In mid-September I took my long-awaited western trip:
MKE-CHI-LAX-PDX-SEA-MKE over a 2 week period. MKE-CHI: on the
dependable if unexciting Hiawatha; service, arriving just after noon. I
tried the new
Quiet Car on the Hiawatha and found it a peaceful
change from loud cellphone talkers.
CHI-LAX: Bedroom C on the SW Chief courtesy of AGR. As usual going up
the stairs caused confusion of direction, and as we departed (on time)
I realized
that I was wrong in guessing which way we were headed and changed seats
accordingly. As soon as we began to pick up speed, I kept hearing an
annoying squeak that got worse when we lurched a little. I finally
realized that the upper bunk above my head was bouncing up and down
like on a bungee cord. When Fred Rogers (the car attendant) appeared, I
told him I could NOT ride all the way to LAX with that infernal squeak
and a bouncing bed right above my head. He tried stuffing pillows and
other remedies, and we finally concluded that the only way to have
peace and quiet was to put the bunk down. Fortunately I am not a tall
person, but it was annoying to have the bunk right above my head for
the next 2 days. The sleeper had new dark blue curtains, but was
otherwise not refurbished. I tried to look for Mr Norman and his canine
companion, but I wasn't sure which side of the train or exactly where,
so I did not see him. This was my first experience with simplified
dining - and my first (of many) encounters with the horrid green beans.
The first night out I tried the salmon. It was OK - not exciting, but
not too dried out. For breakfast both days I stuck with the continental
since I have some diet restrictions due to recent surgery. I tried the
Chicken Caesar Salad for lunch (OK but unremarkable) and the second
night I tried the Beef Burgundy. Both entrees were too large for my
needs, so I wasted a lot of food. I can't eat broccoli right now and I
avoided those horrid beans so my diet wasn't too balanced. I noticed
that they left a basket of salad dressing envelopes on the table and
each envelope held enough dressing for 2-3 salads. If I couldn't find
someone to share, I just didn;t have dressing. And unfortunately, no
desserts on this trip. Our timekeeping was great - this was my first
time on the SW Chief and I really enjoyed the scenery. There were only
a few vendors on the platform in ABQ but many passengers were actively
shopping. I was sorry to have it get dark so soon - that's the problem
with traveling in September. There were about 40 people traveling with
American by Rail to Flagstaff, all of them in sleepers, so the sleepers
were full. I did not go down to the lounge car - bad knees and I could
see out both sides, so no need. We arrived about 1/2 hour early into
LAX.
LA Gold Line: My former college roommate Edie lives in Pasadena, and I
was delighted for the chance to ride the Gold Line. What a beautiful
train - clean, quiet, efficient way to travel. I lived in Pasadena
1964-1968 and would have loved to have had the trains like thay have
now.
Surfliner to San Diego and back: Edie had to go to San Diego for a
meeting, so we traveled the Surfliner Business Class to San Diego. We
had facing seats overlooking the ocean both ways. We had packed a small
lunch, but were delighted to be offered snack packs and wine (or soda
or water) to supplement out lunch. An on-time arrival in San Diego was
a bonus, and I enjoyed looking around the beautiful little station
while Edie arranged for our rental car. Our return trip 2 days later
was equally pleasant and timely.
LAX-PDX: Bedroom D (again AGR) in 1431 car was not on the ocean side -
the first of 3 disappointments on this trip. No Pacific Parlor Car:
instead a little Pathetic Parlor Closet set up in Room A of the 1430
sleeper. I took a picture of the rolls, fruit and cereal spread out on
the seat with the attendant crammed in the far corner, but it did not
come out good enough to post. Of the 3 sleepers, only mine had the
bedrooms on the "wrong side", so when we stopped in SBA I went to the
lounge car and discovered 2 ladies ready to give a "guided tour" as we
traveled up the coast. It was all very pleasant except for an annoying
drunk that kept up his own commentary, including indignation that it
was going to take him 2 days to get to Seattle. Actually, it would take
him even longer as he was escorted from the train in SLO. Car attendant
Louie was efficient and pleasant. This was my first time on the Coast
Starlight between LAX and EMY, and despite a warning call from Amtrak
before I left home, we were almost on time into EMY. I went to bed and
when I awoke we had managed to lose about 2.5 hours. So I did get to
see Mount Shasta after all. The 3rd disappointment was the same
simplified dining menu as on the Chief the previous week and the same
icky green beans. The food was unremarkable. We did have wine tastings
both days in the dining car. I did not go the second day, but on the
first day thay had cheese platters and cracker baskets on one of the
tables and came around with wine to pour into the one glass we had been
given. Not too impressive. Our arrival in PDX was about 2 hours late. I
took a taxi to the Mark Spencer and had an early dinner at Jake's.
PDX-SEA: the next morning I took a cab back to the station to catch the
Cascade train to Seattle, Business Class. My reason for stopping in
Portland was to try this regional service and to avoid a likely
midnight or later arrival in Seattle, which had been the norm at the
time I made the reservations. That extreme lateness didn't materialize,
but I was happy for the chance to ride the Cascade train and was not
disappointed. However, my cell phone disappeared somewhere in Portland
(I think) and calls to the hotel, the restaurant, the cab companies and
Amtrak were futile. A very nice gentleman in security at the Portland
station let me use his cell phone to call Sprint and disable my number
so no one could run up big charges. Fortunately I had a phone card with
me and was able to let my kids know I was OK since I had promised to
call them. Anyway, the Cascade train was another delight - if only our
Hiawatha was running equipment like that! - and we were on time into
Seattle on Saturday afternoon. I took a cab to the Pioneer Square Hotel
and found it to be perfectly situated for my needs. I was able to walk
(limping with my cane) to Ivar's Acres of Clams for an early dinner and
could have taken a ferry ride if I were so inclined without having to
use a cab. I found the hotel very pleasant and slept well.
SEA-MKE: Sunday morning after breakfast at the hotel I walked up to
Pioneer Square and sat outside a Starbucks drinking coffee, reading my
newspapers and watching people walking to the Seahawks game. After a
lunch at a little Italian restaurant just north of the square, I sat
for a while just watching people. Unfortunately there were a lot of
panhandlers, but generally they left me alone. After a blueberry-oat
bar at Starbucks, I walked back to the hotel and took a cab to the
station. I got there really early since I was afraid of the traffic
when the game let out. I found it hard to believe that in the 5 years
since I had been in that station that the conveyor belt for the luggage
still squeaked and squealed so much that I had to cover my ears. I was
assisted to an early boarding of the Empire Builder and met Tashi, the
car attendant. He was very polite, but quite new to his job and at
times over the next 2 days seemed overwheled by all his tasks. I was in
room 9 in the 0831 car and although I tried to figure out how to get on
the north side of the train, I ended up on the south side again (for
the 5th time!) since this sleeper was reversed from the 0830 car and
the PDX sleeper. I give up trying to figure out how to get on the side
I want - there's no way to be sure, although it did seem that the
second sleeper was reversed from the first on all 3 trains. Tashi
brought around little bottles of champagne and candied fruit snack to
celebrate our departure. Since room 10 was empty, I was able to sit
there to watch Puget Sound as we traveled north. No deluxe sleeper this
time since I was paying, not AGR. Fortunately the menu was different
from the other 2 trauns, but the horrid green beans were still
following me. This menu had the famous "vegetarian ham" omelet, but it
also had 5 dessert choices instead of 3 (including ice cream) and they
used Corelle dishes with an Amtrack logo instead of styrofoam. So it
seemed to be a cross between simplified dining and the "good old days".
The sleepers were all newly refurbished. After rubbery fish on the
Coast Starlight, I avoided the fish entree. Food was OK - nothing to
write home about and not a good value for the prices charged in my
opinion. There was an onboard service supervisor(?) actually the same
guy that was on the Coast Starlight 2 days earlier and he walked
through the train regularly chatting with passengers about
accommodations, food, etc. I made one trip to the lounge/cafe car -
with my bad knee I didn't want to do it twice since all the Seattle
coaches were between it and the diner. I wanted to do some photography
around the Izaak Walton Inn, but some of the windows were so dirty that
I had to walk around looking for cleaner windows. I found a relatively
clean one, but the sun was such that I couldn't take a picture anyway.
More people can be accommodated in the table section of the car, but it
certainly is not as comfortable as the old upholstered swivel seats.
The wine tasting in the diner was well organized: each table was set
with a plate of cheeses and crackers and 2 wine glasses per person. The
person conducting the tasting (not sure who he was) did a good job of
talking about the 4 wines and the 4 cheeses that we got to sample. He
gave away the remaining wine to winners of trivia contests. We arrived
in Milwaukee about 1 1/2 hours late after being held just across the
river from LaCrosse, WI for an hour (we were told before leaving St
Paul that we would have to wait there due to ongoing bridge work).
So it was another great trip - on-time performance was very good in my
opinion, food not so hot. Fellow passengers generally genial, car
attendants effficient and pleasant. Tashi had to be chased down in the
AM to get the bed made up both days - as I said earlier he seemed a
little overwhelmed. I have only one more trip scheduled: ALB-ROC on the
Maple Leaf in business class on 11/17. I am flying (UGH) for the first
time in 2 years to visit the relatives in upstate NY.
