Hi All, We arrived safely in Corvallis, OR, after a WONDERFUL train ride. It is the perfect way to travel with a kid. We took the bus from Monterey to Salinas where Fiona pointed out the vegetables growing along the way and then waited at the station in Salinas for the train.
Our train arrived and we were met by George, the conductor, who had arranged our dinner reservation for 7:30 and said he would turn down our beds while we were dining. Fiona was great on the train and received compliments on her good behavior from all the workers on the train.
Our room was a family room which had lots of options for sleeping we went for a double bed below and a "top bunk" that fiona had been looking forward to. After dinner Fiona was still pretty excited about the experience of being on the train but eventually fell asleep and I started my latest knitting project.
The rocking of the train was gentle and it was pretty quiet when compared with cars and planes. What a beautiful way to sleep. Devon and I weren't far behind Fiona in collapsing into sleep.
In the morning Fiona and I woke up excited to see the snow and volcano's at dawn through our windows. Breakfast was at 6:30, french toast with the sunrise, good coffee, and a wonderful time just being together as a family without the usual morning chores and places to be.
The train was great as Tim Pearse commented in the last post in giving lots of room to walk about, no seatbelts to wory about, constant scenery changes outside, just fantastic! (I'm trying to think of other places we can go on the train, if only there was one to Australia!)
We met some new friends in the sleeping room next door to our room, a little boy Fiona's age and his parents en route to Seattle from the Bay Area. He and Fiona enjoyed playing together and building forts on the top bunk.
Next meal was a morning snack of fresh fruit and yougurt in the Parlour car, lovely company, and some good conversation until Lunchtime...By the end of lunch we were a short distance from Albany and Brian was there to meet us with Fiona's friend Lyle.
So here we are enjoying the beautiful blue skies of Oregon, and already had a wonderful Birthday dinner for Liv with their family and our other Corvallis friends Chad and Claire. Fiona and I are off to Portland tomorrow to Visit Dina and hopefully go to the Zoo. Devon has to do a bit of work this week, two talks at a meeting on steelhead trout. We'll update you as soon as technology allows from our adventure in Oregon.
Love
Louise, Devon and Fiona.
1 comment:
The Indian-Pacific goes from Sydney to Perth (via Adelaide.)
And there are lots of trains on the east coast.
Looks like a luxurious train.
This reminds me of a train trip from Adelaide to Sydney (via Melbourne) with a one-year-old and a three-year-old... sitting up all the way (30 hours) back in the days when "non-smoking" meant absolutely nothing.... aaaaarrrgh!!!!
I didn't do it again!
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