More New York sights

We had some time today before we caught the train, so we visited Grand Central Station.


It is a magnificent building, with huge hallways and high ceilings. Part of it was going to be closed off from 5pm, and there were lots of lights and cameras around, suggesting filming for some movie or other.


One of the exits is to 42nd street, we walked up and down 42nd street, Broadway, 5th avenue, you name it.



At 50th street we went up to the 67th floor of the Rockefeller centre. This is the view of Central Park from there.


And back towards the statue of liberty. It was a long way up and blowing a howling gale!

OK, just about time to board the train, so time to stop blogging.

btw, thanks very much to the few people who are keeping in touch, especially Ed and Chris M. We do appreciate any contact from home, just a quick comment on the blog, Facebook or email would be much appreciated.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Night out in New York

We were nervous about whether the tickets would be there to pick up after having booked for Phantom online. We found a place for dinner just across the road from the theatre, and Graham zipped across the road to pick them up. Not only were the tickets there, but they turned out to be in the second row! So we had an awesome view of the cast, and were very close to the orchestra pit. The show was wonderful, a top class performance. I thought of you guys and all your musical children Sally and Dene, and what an inspiration it would be for them to see something like that. When we win millions in lotto we'll shout you a trip! ;-)





We walked back to the hotel, through the streets of downtown New York, past a few icons such as the above. It was past 11 but we were surrounded by other theatre goers, dozens of yellow cabs and even more police vehicles and policemen! It seems as though the police force has recruited hundreds more staff here in recent years.

Ed, Graham reckons Manchester will have its act together better than NY, at least as far as cleaning up the streets and keeping them maintained. "Ann has almost fallen into many holes on streets and supposed footpaths! We met people who told me I wouldn't recognize Manchester now."

Back on the train today, not sure when we will have wifi again, may be not till we get to Las Vegas in three days.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

New York, New York

The train driver on our journey from Orlando to New York city must have been in a hurry to get home! We left half an hour late, due to the fact that someone had thrown themselves under the southbound train and we had to wait for the police to complete their investigation and release the train. But we arrived on time, in fact a little early. Our carriage was at the back of the train. Not sure if that was the reason, but we certainly travelled at speed and rocked and rolled our way up the east coast.

We met an English couple at dinner. They had been supposed to fly home from Miami a week ago but could nor get a flight so were heading to New York to catch a flight from there. They had been to NY before and gave us some good hints, like catching the free Staten Island ferry to have a look at the statue of liberty, which we did.


It seemed a lot closer than it looks here! As you can see, Graham is fairly well rugged up. We went from 32ish and high humidity to 8 degrees with a freezing wind. The merino and polyprops finally saw the light of day!

We found wifi at Penn station and used it to book a good price (well for New York anyway) at the downtown Holiday Inn just a few blocks away. We walked there with Graham keeping a commentary of how horrible he thought NY was! There were puddles everywhere, it was dirty, crowded, noisy, with roadworks and construction sites everywhere. I just said "welcome to New York"! I also told him he would not make a good evaluator as he needed to withhold judgement till he'd seen a bit more of the city.


After we checked in we took the subway to Central Park. It was lovely, much nicer than I remembered it, though not all the paths were on the map and neither of us had a very good sense of direction, so we walked a bit further than we intended before we got out of it again.

Today we have done the tourist thing, taking the subway to the end of the blue line, the station they still call the World Trade Centre, (which deserves its own blog), and explored Wall Street and viewed Manhatten and other landmarks from the ferry.


I hadn't realized, when Graham took this, that there was a subway station with a big screen showing a Pepsi ad right behind me! Behind that is the New York Stock Exchange.


This is a picture of it from the other side. The security around this area was amazing. All the streets are blocked off, and police and armoured vehicles are everywhere. We watched a policeman with a dog search a delivery truck, looking through the grill, inside, underneath, very thorough, before they allowed the truck through.

Tonight we are off to Broadway to see Phantom of the Opera, something we are both looking forward to.


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Disney Resorts

Disney World is much larger than Disney Land, and consists of 4 parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Holywood Studios, and many resorts. Magic Kingdom is very similar to Disney Land, but one or two of the rides are at the other parks, for example Star Tours is at Holywood Studios.

There are three resorts linked by the monorail and boat to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. One of these, the Polynesian Resort, I was keen to stay at but the price was just silly. We did take a boat ride over and have a drink at the poolside bar though! By the way, for all you blokes out there, Graham says bikinis are alive and well in Florida - not that he was looking!


The resort we stayed in, the Carribean Beach Resort, has six different villages, each with its own theme, heated pool and beach. The theme for our village was pirates. This is the beach closest to us. You can see a row of loungers near the water and two hammocks on the right. In the centre of the resort are shops and food, which were great if you wanted souvenirs and junk food!

But as you can see the resort itself is a great place to be. There are free buses every 20 minutes to each of the parks that stop at each village, and even an internal shuttle if you can't be bothered walking to the shops or bar! We observed a little girl about 3 playing in the fountain one hot afternoon with her mum saying "don't you want to go on some rides?". Her response: "No, I want to go in the pool!". With the number of very tired small children we saw being dragged around parks late at night, often crying because they were scared of witches and dark places, you would have to think they should ban strollers and small children altogether!

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Two days in Disney World

Nothing is for free in Disney World, and that includes wifi! In fact, we haven't even found any wifi! Hence the delay in the Disney blogs.

One of our main memories of the Disney parks will be of literally hundreds of strollers and mobility scooters for elderly/disabled/fat people blocking pathways and parked up around the beginning of queues for rides. Many contained large children and adults who obviously could, but chose not to walk.

We enjoyed many of the good old favourite rides including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Star Tours, Mad Hatter's Tea Cup, and Haunted House.

Most of the new rides we enjoyed were at Epcot, the best was a Mission to Mars simulation where we each had our roles and tasks, e.g. releasing the booster rockets and lowering flaps for landing. It took a bit to persuade Graham to get on it, and it WAS quite exciting, but we both really enjoyed it, even if we had a rather bumpy landing on Mars!



Other goodies - Spaceship Earth which is in the icon Epcot Sphere I'm attempting to hold up in the pic, and Natural Earth rides about sustainable energy and more efficient food growth. They sound boring but Disney seems to manage to make interesting rides out of ordinary things.

Hollywood Studios was a little disappointing, but Fantasmic, the light show was pretty good. The way they move a huge crowd in and out of venues is impressive! The food all through Disney World, including the resort, was pretty much burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and fries, and it was very difficult to find beer other than Budweiser and Miller light.

On our last night, just before we reached the end of the queue for the teacups, the heavens opened, and there was a thunderstorm with lightning that outdid any Disney fireworks display. We waited for about 20 minutes before deciding to ignore the rain and head for the bus. We were totally drenched by the time we reached the bus, having waded through water about 4 inches deep, but we were glad we had done as the rain, complete with thunder and lightning, went on for hours.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Washington DC to Disney World

The train was on time, and our sleeper was a little larger than the previous ones, and we had our own toilet and hand basin. Met some interesting people (all Americans) at dinner and breakfast. The food was pretty good again. Graham had the top bunk which was wider and had more headroom, so we both had a good sleep.



Our pirate room is great - once we and our luggage finally got there. Long story! The fridge is inside a barrel, the beds are boats, and the carpet looks like wooden boards with large nails at each end.

We visited the Epcot centre and walked around the world showcase visiting various countries in about 34 degrees and high humidity till we were getting totally exhausted. We went back to the resort, and after a shower, some food and a couple of drinks we felt much better and headed back there for an awesome fireworks display later on.

There are free buses from the resort to all Disney attractions, and ferries and the monorail between some of them.

Tomorrow we are heading for the Magic Kingdom and Holywood Studios.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Washington DC

We made it out to Dean's place and met all of the family, including the dog. It was great catching up, but it was an early night after the dramas of the flight and all.



Next day we drove into the centre of the city with Dean and Pat, and began our explorations about the same time as the rain began.

We started out at the Air and Space Smithsonian, and found a 3D IMAX movie about the Hubble telescope that was awesome. As I hadn't seen either a 3D or an IMAX movie before, and as the content was fascinating anyway, it was really great.

We managed to visit the American Indian museum and some of the art museum before heading up to meet Pat and Dean at the building where Pat works as legal council for the Senate. They took us to the senators' dining room for lunch.


I wasn't sure if I was allowed to take photos but I sneakily took one in the foyer,


and one of one of the hallways we walked along. It was really special to dine on the senators' navy bean soup that has been on the menu every day for more than a hundred years. Not that we recognized any of our fellow diners!

We had a personalized tour of the Capitol before heading back out into the rain. We resorted to buying an umbrella at the Natural History Smithsonian and then took some time, surrounded by hundreds of school children, to find our way back out again.


We eventually made it to the White House. As you can see the weather had improved by then - not! There is a lot more security around the White House than there was 30 years ago.

We found our way back to Dean and Pat's by train, and had a quiet night recovering and chatting with them. Heading off to Orlando tomorrow, hopefully the trains will be running!


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Chicago to Washington DC

A couple of things that happened in Chicago I forgot to mention.

We saw Segway tours. A group of people were being taught how to ride them in Millenium Park, and later we saw them hooning down the footpath. You can also hire bikes, but we just walked miles on foot, and we have the aching muscles today to prove it!

The other thing was that we were duped by a black woman at the bean who welcomed us to the park, said she was a tour guide, offered to take a picture of us both beside the bean, then held up a tatty piece of paper and asked for a $5 donation to support battered women. We figured getting a photo of the two of us together was worth a couple of dollars, but not five!

Well, my Koru Club card came in very handy at the airport, getting us into a priority queue (with no people in it) to get our tickets, and then into United's red carpet lounge. One of the customer services people said ooh I have never seen a card like that, but the other one said yes he had, it's from n zee.

The flight was pretty good, Graham survived it OK, we flew in a 757 so now Graham has flown in all of the Boeings from 727 to 767, and we fly on a 777 on the way home. The approach into Ronald Reagan airport took us right over the White House and the Lincoln memorial.


We took a train into Chinatown, in the centre of town and somehow ended up in a Japanese restaurant that serves English beer! That white blob at the bottom of my glass of sparkling wine is a lychee. Tastes very nice actually. And free wifi too!

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Ummm, Chicago 3?

Well, at least we had wifi again last night. That's coz we are back at the hotel in Chicago. Our train was cancelled due to the derailment of a freight train.

We spent about two hours trying to book some air fares online, trying three different sites, but none of them had New Zealand in their list of countries so wouldn't recognize our VISA! So this morning we are heading out to the airport to find a flight. As you can imagine, it won't be Graham's best day of the holiday!

I guess things had been going too well for us. Now we are discovering why people don't travel by rail in the USA!


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Chicago 2

We had no idea that Chicago was such an interesting place, though after having spent all day walking around we were very glad to sit down somewhere warm!

We walked over to the lake and discovered Navy Pier, which is huge and has among other things a fun park, a Shakespeare theater (when in Rome...), and multiple food places selling such delicacies as funnel cake, elephant ears and other unknown foods.

The walk follows the lake for miles and I think we walked a few of them. We found the spectacular Buckingham fountain, only to find that it doesn't start spurting till May!


We found Millenium Park, and some amazing sights. Graham filmed this fountain spurting water, but missed the face finishing and turning into a smile.


The thing they call the bean is quite interesting, that's me with my hand on it, and the cityscape reflected in the bean.


The reflections underneath are pretty interesting too.

The day warmed up for a couple of hours while we had lunch, but it cooled down fast, and we were glad to find a warm bar for a drink before heading for the train.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Chicago

After another huge drive Marcy dropped us at a downtown Chicago hotel. The traffic was pretty bad coming into town, even on a Sunday afternoon. Hope you got out again OK Marcy!

We found that there were dozens of bars and cafes within a couple of blocks of the hotel, and we both felt quite comfortable walking around the streets. We saw a couple of beggars - one was walking along carrying a big bag full of fast food still with his begging sign around his neck!

We found good cheap Mexican food,



and then the Red Head piano bar which was described as one of Chicago's most popular night spots, and it was certainly full (with among the crowd a substantial number of male couples) when we left around 10ish on a Sunday night. Again, very good entertainment for the price of a drink or two.

We are about to head out to explore the sites of Chicago, the first chance we have had to wear our polyprops and merino as the expected high here today is 13 degrees. Tonight is another overnight on the train, arriving in Washington DC tomorrow afternoon.
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Pics of the family

We had another lovely night out in Grand Island with my American family.


This is Marcy and Renee,


and Kerry and Graham,


And Mom and Dad


at the Saddle Club. We ate far too much as usual, but had a lovely evening.

A little sad as it was our last, and we had to say goodbye to Kerry and Renee that night, and Mom and Dad in the morning, and begin the long journey back to Chicago.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

More Grand Island

We have had an interesting and relaxing day exploring Grand Island. We went to the high school and a very nice young man gave us a wonderful tour of the school while Marcy and I reminisced.


This is a picture of us outside what used to be the main entrance. We even found a teacher who was there 35 years ago when we were there! He knew the whereabouts of a number of our teachers, which was interesting.

We had runzas for lunch, and drove down the strip we used to drive up and down on weekends. Unfortunately some buildings are no longer, like the house we lived in and Dairy Queen, one of our favourite eating places.

We spent some time looking in antique shops next day, most of which are more like our second hand shops. And we visited a Wal Mart! Had to be done ;-).


Graham spied out the only brewery in town, so we had lunch there, with a couple of interesting beers.

It has been sunny here but quite a bit cooler than it has been elsewhere, around 12 degrees, so we have had the first chance to wear trousers and more than one layer.

Off to Chicago early tomorrow morning to stay the night downtown.


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Grand Island, Nebraska

Well, yesterday we travelled 650 miles, that's 1050km!






This is what the scenery looked like after a couple of hours.







And a few hours later....






...and a few hours after that when we reached Nebraska. Marcy remarked on how much the scenery had changed! We left at 9, and arrived at Mom and Dad's about 7.45, with just a couple of short stops. It was a mammoth effort for Marcy!

We were made to feel very welcome by Mom and Dad, and Kerry and Renee. The big decision was whether to eat out or in, in won and Kerry disappeared to return with the most awesome BBQ ribs we have ever eaten. We had a lovely evening chatting and laughing, it was very hard to believe that 35 years had gone by since I was here living in Nebraska.







Except that Graham is here with me, and yes, all of us look a little older, but not THAT much! Looking forward to becoming reacquainted with Grand Island over the next couple of days.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Travelling north

We had a good trip from Memphis through to Chicago. I slept well in the top bunk while Graham tossed and turned on the bottom one. We went to breakfast at 6am, which was quite a mission for us, but the quiche made it worthwhile. Marcy and Jeff were at the Chicago station to meet us. Marcy was very surprised at our two small bags, she had hired a van so there was room for all our luggage!

We found out that they actually live in Indiana, not Illinois, about an hour from Chicago, in a town called Valparaiso, or Valpo.


Marcy took us driving around the area, and to Lake Michigan, which is really awesome. Graham is still sure that it was a sea, not a lake! It has a sandy beach, girls in bikinis, and even waves most days.

They only have one dog, a husky. The neighbouring children love to come over and play with him. He's the first dog I have met that you can gave a conversation with!


So tomorrow we are off to Grand Island Nebraska, where I spent a year with the McGraths in 74/75, amazing to think that it's been 35 years. Marcy and Lisa seem just the same, looking forward to meeting my American Mom and Dad.
;-) Ann-a-Gram

More Elvis, and more!

We had a huge feed of BBQ pork at the restaurant the pink Cadillac took us to, and now we're back watching more Elvis movies. So much I could blog but I don't want to bore everyone. But I guess it is interesting that Priscilla is here this week, staying in the Heartbreak Hotel with about 80 friends. It is the 75th anniversary of the birth of Elvis this year.


Well, there it is, the path up to Gracelands. We spent 2 hours there, just amazing how much there is to see and hear. The individual headphones allow you to explore the mansion and other buildings at your leisure. I don't really know where to start! We took lots of photos, no video or flash pics allowed, but I think the pics have turned out OK. A very emotional day for Graham, but I don't know how anyone could not be moved by it all.

There are two whole buildings full of gold records and trophies, one of which used to be his own squash court. But the meditation garden where the graves of Elvis, his parents and grandmother lie is a very special place. The house has four large entertainment areas, and there is another in the squash building. All have a theme, pianos or guitars, and most have a bar. One has a pool table, one has 3 TVs in a row all on different channels which Elvis set up after he heard that the president watched all three news channels at once!

We have been in the plane and the Lear jet, seen lots of cars including the pink Cadillac, seen multitudes of shiny jumpsuits, movies, and Elvis memorabilia till we have just about OD'd on Elvis. But as the VIP ticket enables to revisit as much as we want, and we don't catch the train to Chicago till 10.40 tonight we will probably go and have another look around the mansion before we leave.

Not sure when we will be blogging next, hopefully in a couple of days.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Memphis

This is the third attempt to blog about going to downtown Memphis where we had lunch in Beale Street. The locals think that it is better than Bourbon Street, and if you prefer blues to jazz maybe it is!


We listened to a blues band, no cover charge, but the tip bucket appeared right in front of us after a couple of songs. We had a very appropriately named "Big ass beer" while we enjoyed the music, followed by a BBQ bologna sandwich. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with taking the rental car back to the airport and getting back to the hotel, followed by drinks and more Elvis movies. Tonight a pink cadillac is taking us out to dine and tomorrow is Gracelands! Hooray!


This is Beale street.

Btw, thanks to Chris and Ed for comments, we did respond on that blog. Comments and/or emails very welcome.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Elvis Lives!

We made it to Heartbreak Hotel with only one mishap, taking an early exit from the motorway and having to drive down a street that looked VERY dodgy, but then we found ourselves on Elvis Presley Boulevard and at our destination. Still struggling with what a quarter of a mile looks like!

Heartbreak hotel is awesome! Elvis is everywhere and our room has a lounge with a LARGE flat screen TV on which to play the 24/7 Elvis movies.


Even the wine has an Elvis label.

We have just finished the tour of Sun Studios where Elvis recorded his first 5 records. How incredible that it sat empty for 20 years before it was bought and restored as a recording studio, and that it is still used as a recording studio today. We learnt so much about the history of the studio and the many great blues singers who started their careers recording at the Sun.

I have now written twice about Beale Street and lost it all so will send this and try again later.

Huntsville

We had a great day with Lisa and Jim touring the sights of Huntsville. The first stop, after driving past Lisa's office, was the space and rocket centre.

This is a replica of the real one housed in a building just next door. The centre is a place where people, including school groups, can find out more about NASA and the US space programme.

This is a real rocket built and ready to launch before the mission was cancelled.

They also took us to the Tennessee river, the old part if town where there are some beautiful old homes, and the centre of town where we saw the very narrow canal that links the city with the river, the fresh water spring that originally brought people to settle in the area, and some HUGE fish in the ponds nearby.


After that it was time to get on the road and head back to Memphis. This is a picture of Lisa and Jim and two of their dogs just before we left for Heartbreak Hotel.


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Huntsville Alabama

Just a quick blog from Huntsville making use of Lisa's wireless. Had a great train trip past the bayous and some of the devastation still to be seen from Katrina and on to Memphis. The train arrived on time! Our taxi driver told us heaps about Memphis but we only caught half of it because of his accent. The Southern accent seems stronger in Tennessee than it did in Louisiana. Saturday morning we picked up a rental car and with some trepidation headed off for Huntsville. Getting out of Memphis nearly caused a divorce as we came to grips with driving on the wrong side of the road, multiple exits, and what an eighth of a mile before an exit might be!


Once we got out of the city though, it was no problem, with roads that went on forever and not that much traffic. We obeyed the instructions of the GPS speaking to us in an American accent, and arrived at Lisa and Jim's house with no problem.

It took us a few minutes before we could greet them properly as first we had to deal with three large excited dogs!


This is two of them next morning when they have calmed down a bit.

We had a lovely meal at a German restaurant with Lisa and Jim eating food we had never heard of before, and being tempted by milky way pie, and bourbon and pecan pie!

Today they are taking us driving around Huntsville and we will find out more about what NASA does here.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Hurricanes and pianos

We were very lucky with the timing of our visit to New Orleans as the annual jazz festival starts the day after we leave. Some of the acts we saw on the street were groups here for the festival. While we were watching one group a black man appeared from out of nowhere and joined the band singing "Down by the Riverside". He grabbed a blond teenager by the hand and soon had a group of people following him as he sang and danced up and down the street. At the end of the song the lead singer announced who he was, but unfortunately we didn't catch his name. The members of the band were very obviously over the moon to be performing with him though.


Later in the day we found ourselves at Pat O'Briens, famous for their legendary 26oz (770ml) Hurricanes. The waiter greeted us with "Y'all here for a Hurricane?" At that stage we didn't know we were, but once we'd read the cocktail list we realized that WAS what we there for!


This is the view of the coutyard from our tiny fourth floor balcony


... and this is the view looking straight ahead... Now who would want to live in that little house up there?

A local told us where to go for good food and local jazz, but once we found the dueling piano bar at Pat O'Briens we didn't want to leave. We did briefly to grab a lucky dog from a cart on a street corner and then had to queue to get back in! When we left again later the queue must have had about 60 people in it.


The pianos have huge mirrors behind them to help you see the pianists and the keyboards. And there was a guy playing a tray! He had something metal on his fingers that he tapped against the tray - easier to carry around than a set of drums.

Now we are sitting at the Amtrak station, feeling that we need at least another week in New Orleans. Sad to leave, but plenty more adventures ahead.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

All that jazz

We woke at 10am with a very persistent housekeeping person banging on our door asking if we wanted our room serviced, and we hadn't even used anything yet! New Orleans was definitely better today, found a very nice place to have brunch in Jackson Square - cajun omelette with creole sauce. Then we did the river walk and took a narrated ride in a carriage around the French Quarter. It was very interesting and informative. We found out that the French Quarter was not flooded during Katrina as it is above sea level. Although it is below river level it was apparently not the river but a nearby lake that flooded. We saw the only two remaining buildings from the French settlement before a fire destroyed the French Quarter - one a pub and the other a monastery!

Dinner for me was Louisiana crab cakes and Graham had veal as we ended up at an Italian restaurant but we had a table on a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. A band came down the road followed by many revellers, headed for Preservation Hall I think.

After that we visited many bars, most with live jazz, and we accidently went to a high class strip joint disguised as a cabaret. ;-).

Today we set out for the jazz buffet brunch but on the way we found jazz in the street,



and in the next block



and at a cafe so we sampled a poboy and a gyro instead!

We wandered around French Market till it was time for a drink and more jazz with Steamboat Willie at Musical Legend Park. What a fantastic place! Eat your heart out Kevin! ;-)


;-) Ann-a-Gram

New Orleans at last!

The second night on the train was a lot better than the first. I took the top bunk and we both slept a lot better. Graham was suitably impressed with how well I climbed up and down in the very cramped space!

During Monday we passed through Arizona and New Mexico which are pretty much deserts with nothing to see but wide open spaces with sparse vegetation and the odd mountain in the distance. Interestingly, some of these had snow on the tops!

We came close to the Mexican border just before moving into Texas. At El Paso, a large city not far from the New Mexico/Texas border, there were some fairly ordinary houses and gottage-type things on one side of the tracks, but on the Mexican side was a shantytown that would rival anything you'd see on TV of Soweto.

We have met some great people on the trip, changed Graham's mind about Americans to some degree. The staff have been awesome and considering they have been on duty for about 60 hours non stop incredibly friendly and helpful. They insist you sit at tables in fours in the dining car so we have met couples from California and Denmark, so locals as well as visitors.

The train broke all speed records after Houston, when there were finally no more freight trains in our way. The parts of Houston the train went through were not what they would want visitors to see. Shacks barely standing up, surrounded by dead cars, piles of rubbish and black men sitting in the shade.

We arrived in New Orleans at 11.30pm, took a taxi to the hotel, and then went to bed..... not! We went out, and walked half a block to Bourbon Street. But maybe we were at the wrong end as apart from one OK bar all we could find were empty VERY noisy bars playing today's music, and strip joints. So we didn't last long before returning to our room and flopping into s king size bed that felt HUGE after my 2.4ft bunk. Maybe the French Quarter will be more to our liking tomorrow!

Sorry no pics as the train was going too fast for pics on my phone.
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Travelling to New Orleans

I'm sitting in the railway station, got a ticket to my destination, but no train yet in sight. We found a bus that goes directly from LAX to Union Station for $7 per person! Much less than a taxi I'm sure, as it was quite a long ride.

It turns out the delay was due to a 6.3 earthquake, and they had to check out the line to make sure it was safe! News Flash! Now upgraded to 7.2!

Three hours and a couple of drinks into the first train journey, this is awesome! Saw mountains (hills?) with snow on that seemed to excite some of the other passengers.



Our roomette is very small but much better than just a seat.

We are now stopped who knows where while there is a more thorough check of the track as we just got the news of the earthquake upgrade. Who knows when we will arrive in New Orleans, but we have our duty free bourbon and a good meal coming up so we're OK!

Hmm, a 2 hour delay now while they check out the track, think we are close to the epicenter, but we have are pretty comfortable, could be worse!

Found out in the night that there was a medical emergency on board. We were stopped for hours until an ambulance appeared and four people with torches boarded the train. No one got off and the ambulance went away so I guess they took him off at the next station. We had breakfast travelling through Arizona past a forest of huge cacti. A lot of the route has been alongside freeways and we have been amazed at how many RVs there are on the road, lots of purpose built ones, but lots of fifth wheels too.

Free wifi at Tuscon Arizona!


;-) Ann-a-Gram