Seattle Vacation: Gold Coast & Home (Part 4)

Okay, I've decided to make the end of this already long story somewhat shorter. My departure from Seattle was uneventful. The ride on Amtrak's Coast Starlight was fantastic -- excellent service and amenities, befitting the rail carrier's premier service route. I had a really nice (and cute!) seatmate named Patrick on the trip from Seattle to San Francisco. Patrick got off at Frisco and my seatmate for the remainder of the trip to L.A. was a dour, middle-aged guy who sat listening to his portable radio the entire trip.

There was one small problem. Two more days sitting and sleeping in a train seat undid all the good to my back a couple of nights in the hotel bed had accomplished. By the time I got to L.A., my back was wrecked all over again. Throughout this leg of the journey, I had been thinking about flying back home and saving myself the pain of three more days on a train.

When we got to L.A., I made some calls, booked a red eye from L.A. to Chicago (I couldn't get to Cleveland that night and even if I did, my Explorer was still at the Cleveland train station) and cancelled my train reservation from Los Angeles to Chicago, keeping the trip from Chicago to Cleveland booked. (And I got a voucher for a future Amtrak trip, which I didn't expect from the cancellation.) All this finagling was much assisted by my friend Chris, who lives in L.A. and met me at the train station for lunch. Alas, lunch was not to be as Chris whisked (as much as one can whisk in the City of Angels) me off to the airport. I owe ya one, bubby!

The flight was uneventful. Because my reservation was last-minute, I ended up in a center seat. After a week of roomy Amtrak seats, the 737 seat felt like a jail cell. I flew into Midway, took Metra downtown to Union Station and just barely made it onto my train.

The trip from Chicago to Cleveland aboard the Capitol Limited was nightmarish. Just like the previous trip aboard the Lakeshore Limited, the crew was nasty and short-tempered. On this trip, I got to listen to annoying announcements from the purveyor of the snack car every ten minues. My favorite: "Attention Ladies and Gentlemen. Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention, please. I still have 5 of these beautiful Amtrak souvenir blankets for sale. Now, I don't want any of you coming to me later and saying the air conditioning is too cold. You have a chance to purchase one of the warm blankets right now, so no complaining later. Thank you."

There were two dinner seatings and, as on other trains, seating way by reservation. The steward came to you to and gave you a little ticket with the time of your seating. There were two seatings, with limited seats. If both seating filled up before he got to you, you didn't get dinner. The seatings were at 7:30 and 9:00. There were only a few seats left in the 9:00 seating when the steward finally made it to me. I took one, then later thought better of it and bought a sandwich and some pretzels from the annoying announcement guy. Good thing I did -- the 7:30 seating didn't clear out on schedule and the 9:00 seating wasn't made until 10:00. At night. For dinner. 11:00 Cleveland time. Nonsense.

I finally got to Cleveland around 2AM, sore, bleary and ready to be home. After retrieving my luggage, I hopped in the Explorer and made the one hour drive home from downtown Cleveland. I slept until almost noon the next day (Sunday) in my own bed (well, sofa) and my back was practiclly brand new! I picked Jake up at the kennel and still had one full day off work to get back my equilibirum.

All-in-all, a pretty terrific vacation, back problems and surly Amtrak attendants not withstanding. I'll do the train again -- I'd still like to try the Southwest Chief -- but in a sleeper car where I can get horizontal. Maybe by the time I'm ready to do that, I'll have someone special to get horizontal with...

Seattle Vacation: The Emerald City (Part 3)

The Emerald City: Flying Fish, Gargoyles & Trolls, Oh My!

I got an early start Wednesday and headed out into the city to see as much as I could. The hotel I picked, the Executive Plaza Pacific Hotel, was located roughly equidistant from Pike Place and Pioneer Square. The sun had not yet burned off the light fog hugging the ground when I marched out of my hotel, map in hand. The morning air was cool and inviting and I hoped some walking might help loosen up my back. After taking some photos around the University of Washington (cool gargoyles!), I headed to Pike Place Market for some much-needed coffee at the original Starbucks. This Starbucks is the only location that still has merchandise with the original, brown mermaid logo, complete with bare breasts and split tail. When the company started franchising, they changed the logo to the more politically-correct green logo familiar now. While sipping my grande skim vanilla latte, I made a mental note to come back before I left the market and pick up some mugs as souvenirs and gifts.

I wandered around the market for a couple of hours, watching the obligatory fish-throwing and looking around in some of the other shops and stalls. Sadly, I didn't see any of the guys I remembered from the "Fish!" motivational videos my company purchased a few years back. I was surprised how many antique shops and craft stores there were in this "Farmer's Market." I ended up having an early lunch at the Market Grill: fantastic clam chowder and an incredibly fresh (as one might expect) fish sandwich.

I ended up buying a few more souvenirs than originally intended; I had to stop by my hotel and drop off my goodies before heading back out to Pioneer Square for the Underground Tour. I'm not sure anything I blog here can adequately describe the alternating feelings of wonder, claustrophobia and curiosity, coupled with the almost overpowering sensation that we weren't alone. I kept waiting for the Haley Osment to pop around a corner telling us he saw dead people. Our guide was lively and interesting. I managed to restrict my post-tour purchases to a cute Seattle shot glass with a bear at the gift shop at the end of the tour.

After the Underground, I took a cab to the Space Needle, originally constructed for the 1962 World's Fair. It has an observation deck (having done the Sears Tower and the Empire State building, this was a piece of cake) and a restaurant, among other things. The restaurant still has a lot of its 1960's "feel" to it, without being kitschy. I liked that it was less formal (and thus, less imposing) than the restaurant I most closely associate with tall buildings, the Signature Room at the John Hancock building in Chicago.

The day was rapidly getting away from me and there was at least one more thing I wanted to see: the troll under the Fremont bridge. The cab driver I hailed knew exactly where to go and after a brief ride across Lake Union (I think that's what the cabbie said we were crossing) and there He was, in all His magnificence. The cab driver told me I should come back for the big Halloween celebration that involves the troll. I took a few photos, and had the waiting cabbie take me back to my hotel.

I was tired and my back was still pretty sore, but I wanted to check out a couple of the sponsors I jotted down from my Seattle Quake calendar back home. I decided to check out the R Place Bar & Grill for dinner, followed by visit to the Manray Video Bar down the street. The R Place is H-U-G-E and offers a little something for everyone - sports bar, video games, food, drink, you name it. After dinner my back was starting to ache, so I decided to put the Manray on the itinerary for my next visit. Another quick cab ride and I was "home" at the hotel.

I had to get up early the next day, to pack, check out of the hotel and get back to the train station for my 10:00 AM departure on the Coast Starlight and the next leg of my journey.

Overall, my brief glimpse of Seattle left me wanting more. I encountered nothing but kind, helpful people during my stay. Despite Seattle's notoriously wet climate, it was bright, sunny and comfortable for all of my 2.5 days. I would have to rank The Emerald City as #3 on my Favorite Cities list, behind Auckland, New Zealand and Chicago. Fabulous place.

Next: California Coast and Home

Seattle Vacation: Chicago to Seattle (Part 2)

Part 2: Aboard the Empire Builder

I was running late, getting back to Union Station, due to a particularly delightful distraction. Still, I found my gate about 15 minutes before Amtrak was due to start loading coach passengers. Like airlines, Amtrak loads senior citizens and those needing extra time or assistance first. They didn’t say anything about families with small children, prompting one especially loud woman to start yelling, “What about people with children? People with children should go first!” She carried on like this for most of the 15 minutes I was at the gate, forcing her way with a group of people to the head of the boarding line. As it turns out, she didn’t have any small children herself, but one of her friends had several to spare and she bullied them all into getting aboard first. Whatever.

The Empire Builder departed Chicago at exactly 2:15 PM, precisely on schedule.

The first thing that struck me about this train was how different it was from the one I took to Chicago. It was spotlessly clean. The staff was genuinely warm and helpful. The accommodations were spacious, even in Coach. My seatmate was an older African-American gentleman who spoke with an easy Southern drawl and smelled slightly of pipe tobacco. He disappeared during most of the journey, visiting family in other compartments or staying in the lounge car, and only returning in the wee hours to sleep in his seat. So, I had a good deal of room and privacy for the majority of the trip.

The first major stop I remember after leaving Chicago was Milwaukee, a little over an hour later. I visited there before, for a bear run several years ago, and ever since had a fondness for Brew City. Around 9:00, as darkness fell, the Sightseer Lounge (observation car) announced that it would be showing movies (one was “The Incredibles,” I don’t remember the other) and children hustled down the aisle to get to that car. I had dinner from the snack shop, eschewing the reservation-only dining car for my first night on the train, and trying to see as much as I could from my window, until the darkness made the landscape indistinguishable. Around midnight we pulled into the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, and exchanged passengers.

I slept fitfully that first night. Although train seats are much roomier than airplane seats and recline to a much larger degree, there is no escaping the fact that they are seats, not beds. I’m a light, fitful sleeper in the best of circumstances, so people moving up and down the aisles throughout the night, including my seatmate's return from his wanderings, had me more awake than asleep most of the night. Also, I never conquered the momentary feeling of panic when another train passed us at high speed, going the opposite direction. Even with the curtain drawn shut across my window, the sudden whoosh of movement and change in air pressure always startled me. Still, the movement of the train could be soothing and I managed to nap a few hours here and there. The next day (Monday) my back was stiff and sore, but a hearty breakfast in the dining car helped me forget and visits to the observation car helped me stretch out a bit.

As the Empire Builder raced across the heartland of this country, the scenery was breathtaking. I saw so much green farmland and so many long stretches of primal conifer forest in North Dakota and Montana as to defy description. When the prairies offered fairly innocuous sights, I played board games with other passengers. Because of the condition of my back, I had to get up and move around fairly often. We had a short stopover at Minot, ND and I took the opportunity to get off the train for a few minutes with the smokers and move about a bit more freely.

I skipped lunch in the dining car, opting for a sandwich and some chips with a diet soda. I brought a wonderful book with me to read, Ireland by Frank Delaney, and consumed a few chapters with my meal. I wandered back and forth to the Sightseer Lounge a few more times and got off the train again to stretch during a brief stopover in Havre, MT. My back seemed to be getting worse rather than better, though.

At Shelby, Mt we discharged a lot of passengers, including the young married couple with whom I had been playing Sorry. They were taking another train to Salt Lake City. No, I don’t think they were Mormons, but who knows? I remember leaving Shelby and suddenly being very aware of the Rocky Mountains all around us. Not long afterward we stopped at East Glacier Park, Montana, where we had an unscheduled layover owing to some equipment malfunction. I didn’t mind as the scenery here was fantastic! If ever I take this trip again, I will come to the lodge at East Glacier and stay a few days, rather than traveling through. Several of the Amtrak staff made mention of the fact that we were lucky to have a breakdown here, rather than somewhere with nothing to see and no place for passengers to wander. Finally, the equipment was fixed and we were back on our way. I treated myself to a really excellent (and somewhat expensive) steak that night for dinner in the dining car. (Some people had their meals brought to their seats, but I actually preferred meeting new people by eating in the dining car. No one sits alone there.) We crossed much of the Rockies that night. Even by pale moonlight, the view from my window was awe-inspiring.

Monday night was even more uncomfortable, but my exhaustion from not sleeping the night before kicked in and I slept a few hours, waking in the wee hours as we stopped in Spokane Washington. In Spokane, the Empire Builder splits into two trains – one goes to Portland and the larger remaining section continues on to Seattle. Amazingly, this transition takes only about half an hour. I slept for a while after we left Spokane, at least until we entered the Cascade Tunnel – an 8-mile expanse bored directly through the Cascade Mountains. I dozed through most of the Washington stops and the next morning I was so stiff I actually had trouble making my way down the aisle to get seated for breakfast. Luckily, the trip was almost over.

We finally pulled into the King Street Station in Seattle around 11:30. The day was bright and beautiful, the air crisp and sweet.

Before I move on to other things, let me say this: my experience on the Empire Builder, back problems not withstanding, completely vindicated Amtrak from the lousy service on the earlier train. The staff on this trip was professional and above reproach. Great job, folks!

Unfortunately, my arrival in Seattle was marred by pain; my back was a wreck. Reunited with my baggage, I took a cab to my hotel, but couldn’t check in for a couple more hours. The nice lady at the desk took pity on my and got me the first available room that was cleaned. I took a shower, closed the drapes and fell into a teeny, little coma. I awoke, feeling almost human, around 1:30 AM. I missed my first day in Seattle, but I evolved several million years. I could stand upright and walk erect. With a little help from the front desk, I found a place that still delivered Chinese, ate and watched some TV while I planed my itinerary for the following day.

Next: The Emerald City

Seattle Vacation: Westward Ho! (Part 1)

Part 1: Cleveland to Chicago

Having traveled all over the world for work and seen at least snatches of 25 different countries (some more than others) I decided it was time to see a bit of this country. I’ve always wanted to take Amtrak to Seattle and this seemed like the year to do it. I looked at prices online (Amtrak has a very user friendly website) and coach seemed very affordable. I booked my trip on the website: Cleveland to Chicago, layover for a few hours, then Chicago to Seattle on Amtrak’s famous Empire Builder. I booked a hotel in Seattle for two nights (three days) and then I planned to take Amtrak’s Coast Starlight from Seattle to Los Angeles, layover again for a short time and then take the Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago, then back to Cleveland.

I have to tell you, I haven’t had a real, traveling vacation for a long time. I was so excited about this trip that I could barely hold my water most days.

There was basically only one hitch: Amtrak has two westward trains leaving Cleveland daily: the Lakeshore Limited at 3:20 AM or the Capitol Limited, departing at 4:00 AM. I decided on the earlier train. With an hour’s drive from Akron to downtown Cleveland, that would mean leaving home around 2:00 in the morning. Ugh.

So, I dropped Jake at the kennel Saturday (7/23/05) packed and cleaned the house (I hate coming home to a dirty house) and generally puttered around. Sunday I managed to nap a bit and left home a little early (around 1:30) to give myself some “got lost” time. As it turns out, there was some sort of carnival downtown near the Amtrak station which closed the exit Yahoo Maps had given me. After driving around a bit, I figured out an alternate route and got to the station around 2:30.

The Cleveland Amtrak station is a fairly small affair and looks like it hasn’t radically changed since the 70’s. There were a handful of people there, some waiting for westbound trains, some for eastbound. After collecting my ticket and sitting for a while, listening to some young guy talk about how religion saved his life, it was announced that my train would be delayed at least an hour. It ended up being more like an hour and a half. Or, to think of it the way I did as I sat there, bleary-eyed and uncomfortable, 90 minutes that I could have spent in bed. But I’m not bitter. There was a certain “matter-of-fact-ness” about the train being late that kind of annoyed me. To the people who worked at the Cleveland station, it seemed pretty routine for the train to be late. Ah well, as long as I made it to Chicago in time to have brunch with my friends Doug and Larry, I wasn’t too bothered.

Now, if I allowed my impression of Amtrak to be formed solely on the crew of the Lakeshore Limited, I probably wouldn’t take trains ever again. To say they were surly would be an understatement. After waiting for hours and finally getting to the train, the steward (conductor?) made me get on the train last because I was traveling alone. Families take priority, I was told. If you asked the crew a simple question, they acted like you just asked for the donation of a major limb. “What time will be arriving in Chicago?” I asked one steward. It seemed like an innocent, straight-forward question. “The train’s running late!” the steward barked, without breaking stride or looking back at me. A little later, I asked a different employee the same question. “It’s two hours after we leave XXXX,” he replied. “And when will we leave XXXX?” I asked. He gave me that “why am I talking to this puddle of piss” look and snarled, “We’re running behind schedule.” Very helpful. I called Doug with my best guesstimate, telling him I should arrive around 10:30 Chicago time. The Empire Builder left at 2:30 PM, giving us plenty of time to have brunch and visit.

I have to mention one more incident on this train that absolutely appalled me. Around 7:30 Central Time, (6:30 to my body) while many passengers were still sleeping, the same “barking” steward came through our coach, collecting the pillows loaned to passengers. He had no problem waking sleeping passengers in order to take their pillows. When one young girl didn’t wake up immediately, he literally ripped the pillow out from under her head. That was their idea of customer service.

I skipped breakfast on the train since I knew brunch awaited me in Chicago. We arrived at Union Station around 10:15 (meaning I knew the train’s schedule better than the employees) leaving me time to find a washroom and explore the station before Doug and Larry showed up. Union Station is amazing! The statuary, the sense of history, the scale are all incredibly impressive. Doug and Larry found me without any problem and we jaunted off into the city. The restaurant Doug picked for brunch was close to the station, Wishbone on Washington. The placed was packed that particular Sunday morning with a line running out the front door. I managed to pick the hottest day of the year to be in Chicago with a high of 102 degrees (F) expected. Fortunately, we got seated pretty quickly – even before we could order mimosas from the bar.

Wishbone specializes in Southern cooking, but not typical sausages-and-grits Southern cooking. This is Southern cooking with a gourmet touch. I had the N.C. Crab Cakes, described thus on the menu: “Spicy blue claw crab patties in the Outer Banks style served with lemon butter sauce, two eggs, home fries or grits and choice of corn muffin, biscuit or toast.” I had my eggs over medium, home fries and a really delicious corn muffin. Throw in a mimosa (champagne and fresh squeezed orange juice) and you have a fantastic meal. I forget what Doug and Lar had, but their meals looked really good, too.

Just a quick word about my friends Doug and Larry: they are two of the warmest, most sincere people I have had the pleasure to know. I consider them two of my closest friends. Any opportunity to spend time with them is not to be missed.

After breakfast I still had several hours to kill, so the guys dropped me off at the Bijou theater for some recreation. But that’s another story…

Next: Empire Builder to Seattle