Oh My Gosh It's October

Well hello friends in bloglandia. It has been a minute since I posted anything and I thought it might be time to step in and let you know what's been going on around here. It is easier for me to keep engaged if I have a challenge of some sort and I sorely missed finishing the A to Z earlier this year. To help me now I'm going to try the October Ultimate Blog Challenge. The object is just to blog for 31 days. Not sure I can get that many in but I'm giving it a shot. 

For my first post I'll share that my husband and I went on a train trip from Emeryville (just outside of San Francisco) to Seattle, Washington. It has been one of the things we've wanted to do for a while and we are finally able to get away together now that one of us doesn't have to stay at home in case we were needed by my mother-in-law. 

To help me get through the month I'm going to break the trip up into segments. First is the train ride to Seattle. 

We got to the station early so had about an hour to wait before the train left. 

Part of the fun was leaving at night. 

This particular route is called the Coast Starlight on Amtrak and actually runs all the way from Los Angeles to Seattle. 

Since it takes 23 hours to get to Seattle, we decided that it would be worth it to get a "roomette" so that we would have a place to sleep. 

The two seats pull out and form one bed and then the top bunk is the other. 

Honestly it wasn't the most comfortable arrangement but we made it work for the night. We decided that we would contact our travel agent and see if we could get an upgrade for the ride home. They have a "deluxe" room that has its own bathroom and is a little bigger. 

Also on this train is an observatory compartment where you can sit and watch the scenery go by. That was pretty cool. But as we were traveling at night, we couldn't see much - LOL. Still, it was fun to watch the passing lights from the different towns. 

As part of the package you are entitled to 3 meals plus beverages. For the dinner meal you are allowed one alcoholic beverage free if you choose. The food was actually pretty good. For breakfast I had an omelet and my husband had french toast. The omelet wasn't really hot but the cheese was melted. Bill said his french toast was cold. You don't need "reservations" for breakfast but they come around to your rooms during the trip to ask what time you'd like lunch and dinner. 

Each table had flowers and when you were seated, they paired you up with other passengers at a table for four. We ate with different people at every meal. It was kind of fun learning about others who were traveling with us.  

  

I didn't take a picture of all the food but for dinner I had steak which was so tender and juicy. They had some good desserts too!  

We didn't get off the train at every stop but there were a couple where the train stopped longer to refresh supplies and then we did get out to stretch our legs. Along the way I tried to take pictures of what was going past our windows.

Saw the sunrise as we were having breakfast just outside of Klamath Falls. 

Some beautiful scenery going through the mountains. 

We thought the train would have a "bar car" like an actual bar but they don't. Instead they have a space downstairs from the observatory car that has drinks and food you can buy if you want something in between meals. 

            A pumpkin patch!

And finally we made it to our destination, King Street Station, Seattle.  

We had left the Bay Area at about 9:30 on Monday night and pulled into Seattle at 7:30 Tuesday evening. We took a cab to our hotel and settled in for the next 3 days. This was our view out the hotel window:

We stayed at the Hyatt Place. 

 

The Lobby had a shop where you could get drinks and snacks and breakfast was included. 

The room was very nice but we were a bit surprised because there was no dresser to keep our clothes in when we unpacked. 

And this is where I will leave you for today. We settled in for the night and got ready for the first of our adventures in the morning, the Space Needle and Chiluly Gardens. 

Shout out to my friend Karen Fitting of Marvelous Mouse Travels. I have known Karen for many years now but mostly as a scrapbooking buddy. This is the first time I've had her help me with vacation planning and I have to say she is wonderful. We told her what we wanted to do and what our budget was and she put together a package for us that was just perfect. If you are looking to do any traveling, I'd highly recommend her. She even helped us get an upgrade for our train ride home so we could have a bigger space. 

Okay, that's about it for today. So sorry about the photos. I haven't blogged in so long that I forget how to format, especially in Blogger. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have it figured out LOL. 

August Break - 2019 - Day 21 Right Now

August Break has a little over a week left.  I have an idea for September but I need to work on it a bit more.  Today's prompt is "Right Now."

I was walking the mall today while I was waiting for Benny to be done at the groomers.  This is the same mall that had the shooting in July.  I saw this train down one of the side aisles.

The mall was empty but I think it's more because all the kids are back in school than because people are afraid.  The shooting was at the other end of the mall and since it was a personal fight not a random act it is a little less scary.  

I wonder how much this train will get used when it gets closer to Christmas?  There was nothing like this when my kids were little but I certainly would have let them ride if there had been.  I did notice a few more empty storefronts though.  Thank goodness they still have Barnes and Noble and Target here!  The smell from Mrs. Fields' was delightful and I had to walk past it fast!  

Does your mall have a train in it?  Had any Mrs. Fields' lately?  

Observations in October - #31Things - Transportation

I've always loved to be behind the wheel of a car.  This is me screeching my wheels out of our driveway, honking the horn saying "Get out of my way!"  The sidewalk was my open road and I had an aunt who lived at the corner of the block so I would "drive" down to her house all the time. 



















When I was a senior in high school, I graduated to motorized vehicles, my first car was a white Plymouth Valiant.  I called him Prince.  It was so cool because it had push button gears.  My dad went with me to pick him out, but I paid for him with my library earnings.  I was so proud! 

After Prince I had a Silver Gremlin.  I went to the dealer and bought it all by myself.  I thought I made a great deal because they gave me as much for the Valiant as I had paid for it!  I called the Gremlin the "Silver Bullet."  I really liked that car but I traded him in for a sexy Triumph TR7.  I was in love with the look of this car and felt so good behind the wheel but I think it was more car than I could handle as I had a lot of trouble with it from the very start.  Don't I look good standing next to it though?  I loved riding with the sunroof open.  I don't remember giving it a name.  Probably should have been called "Troublemaker."   

I got married around that time and we sold my baby because it was costing us a lot in repairs.  We got a nondescript used brown Mustang and that lasted a few years.  When our daughter was born we bought our first brand new car together, a Honda Accord.  That was the best little car and we had that for 10 years.  When we sold it to my nephew, he had it for another long period.  I think it ended up getting maybe 300,000 miles on it!  

Our next car was a Mercury Sable wagon and we had that car for a VERY short time.  It took us on the "Vacation from Hell" which is definitely a blog post of its own.

We then got a Mercury Villager and that was a good mini-van which made it through the kids school years very nicely.  There was plenty of room to take some of the class on field trips and take the golf team that my son was on to their matches.  

After the Villager my husband let me do a really dumb thing and we bought a Dodge Journey.  It was another used vehicle and I saw it online at a local dealership.  It had been on the lot for a while so I figured we could get a good deal on it.  I wanted it because it had some really neat features but mostly because it was a Journey and it made me think of the band.  It was a terrible car.  Again, there were problems with it right from the start and there was even a factory recall on it for something to do with the electrical system.  Periodically it just wouldn't start.  No warning, just no starting.  

Finally I got sick of dealing with it and admitted to my husband that I made a mistake by not getting one of the Hondas that we had test driven at the same time we test drove the Journey.  

We took a trip up to where our daughter was going to school at Sonoma State and went to look at new Honda CRVs because the sales tax rate is cheaper up there than where we live.  After four hours of dealership negotiations (I hate that part) we leased a white Honda CRV.  I love it.  I call it Moonglow.  

It has a sunroof and I can connect my phone for hands free talking and iTunes listening.  This year we had the option to turn it in and lease a new one or buy it but we decided to lease it one more year.  Then we'll see if we keep it or get a newer one.  

While I love driving, I also love flying.  We don't do it much because it is expensive but we live very close to the airport so I see the planes all the time.















We also live close to the train station and take the train to the Giants games.  It really is easier than trying to deal with parking up by the stadium.  At one time the train was at ground level but they raised it to help with traffic control.  When it was on the ground the Holiday Train used to stop at our station and it was an entertaining thing to do with the kids.  Santa and Mrs. Claus are on the train with Rudolph and the elves.  The train stops at certain stations and there is a car full of Christmas carolers.  Santa gets off the train and hands out candy to the kids.  There is a Toys For Tots donation station set up and people can donate toys for underprivileged children.  Since they raised the tracks, the train doesn't stop at our station anymore but I can still see it from our house:

 
What's your favorite mode of transportation?  Have a favorite car story?  Like trains? 

Fiddlin' February - 2018

Tell It Color - Night

We all know my fetish with the moon and the pictures I take of the full moon each month.  Here are some other gems, including a short video of the Pacific Ocean waves crashing against the bank which combines yesterday's water with today's night.

Of course the moon

And the sunset

A golf ball used to play night golfing - yes, there is such a thing.

It was a cloudy night

The walkway to our house at Christmas

The Excalibur Hotel in Vegas

Fireworks in front of our house on the 4th of July

The lights from cellphones at a concert

The colorful reflection of our friend's pool

More fireworks

I was lucky to catch the colors in this one

At the Adele concert

Through our bedroom window.

Ah that moon

The train from across the street

Rare moon and Venus sighting

Over the streets of San Francisco

The tree lights at ATT&T Park where the Giants play

Tonight

The sunset

The lights on the Bay Bridge.  They are fun to watch because they change.

As seen from my car on the way home.

And the 20 seconds or so of the waves. 

I don't know why I never knew this but I just learned what my Pisces constellation looks like:

Night is exciting.  Night is mysterious.  Night is sexy.  Night is wondrous.  Night is adventure.  

That's night to me.  What's night to you?