Trip report for our summer trip. Long, but interesting (I hope):
We spent the night Friday night at a Dallas Country Inn, and parked the old Toyota truck there for the duration. Left for the airport on Saturday 8/10 to fly to Las Vegas, via Austin, TX. This was due to the Wright Amendment that keeps Southwest from flying direct to several destinations. Dallas Love Field has undergone a really good makeover and is very user friendly now. 10 minutes from checking bags to sitting in a chair waiting for the plane. Had an uneventful flight to Austin, met a lady going to see her son @ UT. Flew onward to LV.
The airport at LV is a real mess, IMHO. The baggage claim is out in the hinterlands, and the aisles in and out are too small. Of course, it is in the middle of a casino……as is everything else in LV.
Left the airport and met up with GG-1, a friend from Amtrak Unlimited, who drove us to our hotel. We stayed at the Excalibur, which is on the south strip. The check in was tedious…but we got a good room on the 26th floor, with a view of the roller coaster outside of the NY, NY hotel. The big problem with the Excalibur is that it is a very long way from check in to the elevators to the rooms. Very long. Too long and crowded through the middle (again) of the casino. And the directions given to me by the desk clerk were vague at best, but we eventually found our room. GG-1 waited for us in the parking lot, and then took us for a short tour of the strip, pointing out highlights, (Rail, hotels, shops, LV sign, pawn stars, etc.) and to the downtown Freemont Street area. We went to a buffet he knew about, and ate there, then went on to Freemont Street. I was looking forward to the light show, but was sadly disappointed in it. Not worth the effort IMHO. But the g/f got a really good drink, she says, and we enjoyed walking around watching people. There was one really bad band on one end of the street…and a decent band in the middle of the block, so the music was 50-50.
Trekked on back to the hotel by a different route. Saw more sights, and GG-1 left us at our hotel for the night. GG-1 is a very nice, friendly guy who has some great stories. We saw him again, doing us another favor, later in the trip.
Next day we walked from our hotel to the Mandalay Bay, with Margie shopping for knick-knacks along the way. Then we added another mode of transport to the agenda, taking the tram back to our hotel for free. Walked around LV, to the Coke store, the M&M store and to a few smaller casinos, then decided to get ready for a show and dinner. We had a groupon for the buffet at Harrah’s, and tix to see Penn & Teller at the Rio. We cleaned up a bit, and went off to find the monorail to Harrah’s. Glad we were early!
The monorail is an excellent way to traverse LV, IF YOU CAN FIND IT! We had the brochure for it, and it showed the station locations, except the stations are all at the back sides of the various hotels/casinos. And there were VERY few casino/hotel employees who would point you in the right direction, and nearly all who did gave us directions like “Go to the fountain, then turn left” but did not tell us where the damned fountain was! We eventually found a Hispanic girl working in a shop who gave Margie the directions directly to the monorail at Paris Hotel. Something good about speaking Spanish…..
Got monorail tix and off to Harrah’s we went! Margie had been to Harrah’s before, so she knew where the buffet was. The line was long, but moved quickly. Good buffet for the groupon price of 37.99 for two, including drinks and wine if wanted. Good clam chowder, fried chicken and turkey. Margie ate three plates of crab legs, and would have went back for more if we had time! She said they were excellent. I like crab, but it is a lot of work to get the meat out of the legs, so being a lazy guy, I opted for ready to eat food.
We went to get the shuttle from Harrah’s to the Rio for the show, were an hour early, and we waited. And waited. And waited some more. There were about twenty of us waiting when the shuttle finally arrived about 15 minutes before the show was to start. Got to the Rio with five minutes to spare, and since we already had tix we got in our seats with three minutes to spare, according to the usher. And he was correct.
The show started out a bit slow, but the last half was SUPERB! Great tricks, some were explained, some were not. Teller was a better illusionist than Penn. The comedy was good, we enjoyed a few belly laughs, and since we got second row seats for free, the show was excellent for the price. We got pix and autographs from both of them, and Penn is 6 foot 8, and Margie is 5 foot 1, the pic looks nice. I’ll try to do the dropbox thing for all pix of the trip, as soon as I get them out of the various cameras and into my PC. After the show, we took shuttle (again very late) back to Harrah’s and the monorail to Excalibur. Got off monorail @ Paris, and walked the rest of the way back.
Spent an hour losing twenty bux each at Excal casino and retired. Next day we had Cinnabon breakfast, everything in Excal is a llloooonnnnggg way from the rooms, and decided to spend time at the pools. Met some really nice folks at the pool, and Margie had a couple of tropical drinks and we simply enjoyed the day in the sun. In the afternoon, we got ready to go to Treasure Island for dinner. Another A Groupon got us $40 worth of food for $20. The Excal concierge told us to catch the monorail at MGM instead of Paris, shorter walk. So we did, and finally found the station in MGM…..took off for TI. We had some time, so we went to Casino Royale, and it is a hole-in-wall casino but was the most fun of all we went into. Walked across street to TI and had an excellent seafood dinner. Very good gumbo and fish plate. Margie had clam chowder and we shared the fish plate, which was huge. A couple of tropical drinks for her and we were just barely over the $40. Highly recommend Seafood Shack inside of Treasure Island.
Walked back to Casino Royale and played for two hours on $20 each. Best place in town! Got a coupon for free Ben & Jerry’s and took it with us on out trek back to monorail. Took monorail all the way to the end, at night, then turned to go back to our hotel on the other end. Beautiful views of LV, and a three-quarter moon.
Got back to MGM and couldn’t find the door to skybridge to Excal. Asked one security guy who said “Go back to the car and go right”. Asked him “What car?” and he said “There is only one car in the casino”….so off we went in the direction he pointed. After walking around the casino for ten minutes, I asked a clean up guy how to find the car…he said “There is no car in the casino”….and pointed us to the door to the skybridge. I will never go into the MGM again. Security guy is a lying ******.
Next day we left for LA on Megabus. GG-1 again picked us up at the hotel, and drove us to the bus station. I want to thank GG-1 for his help, knowledge of the area, and just for being a really nice guy! Perhaps some of his politeness and kindness will wear off on other Vegas folks……….Thanks!!
Megabus ride was good. Cold, but good. Take a lap blanket if you ride, and get there early to get a good seat! Got to LAUS around 12:30 and checked in to the Metro Plaza (thanks to Jim Hudson for the tip!) Margie got to talking to a housekeeper who directed us to a hole in the wall taco shop in a strip center for lunch. Fantastic tacos. I had shredded beef, Margie had lengua and barbacoa. Total about 7 bucks, including my diet coke and her real cane sugar orange . Went to room and cleaned up for the next part of the adventure.
We walked back to LAUS, and figured out the TAP system of ticketing on the subway and took off to Hollywood and Highland. Great, easy subway ride and we got out right in the middle of Hollywood Blvd. (thanks to those who told us where to disembark the subway). We walked around and took many pix of footprints in concrete, stars in the sidewalk and other stuff. Margie bought some T shirts and we really enjoyed the people watching and the experience. Rode the subway back to LAUS, and walked over to Olvera Street to eat. The Mexican Diner we planned to eat at was closed, so we went to the higher cost Mexican place in the middle of Olvera Street. It was not good and was expensive. Stay away!
Next morning, we walked to Mike’s Café, about ten minutes from Metro Plaza and found it to be in an old gas station in the middle of an industrial area….had another Groupon for $20 food for $10. Ate outside and it was really good! I had biscuits/gravy/sausage/scrambled eggs - Margie had ham and chicken sandwich. Both were large and good. She took half of the sandwich back to hotel and gave it to housekeeping lady who gave us the good taco stand idea. We walked around a little, saw first LA fire station museum, some of town and then we were to get the Big Blue Bus to Santa Monica. The bus was parked right across from our hotel, and we asked the driver the cost, two dollars, payable to driver. Said we could catch bus right here, every 30 minutes. We changed clothes and went back, different bus and driver was there, and this driver was rude and surly to us. Told Margie she could not get on there and asked her why she was bothering him. So we caught the next bus with no problems at all. Rode to Santa Monica, walked to the pier, rode the Ferris Wheel, had a soda at a real soda fountain, ate bruschetta and soup at a wine bar in an outdoor mall, walked the promenade, and rode back to LA on the bus. We went to dinner at the Mexican café we missed out the night before, and it was Superb! Now, Margie knows a bit about Mexican cooking, and she watched the lady make our food….all authentic homemade Mexican for a great price. Had glass of tea, a Dos Eques three tamales and a tostada for fewer than 7 bucks. All were tasty and filling. Best meal for the cost on the trip.
Next morning we ate at Philipes, another excellent meal, and walked to LAUS for the rail portion of our trip.
We arrived an hour early for the Coast Starlight to Portland. Checked in at the Traxx, and met two couples boarding the same train. There was one guy who was a real butt hole to the attendant, but she handled him as well as she could. Right before boarding, when first red cap came by, I thought to ask if I needed to get my checked bags in Portland or if they would just go through. The attendant looked at my bag check and realized she had put PDX on the check instead of MSP. The bags were already gone, but through a series of actions by her, us, and a guy at the train, we got it all straightened out in the nick of time. We boarded our sleeper and were met by our SCA, Dania, a Hispanic girl of about 30. Her and Margie hit it off well, in Spanish, and we were good to go. We had a left side roomette (smile) and were only one car from the Parlor Car. We got situated in our room and off we went to the Parlor Car. Snagged two swivel seats and were on our way! One of the couples we met at Traxx were in two swivels and we all got to talking, partying. We quickly got acquainted with several other Parlor Car riders, and it was Katy bar the Door partying for many of them. Since there were about 13 of us in our new “group” we allowed others to have the swivels from time to time. And all of our “group” went to the wine tasting, hosted by Debbie.
There was a guy named Elisio, who was manager of on board services for the Coast Starlight, on with us to Oakland. All of the staff was tip-top….not sure of if it was because he was on board or not, but don’t care, as it was all great! Debbie did the wine tasting, explained about the Parlor car (PPC) and other on train information. Margie said none of the wines were too great, but all were drinkable. Cheeses were good, too. Elisio gave away three bottles of wine and Debbie gave Margie and another lady CS wine glasses to keep. I bought a baseball cap. A grand time was had by all, including a 92 year old man who joined our “party”.
We ate steak in the diner, and returned to the party in the PPC. It grew to 12, with four of us alternating standing and sitting in the swivels, and they kept Debbie busy all the way to Emeryville, where some got off the train, and Debbie ran us out of the PPC. Finally.
Many pax got on at both Martinez and Sacramento, and the train was full the rest of the way to Portland. At MTZ, the problem guy from the first started screaming and cussing at Dania about it being too cold for him, and she had the conductor talk with him about his loudness and language in the middle of the night. He was quiet the rest of the way to PDX.
We enjoyed the marvelous scenery on this route from both the PPC and our room, the coast, fields, mountains and forests are breathtaking. Elisio told us what the crops were, we saw migrant workers toiling away in the fields, saw Mt. Shasta, Ate excellent steaks, French toast soup and burgers, enjoyed new friends and have already gotten pix emailed to us from other pax. And we arrived in Portland on time!
Found the Metropolitan Lounge in PDX and waited a while to board the Empire Builder for the next leg of our trip. Across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and into St. Paul Minnesota. We met Milt in the lounge in PDX, and his roomette was right across the hall from ours in the last car of the train. We were not on the end of the train, the bedrooms were, so we were right by the door. We met Silas, our new SCA, and off we went, right on time. It seemed that Silas was going to be a do the bare minimum kind of guy, but that changed. He dropped by our room to see if we needed anything, and Margie wanted OJ to make a mimosa, and her and Silas hit it right off…later I had the beef boxed dinner, and it was OK, Margie had chicken and she liked it. We went to the Sightseer Lounge (SSL) (observation car) and sat with an 88 year old fellow named Jim, from Idaho, who makes the trip from Pasco to PDX a few times a year to reminisce. He told us all about the Columbia River as we rolled along beside it. He was a wealth of information and was eager to share it with us. We learned about the dams, the locks, the salmon, the native American fishing rules (or lack of) the wind farms, waste collection and more. He was a dear man who seemed to enjoy visiting with us all the way to Pasco.
Silas made our room about 11:00 pm and we slept to Spokane. The Seattle train was late. We connected late and started off late. We had breakfast with Milt and watched the countryside go by. The train seemed to fill up with Amish folks, one small man in green looked like a leprechaun, and we trekked on staying a little late, fluctuating from 30 minute to an hour or so late. Ate lunch with Milt, and a single rider in our car named Dan. Dan was really quiet. After lunch we enjoyed more scenery, and Margie got to see an empty family bedroom. Got some pix out of the railfan window at the end of the train. Later in the afternoon we took the long walk back to the diner for the wine and cheese tasting, Empire Builder Style. (Long walk, through five coaches and the SSL). Silas had warmed up a bit to us all by now, and a tour group had several rooms in our car, so they knew each other. They split the diner and had wine and cheese for PDX pax in our side, and separate one for SEA pax on other side. Silas picked Margie to be the “Vanna” to his Pat Sajak, and she displayed the wines and poured them for everyone. Milt sat with me and said some were good, others passable and one was not good at all. Cheeses and crackers were good. Margie got a full bottle for free for helping and Silas gave the remaining opened bottles to others. When the tasting was over, Silas asked the tour group folks to leave and the others to stay for a minute to tell us something. He said the tour operator had already told the tour group. Then he explained a prank:
He asked us all to go back to our car, and one lady volunteered to say she found bugs in her bedroom, so Silas was to tell all of us to leave the car and go to the SSL or Diner while he and Lamar (the coach attendant in the next car) would inspect the rooms for bugs. He then taped off one room of a tour member and when we all were to return, he told that guy that his room had the bugs and he could not stay, and there were no more rooms available. (It seems that this guy had been a trickster on the tour and the tour group was getting back at him). The guy got red faced and right before he blew up we all hollered…”FOOLED YOU” and Silas gave him the last full bottle of wine. The guy was really good natured about it and laughed at himself along with all of us. He even dropped by each room and asked if we wanted to share his new wine with him! Worked out perfectly! Had my last flat iron steak that night and Margie and I tried to sleep on the bottom bunk. Milt, our neighbor told us that he did not want to hear any moaning in ecstasy from us! We slept foot to head, ying-yang style and it was not too uncomfortable, but Margie is short.
We were late by 2 and a half hours in Minnesota, so we ate breakfast, and got ready to disembark our over 70 hours of riding the rails. Arrived in MSP two and a half hours late and waited for our friend, Yankee Red, to get us at MSP station.
When she arrived, she took us to our hotel (what a room!) and we changed clothes to go to a coffee shop in White Bear Lake to meet her family for brunch.She drove us the scenic route by the cathedral and capitol, showing us sights along the way. I knew Yankee Red, but Margie did not, and neither of us knew her family (except I knew her sister). We met and had some good coffee and a scone, and shared some excellent conversation with Yankee’s daughter, brothers, son, sister and niece and family. Then we left for another mode of transport. Yankee, her sister, son, Margie and I all learned to ride segways! It was intimidating for us all at first, but we all got the hang of it pretty quickly (even Margie, who cannot ride a bike), and we were soon off with about 35 other folks on a history tour of downtown Minneapolis on segways. WHAT A BLAST!!! We learned about the milling monopolies in Minneapolis, went into the fancy-schmantzy live theater, along the Mississippi River, over bridges and down gravel pathways, through Harriet Island (the only inhabited island on the river) and saw the new I-35 bridge built after the tragic collapse a few years ago. All on segways. Yankee’s sister, who was reluctant to go, was angry that it was over, she was a speed demon on this thing, saying the worst part was when they made her slow down! We all had a blast. After walking a few miles trying to remember where the cars were parked, we took off to Target Center for a Minnesota Lynx basketball game. We arrived late (third quarter) and got some grub and proceeded to Yankee’s boss’ suite at Target Center. Center court…..Lynx beat the crap out of New York, and we walked back to the car, which we found quickly this time : )
Yankee took us to the airport yo get us a car rental, and Margie and I walked forever to find the counter, then had to take a shuttle a few miles to the car, but found it and got ourselves back to our hotel! The next day was Margie’s day at the Mall of America. I dropped her off around noon and went to downtown St. Paul to wander and photograph. I found a deli selling the original “Clubman” after shave, and saw the big Church of Scientology. I took pix of the Fitzgerald Theater, home of NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion” show and got a T-shirt from St. Paul College ( a community and technical college). By the time I got back to the big mall, Margie was shopped out. The mall is huge and has a full amusement park in the center of it. We walked a bit, and she had some wine, and I had some gelato at a small bistro there. Margie says she was glad for the experience, but would not really want to return again to the mall. We had taco dinners at a local Mexican place where Yankee’s daughter works. She was our server and she was kind to us. This girl is a sharp cookie and has a great future in front of her. We went back to our room to prepare for the flight home tomorrow.
Before we went to the airport, we met up with Yankee and her son for lunch at a small café in her town of White Bear Lake. It was downtown and this little burg has the nicest prettiest downtown area you could ask for. Margie wished she had shopped the shops there instead of going to the big mall. I agree. If we ever go back, we will try to stay in this town, it is beautiful! Had a turkey dinner that couldn't be beat, said our goodbyes and went to the MSP airport.
Here our tale gets stale…..dropped Margie off at airport, took car back, was returned to airport by shuttle and we went in to check our bags. Southwest lets two bags fly free. We had boarding passes already, but at this airport there was no express baggage check, so we had to wait in line for 15 minutes. When we got to kiosk to check bags, the lady was nice and weighed our bags, put tags on them and we had to remove the bags to take them somewhere else to get x-rayed. While taking bags from the scale, another guy just came up and reached around us to start using the kiosk. I looked at him and said it was a shame he was in such a hurry that he had to push a woman out of his way. I told him I would bet his Mama was proud of him. He just kept on pushing the kiosk buttons.
Next we got into the TSA circus line. ONE LINE…..for all pax…..they only have ONE machine in the entire terminal! We were in it for 45 minutes!!! 45 minutes….remember hearing we got through baggage check and TSA at Dallas in 10 minutes? MSP was over an hour just to check bags and get through the TSA circus line! (BTW: The ******** who pushed us was only two people ahead of us in the TSA line)
We got to the gate about 5 minutes before boarding, and the best part was that the ******** who pushed us at the kiosk was on our plane and we had boarding numbers A22 and A23, he was in the B line, so we were already seated and reading the paper before this fellow boarded the plane! That’ll teach him how much hurrying up helps!
Uneventful flight home, via St. Louis, and we are now snug at home. Margie is at work as I type this missive. Big thanks to GG-1, JimHudson, Yankee Red and family, all others who gave us pointers and suggestions, and to all who wished us well on this 12 day trip. Pix to follow, I will post a dropbox link as soon as I can. I have to get tehm out of my camera, and get someone to show me how to get them from Margie’s Iphone.
T
We spent the night Friday night at a Dallas Country Inn, and parked the old Toyota truck there for the duration. Left for the airport on Saturday 8/10 to fly to Las Vegas, via Austin, TX. This was due to the Wright Amendment that keeps Southwest from flying direct to several destinations. Dallas Love Field has undergone a really good makeover and is very user friendly now. 10 minutes from checking bags to sitting in a chair waiting for the plane. Had an uneventful flight to Austin, met a lady going to see her son @ UT. Flew onward to LV.
The airport at LV is a real mess, IMHO. The baggage claim is out in the hinterlands, and the aisles in and out are too small. Of course, it is in the middle of a casino……as is everything else in LV.
Left the airport and met up with GG-1, a friend from Amtrak Unlimited, who drove us to our hotel. We stayed at the Excalibur, which is on the south strip. The check in was tedious…but we got a good room on the 26th floor, with a view of the roller coaster outside of the NY, NY hotel. The big problem with the Excalibur is that it is a very long way from check in to the elevators to the rooms. Very long. Too long and crowded through the middle (again) of the casino. And the directions given to me by the desk clerk were vague at best, but we eventually found our room. GG-1 waited for us in the parking lot, and then took us for a short tour of the strip, pointing out highlights, (Rail, hotels, shops, LV sign, pawn stars, etc.) and to the downtown Freemont Street area. We went to a buffet he knew about, and ate there, then went on to Freemont Street. I was looking forward to the light show, but was sadly disappointed in it. Not worth the effort IMHO. But the g/f got a really good drink, she says, and we enjoyed walking around watching people. There was one really bad band on one end of the street…and a decent band in the middle of the block, so the music was 50-50.
Trekked on back to the hotel by a different route. Saw more sights, and GG-1 left us at our hotel for the night. GG-1 is a very nice, friendly guy who has some great stories. We saw him again, doing us another favor, later in the trip.
Next day we walked from our hotel to the Mandalay Bay, with Margie shopping for knick-knacks along the way. Then we added another mode of transport to the agenda, taking the tram back to our hotel for free. Walked around LV, to the Coke store, the M&M store and to a few smaller casinos, then decided to get ready for a show and dinner. We had a groupon for the buffet at Harrah’s, and tix to see Penn & Teller at the Rio. We cleaned up a bit, and went off to find the monorail to Harrah’s. Glad we were early!
The monorail is an excellent way to traverse LV, IF YOU CAN FIND IT! We had the brochure for it, and it showed the station locations, except the stations are all at the back sides of the various hotels/casinos. And there were VERY few casino/hotel employees who would point you in the right direction, and nearly all who did gave us directions like “Go to the fountain, then turn left” but did not tell us where the damned fountain was! We eventually found a Hispanic girl working in a shop who gave Margie the directions directly to the monorail at Paris Hotel. Something good about speaking Spanish…..
Got monorail tix and off to Harrah’s we went! Margie had been to Harrah’s before, so she knew where the buffet was. The line was long, but moved quickly. Good buffet for the groupon price of 37.99 for two, including drinks and wine if wanted. Good clam chowder, fried chicken and turkey. Margie ate three plates of crab legs, and would have went back for more if we had time! She said they were excellent. I like crab, but it is a lot of work to get the meat out of the legs, so being a lazy guy, I opted for ready to eat food.
We went to get the shuttle from Harrah’s to the Rio for the show, were an hour early, and we waited. And waited. And waited some more. There were about twenty of us waiting when the shuttle finally arrived about 15 minutes before the show was to start. Got to the Rio with five minutes to spare, and since we already had tix we got in our seats with three minutes to spare, according to the usher. And he was correct.
The show started out a bit slow, but the last half was SUPERB! Great tricks, some were explained, some were not. Teller was a better illusionist than Penn. The comedy was good, we enjoyed a few belly laughs, and since we got second row seats for free, the show was excellent for the price. We got pix and autographs from both of them, and Penn is 6 foot 8, and Margie is 5 foot 1, the pic looks nice. I’ll try to do the dropbox thing for all pix of the trip, as soon as I get them out of the various cameras and into my PC. After the show, we took shuttle (again very late) back to Harrah’s and the monorail to Excalibur. Got off monorail @ Paris, and walked the rest of the way back.
Spent an hour losing twenty bux each at Excal casino and retired. Next day we had Cinnabon breakfast, everything in Excal is a llloooonnnnggg way from the rooms, and decided to spend time at the pools. Met some really nice folks at the pool, and Margie had a couple of tropical drinks and we simply enjoyed the day in the sun. In the afternoon, we got ready to go to Treasure Island for dinner. Another A Groupon got us $40 worth of food for $20. The Excal concierge told us to catch the monorail at MGM instead of Paris, shorter walk. So we did, and finally found the station in MGM…..took off for TI. We had some time, so we went to Casino Royale, and it is a hole-in-wall casino but was the most fun of all we went into. Walked across street to TI and had an excellent seafood dinner. Very good gumbo and fish plate. Margie had clam chowder and we shared the fish plate, which was huge. A couple of tropical drinks for her and we were just barely over the $40. Highly recommend Seafood Shack inside of Treasure Island.
Walked back to Casino Royale and played for two hours on $20 each. Best place in town! Got a coupon for free Ben & Jerry’s and took it with us on out trek back to monorail. Took monorail all the way to the end, at night, then turned to go back to our hotel on the other end. Beautiful views of LV, and a three-quarter moon.
Got back to MGM and couldn’t find the door to skybridge to Excal. Asked one security guy who said “Go back to the car and go right”. Asked him “What car?” and he said “There is only one car in the casino”….so off we went in the direction he pointed. After walking around the casino for ten minutes, I asked a clean up guy how to find the car…he said “There is no car in the casino”….and pointed us to the door to the skybridge. I will never go into the MGM again. Security guy is a lying ******.
Next day we left for LA on Megabus. GG-1 again picked us up at the hotel, and drove us to the bus station. I want to thank GG-1 for his help, knowledge of the area, and just for being a really nice guy! Perhaps some of his politeness and kindness will wear off on other Vegas folks……….Thanks!!
Megabus ride was good. Cold, but good. Take a lap blanket if you ride, and get there early to get a good seat! Got to LAUS around 12:30 and checked in to the Metro Plaza (thanks to Jim Hudson for the tip!) Margie got to talking to a housekeeper who directed us to a hole in the wall taco shop in a strip center for lunch. Fantastic tacos. I had shredded beef, Margie had lengua and barbacoa. Total about 7 bucks, including my diet coke and her real cane sugar orange . Went to room and cleaned up for the next part of the adventure.
We walked back to LAUS, and figured out the TAP system of ticketing on the subway and took off to Hollywood and Highland. Great, easy subway ride and we got out right in the middle of Hollywood Blvd. (thanks to those who told us where to disembark the subway). We walked around and took many pix of footprints in concrete, stars in the sidewalk and other stuff. Margie bought some T shirts and we really enjoyed the people watching and the experience. Rode the subway back to LAUS, and walked over to Olvera Street to eat. The Mexican Diner we planned to eat at was closed, so we went to the higher cost Mexican place in the middle of Olvera Street. It was not good and was expensive. Stay away!
Next morning, we walked to Mike’s Café, about ten minutes from Metro Plaza and found it to be in an old gas station in the middle of an industrial area….had another Groupon for $20 food for $10. Ate outside and it was really good! I had biscuits/gravy/sausage/scrambled eggs - Margie had ham and chicken sandwich. Both were large and good. She took half of the sandwich back to hotel and gave it to housekeeping lady who gave us the good taco stand idea. We walked around a little, saw first LA fire station museum, some of town and then we were to get the Big Blue Bus to Santa Monica. The bus was parked right across from our hotel, and we asked the driver the cost, two dollars, payable to driver. Said we could catch bus right here, every 30 minutes. We changed clothes and went back, different bus and driver was there, and this driver was rude and surly to us. Told Margie she could not get on there and asked her why she was bothering him. So we caught the next bus with no problems at all. Rode to Santa Monica, walked to the pier, rode the Ferris Wheel, had a soda at a real soda fountain, ate bruschetta and soup at a wine bar in an outdoor mall, walked the promenade, and rode back to LA on the bus. We went to dinner at the Mexican café we missed out the night before, and it was Superb! Now, Margie knows a bit about Mexican cooking, and she watched the lady make our food….all authentic homemade Mexican for a great price. Had glass of tea, a Dos Eques three tamales and a tostada for fewer than 7 bucks. All were tasty and filling. Best meal for the cost on the trip.
Next morning we ate at Philipes, another excellent meal, and walked to LAUS for the rail portion of our trip.
We arrived an hour early for the Coast Starlight to Portland. Checked in at the Traxx, and met two couples boarding the same train. There was one guy who was a real butt hole to the attendant, but she handled him as well as she could. Right before boarding, when first red cap came by, I thought to ask if I needed to get my checked bags in Portland or if they would just go through. The attendant looked at my bag check and realized she had put PDX on the check instead of MSP. The bags were already gone, but through a series of actions by her, us, and a guy at the train, we got it all straightened out in the nick of time. We boarded our sleeper and were met by our SCA, Dania, a Hispanic girl of about 30. Her and Margie hit it off well, in Spanish, and we were good to go. We had a left side roomette (smile) and were only one car from the Parlor Car. We got situated in our room and off we went to the Parlor Car. Snagged two swivel seats and were on our way! One of the couples we met at Traxx were in two swivels and we all got to talking, partying. We quickly got acquainted with several other Parlor Car riders, and it was Katy bar the Door partying for many of them. Since there were about 13 of us in our new “group” we allowed others to have the swivels from time to time. And all of our “group” went to the wine tasting, hosted by Debbie.
There was a guy named Elisio, who was manager of on board services for the Coast Starlight, on with us to Oakland. All of the staff was tip-top….not sure of if it was because he was on board or not, but don’t care, as it was all great! Debbie did the wine tasting, explained about the Parlor car (PPC) and other on train information. Margie said none of the wines were too great, but all were drinkable. Cheeses were good, too. Elisio gave away three bottles of wine and Debbie gave Margie and another lady CS wine glasses to keep. I bought a baseball cap. A grand time was had by all, including a 92 year old man who joined our “party”.
We ate steak in the diner, and returned to the party in the PPC. It grew to 12, with four of us alternating standing and sitting in the swivels, and they kept Debbie busy all the way to Emeryville, where some got off the train, and Debbie ran us out of the PPC. Finally.
Many pax got on at both Martinez and Sacramento, and the train was full the rest of the way to Portland. At MTZ, the problem guy from the first started screaming and cussing at Dania about it being too cold for him, and she had the conductor talk with him about his loudness and language in the middle of the night. He was quiet the rest of the way to PDX.
We enjoyed the marvelous scenery on this route from both the PPC and our room, the coast, fields, mountains and forests are breathtaking. Elisio told us what the crops were, we saw migrant workers toiling away in the fields, saw Mt. Shasta, Ate excellent steaks, French toast soup and burgers, enjoyed new friends and have already gotten pix emailed to us from other pax. And we arrived in Portland on time!
Found the Metropolitan Lounge in PDX and waited a while to board the Empire Builder for the next leg of our trip. Across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and into St. Paul Minnesota. We met Milt in the lounge in PDX, and his roomette was right across the hall from ours in the last car of the train. We were not on the end of the train, the bedrooms were, so we were right by the door. We met Silas, our new SCA, and off we went, right on time. It seemed that Silas was going to be a do the bare minimum kind of guy, but that changed. He dropped by our room to see if we needed anything, and Margie wanted OJ to make a mimosa, and her and Silas hit it right off…later I had the beef boxed dinner, and it was OK, Margie had chicken and she liked it. We went to the Sightseer Lounge (SSL) (observation car) and sat with an 88 year old fellow named Jim, from Idaho, who makes the trip from Pasco to PDX a few times a year to reminisce. He told us all about the Columbia River as we rolled along beside it. He was a wealth of information and was eager to share it with us. We learned about the dams, the locks, the salmon, the native American fishing rules (or lack of) the wind farms, waste collection and more. He was a dear man who seemed to enjoy visiting with us all the way to Pasco.
Silas made our room about 11:00 pm and we slept to Spokane. The Seattle train was late. We connected late and started off late. We had breakfast with Milt and watched the countryside go by. The train seemed to fill up with Amish folks, one small man in green looked like a leprechaun, and we trekked on staying a little late, fluctuating from 30 minute to an hour or so late. Ate lunch with Milt, and a single rider in our car named Dan. Dan was really quiet. After lunch we enjoyed more scenery, and Margie got to see an empty family bedroom. Got some pix out of the railfan window at the end of the train. Later in the afternoon we took the long walk back to the diner for the wine and cheese tasting, Empire Builder Style. (Long walk, through five coaches and the SSL). Silas had warmed up a bit to us all by now, and a tour group had several rooms in our car, so they knew each other. They split the diner and had wine and cheese for PDX pax in our side, and separate one for SEA pax on other side. Silas picked Margie to be the “Vanna” to his Pat Sajak, and she displayed the wines and poured them for everyone. Milt sat with me and said some were good, others passable and one was not good at all. Cheeses and crackers were good. Margie got a full bottle for free for helping and Silas gave the remaining opened bottles to others. When the tasting was over, Silas asked the tour group folks to leave and the others to stay for a minute to tell us something. He said the tour operator had already told the tour group. Then he explained a prank:
He asked us all to go back to our car, and one lady volunteered to say she found bugs in her bedroom, so Silas was to tell all of us to leave the car and go to the SSL or Diner while he and Lamar (the coach attendant in the next car) would inspect the rooms for bugs. He then taped off one room of a tour member and when we all were to return, he told that guy that his room had the bugs and he could not stay, and there were no more rooms available. (It seems that this guy had been a trickster on the tour and the tour group was getting back at him). The guy got red faced and right before he blew up we all hollered…”FOOLED YOU” and Silas gave him the last full bottle of wine. The guy was really good natured about it and laughed at himself along with all of us. He even dropped by each room and asked if we wanted to share his new wine with him! Worked out perfectly! Had my last flat iron steak that night and Margie and I tried to sleep on the bottom bunk. Milt, our neighbor told us that he did not want to hear any moaning in ecstasy from us! We slept foot to head, ying-yang style and it was not too uncomfortable, but Margie is short.
We were late by 2 and a half hours in Minnesota, so we ate breakfast, and got ready to disembark our over 70 hours of riding the rails. Arrived in MSP two and a half hours late and waited for our friend, Yankee Red, to get us at MSP station.
When she arrived, she took us to our hotel (what a room!) and we changed clothes to go to a coffee shop in White Bear Lake to meet her family for brunch.She drove us the scenic route by the cathedral and capitol, showing us sights along the way. I knew Yankee Red, but Margie did not, and neither of us knew her family (except I knew her sister). We met and had some good coffee and a scone, and shared some excellent conversation with Yankee’s daughter, brothers, son, sister and niece and family. Then we left for another mode of transport. Yankee, her sister, son, Margie and I all learned to ride segways! It was intimidating for us all at first, but we all got the hang of it pretty quickly (even Margie, who cannot ride a bike), and we were soon off with about 35 other folks on a history tour of downtown Minneapolis on segways. WHAT A BLAST!!! We learned about the milling monopolies in Minneapolis, went into the fancy-schmantzy live theater, along the Mississippi River, over bridges and down gravel pathways, through Harriet Island (the only inhabited island on the river) and saw the new I-35 bridge built after the tragic collapse a few years ago. All on segways. Yankee’s sister, who was reluctant to go, was angry that it was over, she was a speed demon on this thing, saying the worst part was when they made her slow down! We all had a blast. After walking a few miles trying to remember where the cars were parked, we took off to Target Center for a Minnesota Lynx basketball game. We arrived late (third quarter) and got some grub and proceeded to Yankee’s boss’ suite at Target Center. Center court…..Lynx beat the crap out of New York, and we walked back to the car, which we found quickly this time : )
Yankee took us to the airport yo get us a car rental, and Margie and I walked forever to find the counter, then had to take a shuttle a few miles to the car, but found it and got ourselves back to our hotel! The next day was Margie’s day at the Mall of America. I dropped her off around noon and went to downtown St. Paul to wander and photograph. I found a deli selling the original “Clubman” after shave, and saw the big Church of Scientology. I took pix of the Fitzgerald Theater, home of NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion” show and got a T-shirt from St. Paul College ( a community and technical college). By the time I got back to the big mall, Margie was shopped out. The mall is huge and has a full amusement park in the center of it. We walked a bit, and she had some wine, and I had some gelato at a small bistro there. Margie says she was glad for the experience, but would not really want to return again to the mall. We had taco dinners at a local Mexican place where Yankee’s daughter works. She was our server and she was kind to us. This girl is a sharp cookie and has a great future in front of her. We went back to our room to prepare for the flight home tomorrow.
Before we went to the airport, we met up with Yankee and her son for lunch at a small café in her town of White Bear Lake. It was downtown and this little burg has the nicest prettiest downtown area you could ask for. Margie wished she had shopped the shops there instead of going to the big mall. I agree. If we ever go back, we will try to stay in this town, it is beautiful! Had a turkey dinner that couldn't be beat, said our goodbyes and went to the MSP airport.
Here our tale gets stale…..dropped Margie off at airport, took car back, was returned to airport by shuttle and we went in to check our bags. Southwest lets two bags fly free. We had boarding passes already, but at this airport there was no express baggage check, so we had to wait in line for 15 minutes. When we got to kiosk to check bags, the lady was nice and weighed our bags, put tags on them and we had to remove the bags to take them somewhere else to get x-rayed. While taking bags from the scale, another guy just came up and reached around us to start using the kiosk. I looked at him and said it was a shame he was in such a hurry that he had to push a woman out of his way. I told him I would bet his Mama was proud of him. He just kept on pushing the kiosk buttons.
Next we got into the TSA circus line. ONE LINE…..for all pax…..they only have ONE machine in the entire terminal! We were in it for 45 minutes!!! 45 minutes….remember hearing we got through baggage check and TSA at Dallas in 10 minutes? MSP was over an hour just to check bags and get through the TSA circus line! (BTW: The ******** who pushed us was only two people ahead of us in the TSA line)
We got to the gate about 5 minutes before boarding, and the best part was that the ******** who pushed us at the kiosk was on our plane and we had boarding numbers A22 and A23, he was in the B line, so we were already seated and reading the paper before this fellow boarded the plane! That’ll teach him how much hurrying up helps!
Uneventful flight home, via St. Louis, and we are now snug at home. Margie is at work as I type this missive. Big thanks to GG-1, JimHudson, Yankee Red and family, all others who gave us pointers and suggestions, and to all who wished us well on this 12 day trip. Pix to follow, I will post a dropbox link as soon as I can. I have to get tehm out of my camera, and get someone to show me how to get them from Margie’s Iphone.
T
Great Trip Report and Trip Tony! And isn't it amazing that the Hole in the Wall Joints have the Best Food and Ambiance! And you are right about Eric, he's a Prince of a Guy! 
