Train Trip

My mom suggested that she and I take a train trip before my maternity leave is over at the end of the month. We figured this would be my last chance in a looooooooong time to ride the train. Soon enough Eddie will be crawling and before you know it we'll have more kids so it will become impossible to do.

We wanted a trip that would take only one night on the train and that ends in a city we'd like to visit. Seattle fit the bill. Neither of us had been there before and Edward's college friend lives there so we'd get to see a familiar face, too. My cousins live in nearby Tacoma, but with our short notice and holiday madness at work, we didn't end up getting to see them.

Our train was the Coast Starlight--one of Amtrak's flagship routes. The train was recently upgraded and is super fancy. We boarded in San Jose because the departure time was a more reasonable time (8:30pm) than from Davis (almost midnight). I didn't want to screw up Eddie's sleeping schedule, such as it is, too much.

My mom sponsored the trip and spoiled us by getting the Edwards and I a deluxe sleeper room--two beds and a bathroom! She booked herself a roomette--just a bed--but they apparently upgraded her so she got the same type of room as we did. I loved being a "first class passenger" because the perks are great: champagne in our rooms, a private lounge and dining car, and meals included. Once on board we got to have a full dinner in the dining car--salads, drinks, steak with side dishes, and dessert. Then we went to bed and slept VERY well because of the bumpiness of the train's movement. The lower bed that Eddie and I slept on was as wide as a regular twin bed so there was plenty of room for both of us.

The next day we had a yummy breakfast in the dining car and then sat in the lounge chairs in the first class Parlour Car to see the pretty landscapes pass by. It was snowing outside by the time we made it to Klamath Falls, OR. We were at that stop for a long time because there was a medical emergency with one of the passengers, who was driven off in an ambulance. Then after we passed through a long tunnel near Crater Lake we got stuck because the front locomotive was damaged by some ice in the tunnel. The conductor announced that they would back us up to a part of the track where they could remove the locomotive and put it on the back of the train so it could be pulled along, but then they couldn't get the brakes to release. Yikes, at least we know the brakes were working!

So after a four hour delay we were on our way again. My mom signed up for a wine and cheese tasting, but I got to have the cheese because she's trying to cut back on salty foods.

We didn't arrive in Seattle until 1am. It was supposed to arrive around 9pm. Blah, so much for my efforts to keep Eddie's sleep schedule intact. By the time we got to the hotel that night his little system we out of whack so he only slept for about 3 hours. Ahhhhhhhhhh! I was SO freaking tired.

Since my mom and brother don't have a little person that dictates the amount of sleep they get, they were able to sleep in until about 10:30am. I was up at about 6:45am when my precious babe decided he was done sleeping for good. I packed us up and headed out to find a coffee shop.It turns out that there are coffee shops on EVERY corner--literally--in Seattle. In New York there are pharmacies on every corner and in the South there are churches on every corner. My Tully's white mocha was just what I needed to avoid falling asleep while I walked to the Space Needle and the weird-looking Experience Music Project (about four blocks from our hotel). On my way I realized I walked right by Timmy's apartment so I sent him a text telling him so. He told me that he was actually still there. It didn't occur to me to tell him that Edward wasn't with me, so he ended up calling my sleeping brother and waking him up. Haha. I wandered around the Seattle Center for a while until Edward and Timmy met up with me. We walked Timmy downtown towards his job and then went to get hot dogs near the Pike Place Market. I don't know how we got so lucky, but it didn't rain at all the whole time we were there! It was cold, but basically clear the while time.

That afternoon my mom and I ate the most expensive lunch EVER at the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. Then we took a ride on the Monorail--such a waste of money! The ride is SO short that you hardly have enough time to take out your camera for a picture before it is over. Apparently it was installed just in time for the 1962 World's Fair as a way to get folks from the Space Needle, through a ghetto part of town, to the downtown area. At least my mom enjoyed it. She actually rode it a second time while I waited around outside and Eddie fell asleep.The next morning Timmy ate the free breakfast in our hotel with us before we walked downtown with him again. Edward and I went to the aquarium, which was fun but very small. After that we met up with my mom and Timmy at a seafood restaurant in the Pike Place Market before Eddie and I went to the airport to fly home. It was a great trip and a nice way to finish up the freedom of my 4.5 month maternity leave. In Eddie's 4 months of life he's been on 6 plane rides, slept in 6 different houses, in 1 train, and in 3 hotels. And he's already been to 5 states other than CA.