Vacation plans have changed....
Some cash I was looking forward to didn't materialise so I had to figure out other options (Deja'vu from last year's Europe Fiasco come to mind) but being the ever recourceful person that I am, I decided to try to do something memorable instead of just sitting around being depressed about not being able to do exactly what I originally intended. So for $288.00 and some change......
.....Here is the new trip (which my Credit Card jsut paid for): I have always wanted to make it out to California (Colorado being the farthest west I have ever been) so here goes......... wish me luck!
-Tommorow afternoon (Tuesday the 24th) I will be leaving on an Amtrak Train from Chicago, called the "Southwest Chief" and take a very leisurly (43 hours) train trip across the southwestern U.S, going through Ill, Missouri,Kansas, SW Colorado, New Mexico,Arizona (right through the Grand Canyon's outer edge), and arriving in California (Los Angeles) a few days later on Thursday the 26th.
-After arriving in Los Angeles around 8AM in the morning on thursday, I have a few hours in L.A. to bop around and then its back on another train called the "Coast Starlight", an 11 hour trip up the Pacific Coast which will take me to San Fransisco, getting there in the middle to later evening just as the lights of the city are coming on.
I am going to stay overnight at a Marriott Hotel somewhere in the city (employee rate of 69.00 available at almost all the hotels in the city!!) and walk around a little and take in as much scenery (Fishermans Wharf, Castro Street, Golden Gate Park for sure) as I can in one night and then early the next morning on Friday the 27th....
-I have to Hop on another train called the "Capitol Corridor" that will take me to Sacramento to board my homebound train called the "California Zephyr", which is another 50 hour trip.
This train trip will take me through Northern Nevada and through Reno (I wonder if they will hear me in Rachel NV if I yell loud enough from the train....) and then into Utah, going through Salt Lake City and Provo and some National Parks and the Green River Valley and then into Colorado and across the majestic Rockies, into Denver and then Nebraska, Iowa and back to Illinois where I wll pick up the METRA back to Racine on Sunday afternoon on the 29th....wheew.
Though I will not be able to make it out to the Area 51 Celebration in Nevada that I so wanted to be at over the memorial day weekend, I WILL have a wonderful journey none the less. With so many scenic views (I have been reading up on the routes and the trains pass through so much of the country that is supossed to be totally awe inspiring) and alot of time to relax, I plan on reading a few of the many books I have laying around, writing in my journal, watching the country, sleeping, watching some movies on my laptop, maybe meet a few cool people on the train and just veg out.
I plan on taking lots of photos and writing a trip journal of sorts about everything that happens while I am on my latest adventure.
I have to tie up some loose ends, finish packing my bags, visit a few good friends, and drop off my little girl (Scrappy) over to Robyns yet today and then its off to the "Heatwave" of the west. I just saw in the news that Arizona, Southern Nevada and California are in the 100s right now...hopefully it will have cooled off a bit by the time I get out there.
Happy Monday....
Happy monday
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