw a few others that had been on the morning Meteor. At 3:45 a call for passengers on the Capitol Ltd was made and we pulled our bags to the waiting train. We are in Car 2901 Room E. This time we leave our heavy bags downstairs in the luggage racks and just take our small bag upstairs. Much better idea@@.
Our SCA is Elliott, a personable young man, who has set up our evening meal for 5:30. We watch as our train leaves DC and must stop in Rockville to pick up several passengers. A couple has come up on the wrong side of the platform and the conductor instructs them to go back and come up the other side. We are delayed by a few minutes and then we are off for Harpers Ferry. A nice ride in the dusk light along the C&O Canal.
We have a nice dinner with an interesting lady we met in the Acela Lounge. She is on her way to Minneapolis to see her ailing father. She is from New Haven Ct but has been down to DC to see other relatives. She has severe asthma but is determined not to let it get her down. We have an informative conversation about train travel and health concerns. After dinner we have Elliott put our beds down, but I stay up and watch the darkened scenery until we reach Connellsville.
I wake up as we are leaving Pittsburgh and enjoy looking at the Conway Yards now controlled by NS. Lots of locomotives on the turntable and freights moving through the yards in the early morning mist. I fall back asleep as we leave the Ohio River and after a two hour ride we are just north of Alliance. The conductor and Elliott both stop by to see we are awake. We are ready to go and hope that our car will start after sitting in the cold Cleveland winter for nearly two weeks. Luckily the heavy snowfall from Friday has mostly melted away and when we detrain we find the car on wet ground instead of buried in snow. The van starts right up and we are relieved that in a little over an hour we will be home with our little cat.
Another Amtrak journey has come to an end. What a fun ride it was. We had arrived in CLE nearly 20 minutes early and this was typical of all of our trains on this trip. Our car attendants and dining car staffs were all excellent, the food was very good, and we enjoyed our trip on a new train, the Silver Meteor. It’s now time to plot our next Amtrak Adventure. Thanks to all the AU Group and especially PennyK for organizing the Mini Gathering.
Some photos of our return adventures are found below.
http://amtrakvacations.shutterfly.com/
