Heading North

We are on our way home! In some ways we are happy. In other ways, we are sad.

After leaving Mexico we had two nights in Santa Barbara to pick up our paragliding gear (Thanks, Lorenzo, for the storage space!) and we were hoping for one more day of flying. Unfortunately, we both felt sick! And, of course, we got a message from Chris in the morning that Pine was on! The place we really wanted to fly while we were here.

There was no way it was going to happen though. Andrew, who pretty much has to be on his deathbed before admitting he doesn’t feel well, spent the entire day in the hotel room. I drove to Ojai and headed out to Pine with other pilots but there was no way my stomach and head were up to getting into the air. I figured a retrieve driver would be appreciated and I wanted to see the area and check it out for a hopeful “next time.”

But flying didn’t work out for the others either. We enjoyed the view and “parawaited.” The winds were wonky and even the birds weren’t flying smoothly so after a couple hours we gave up. The guys thought a ridge near the landing zone might be flyable but, after hiking part way up, determined the wind direction was wrong for that too. Chris managed to scrape out a short flight on a small hill but with various bushes and dead trees in the way (I heard him say "oh shit!" as he got close to one particular obstacle) and wind not really the right direction, he set it down fairly quickly and no one else gave it a go. 

The launch at Pine Mountain is just below the road.

Parawaiting

Fabulous view from Pine Mountain

The next day we left Santa Barbara for the start of the train ride north. The first part of the trip closely follows the coast and we had great ocean views. The following day, going through northern California and Oregon, we took in views of Mt. Shasta and other freshly snow-capped peaks, forest, lakes and rivers. Beautiful!

I love the look and design of the train station in Santa Barbara.

It was built in 1905 . . . 

. . . and has been beautifully restored and maintained over the years.

Beside the station is one of the largest Moreton Bay fig trees in North America. It was planted from a seedling in 1826. The circumference of the tree is 41 1/2 ft, the average crown spread is 176 ft and the height is 80 ft. (As measured in 1997.)

The view from the train.

Panorama of the train while stopped at San Luis Obispo.

The View From The Train

Off on another adventure, we left Saskatoon late Thursday night on the westbound train. Well, early Friday morning to be more exact because the train was two hours late. We are so fortunate that Via Rail runs through Saskatoon. Other than known for often being late (freight trains take priority) they provide great customer service.

The fall scenery along the way was quite beautiful despite the cloudy skies. The larches are bright yellow amongst the green pines, with various other trees providing splashes of red and orange.

Beautiful fall colours.

The train was a long and busy one due to the Thanksgiving weekend.

Just west of Jasper.

Rain drops on the dome car. Fraser River.

Mist on the Fraser River

From the train's dome car, looking at the #1 Highway bridge between Surrey and Burnaby.

Last bridge before Pacific Central Station in Vancouver.

During our half day in Vancouver we dodged rain showers, had lunch at the Sylvia Hotel overlooking English Bay and went to the Aquarium. Which was extremely busy between holiday weekend, Saturday afternoon, a rainy day and member appreciation week!

Very early the next morning we left via Amtrak and followed the scenic coastline southbound to Portland, one of our favourite US cities. There were so many birds! Cormorants, seagulls, blue herons, a bald eagle and many more.

Inside King Street Station, Seattle

The clock tower on King Street Station, Seattle

By mid afternoon we were in Portland and spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the Willamette River trails. It's not as peaceful as Saskatoon's trails but still great to stretch the legs after a long train journey. The skies finally cleared enough that we got a view of Mount Hood -- which we summitted many years ago and in 2010 we did a hiking circumnavigation of this beautiful peak.

Mount Hood from downtown Portland.

Andrew did a blog post from the hike and took lots of photos. This was before I had my own blog. 

Train Trip 2013 - Washington to Chicago

Officially, the train left Washington on time. But just a couple minutes out of the station we stopped . . . and stayed stopped for quite some time. We were told there was a signal down ahead of us. Two and a half hours later we were advised that our original conductor crew disobeyed a signal -- essentially, went through a stop sign. The conductor, assistant conductor and engineer were removed from the train and a new crew brought in. If my eavesdropping interpreted things correctly, they're automatically suspended from operating a train for 45 days. Safety first! Especially on a train!

I’m glad I don’t work in downtown Chicago. The buildings are all so tall it seems like there’s no sun. Fortunately we were close to Millenium Park and the waterfront. Once again, we did a lot of walking!

Love the effect that wavy balconies have
on this building.

Look up . . . look waaaay up!

View of downtown and Lake Michigan from the aquarium

I find it interesting how something as simple as the cloud gate sculpture (aka the bean) can resonate with so many people, young & old; it makes them smile and act goofy, and take a multitude of photos of themselves and each other.  

Cloud Gate Sculpture -- with city scape and skating rink reflection

From under/inside the sculpture . . . that little dot in the very middle is me!

Self portrait

These photos were taken on a cloudy day. Andrew got some better ones on a nice sunny day.

We also visited the SheddAquarium -- our final and probably second favorite aquarium of the trip. The Shedd is located in a historic dome-shaped building situated right on the water. The exhibits area was quite wide open with lots of room to move around. We took in the dolphin show (which also included penguins and beluga whales) and really appreciated the focus on the training and health aspects of the animals rather than just putting on an entertaining show. The other great thing to see was how much the trainers obviously love what they’re doing. You just can’t fake smiles that big and animated! 

Other interesting sites around Chicago . . .

Ginormous gargoyle on top of Chicago Library

Train Trip 2013 - Baltimore to Washington

I was going to do one post that included from Baltimore through to Chicago but . . . too many photos from Baltimore and Washington! They both have great train stations!

Baltimore's Penn Station was built in 1911 and, save for a couple renovation/restoration projects along the way, appears to have stayed relatively true to original. In 1983/84 one of the projects included restoration of the glass ceiling which has been painted over in black during WWII. It's now quite magnificent!

Glass ceiling at Penn Station, Baltimore

Glass ceiling at Penn Station, Baltimore

Decorative woodwork and lighting on end of a bench in Penn Station.

A combination of old & new . . . old stairway and decorative post with new digital track signs.

We didn't spend any time in Washington, DC (just not enough days left in this trip!!) but had a short stopover there after leaving Baltimore and waiting to catch the train to Chicago. Washington's Union Station is one of the most elaborate we've been to! It certainly rivals the Los Angeles station. Equally impressive, but in a different way.

It was built in 1901 and is now a national landmark. The main concourse is 45 feet high from main floor to ceiling and 760 feet long -- at one time, the largest single room in the world. Again, it is a building that was left to decline, was abandoned for a few years, and then renovated/restored in 1988 to the tune of $160 million and is an example of "adaptive reuse through a public and private partnership".

The front of Washington Union Station

Three of the many eagles outside Union Station

Soldier statues inside the station

Beautiful ceiling and stonework

Front archway at Union Station

We also had a bit of time to wander farther afield and The Capital Building is very close to the station. Another awesome building!

The Capital Building

One of eight stone archways with single tree in front (bottom right in above photo)

Train Trip 2013 - New Orleans to Lake City

One of the many effects of Hurricane Katrina was some of the train tracks between New Orleans and Jacksonville being wiped out. Although freight traffic has been restored, Amtrak's passenger service has been "suspended" and, after eight years, there's still no return in sight. Reasons cited by people we spoke to revolved mostly around politics and money.

Therefore, we became Greyhound customers. Not wanting to overnight on the bus, we broke things up into shorter segments; first day to Fort Walton Beach and the second day to Lake City. We imagined getting great views of the ocean and countryside along the way, and leisurely walking along a sunny beach in Fort Walton.

Reality was much different. Rain, rain, more rain, and fog, fog, and more fog. Getting soaked through on a mad dash to get groceries for our upcoming kayak trip and sitting in soggy clothes though supper. Luckily there was a decent restaurant between the grocery store and hotel!

People on the bus made it an "interesting" experience. One that again reminds me of how darn lucky we are. The guy who hadn't bathed for days; the bus driver who pointed out that "if y'all know you're goin' ta be traveling with a bunch of other people on da bus, then y'all should take care of your personal hygiene. Cause if I git any complaints I'm gonna hafta ask y'all ta leave da bus."

Or the young woman who went on a "short trip" about a year ago and left her kid with its daddy and now its daddy won't give it back even though her judge said she should have custody and and the baby's daddy was lyin' so his judge didn't listen to her judge and now she can't see her kid and we listened to about two hours of this being repeated to various people she talked to on her cell phone and not once did I hear her refer to "the kid" or "my kid" or "it" by the child's first name.

Or the woman who arrived at the bus station just as we were about to pull out five minutes late and was absolutely frantic and almost hyperventilating that she HAD to get on this bus and please please please give her time to buy a ticket so she could get on the bus because if she didn't it would be absolutely positively the end of the world!

Or the two Greyhound employees who were outside the station but yelling at each other so loudly it was difficult to tell what they were arguing about.

On the other hand, in Fort Walton the Greyhound employee gave us a ride to the hotel in the pouring rain so we didn't have to wait for a taxi. Nice!

And likely due to riding the bus and carrying backpacks (or our incredibly young good looks) there was the sweet old man who asked if Andrew and I were on spring break! :-)

The next few days we'll be kayaking on the Suwannee River. The weather forecast isn't ideal so hopefully we don't have too much of a struggle staying dry!

Train Trip 2013 -- Tucson to Alpine

Built in the early 1900's, even some of the smaller train stations like Tucson and Alpine have an interesting history and look to them as they were built in Spanish Revival style.

We travelled between the two cities during the day and the desert terrain is certainly much different than  we're used to seeing. El Paso was probably the most noteworthy location as the tracks run right along the border with Mexico and there is a stark contrast between the slums of Juarez on one side of the chain-link fence with wire at the top and the city of El Paso on the other side. It's extreme to say the least.

Although we didn't get a chance to go inside the train station at El Paso, it's definitely another grand old place. As we approached, I thought it was a church due to the chapel-like tower on it.

In Alpine we stayed at the historic Holland Hotel. It was built in 1928, almost fell to the wrecking ball but was repurchased and renovated in the 1970's. They did a great job of it! I love the huge wood ceiling pillars, the comfy big antique chairs and chesterfields, the iron lighting fixtures, and the old historical photos on the wall showing life and ranching in years gone by.

Historical marker on the front of the hotel. 

Lobby of Holland Hotel 

Fireplace and large antique, comfy couches and chairs

The business center just off the lobby

Outdoor courtyard at Holland Hotel

Front entrance area and large lobby of Holland Hotel

After getting ourselves and our clothes cleaned up after our hike, (the hotel has a washer/dryer for guest use!) we had a nice meal in the hotel restaurant and spent a very enjoyable evening sitting in the lobby with a glass of wine and listening to Chris Jamison, a very talented singer and guitar player from Austin.

There are several art galleries and historic buildings in Alpine as well as the Museum of Big Bend. Unfortunately with this being a holiday Monday the museum and historic buildings were mostly closed.  but we did get to some nice galleries and spent quite a while browsing a good book store.