Fall 2016 Amtrak California Zephyr Adventure - October 3-12 - Reagan's Photo Galleries Updated

View of tracks from last car of Amtrak's California Zephyr

Fall 2016 Amtrak Rail Adventure Photo Galleries

I've been home ten days since my return for a fun and very enjoyable Fall Amtrak Rail Adventure October 3-12. If you missed any of my regular "as I traveled" blog updates you can find them here in Reagan's Travel and Photo Galleries Update Blog.  As usual, I took lots of photos and have organized them in to six photo galleries in the Amtrak Fall Adventure Chicago and California Zephyr October 2016 Folder.  I also have undated the home or opening page for my photo galleries website so I suggest you check that page out here: Reagan's Photos Galleries.

What are some of my special memories of this trip? This was my first time to stay in Chicago's Loop in a while and I did really like THE WIT Hotel.  One of my favorite times was riding the trains to and from Galesburg, IL, to visit my friend Maury who gave me an unofficial tour of the BNSF Frieght Rail Yards and Shops. Traveling on the California Zephyr I met two couples who were traveling their first time in a Superliner sleeping car.  One couple was in the roomette across the aisle from me and asked me a lot of questions about the room about how things work. We ended up eating dinner together both nights we were on the Zephyr. They got off in Reno, NV, and you will find a photo of them in my photo galleries.  The other couple just had problem finding their room and I helped to locate their "bedroom".  The bedrooms are located on the opposite end of the car from the "roomettes".  We shared a table in the dining car for lunch one day. I really enjoyed also traveling back to Sacramento and visiting the California State Railroad Museum - probably one of my favorite railroad museums.  

Of course, some unexpected events happen in most traveling trips so mine came on the day I traveled on Amtrak's Coast Starlight train from Emeryville, CA, to Los Angeles Union Station. Since that train originated in Seattle, WA, I was aware the night before I was to board that the train lost 4 hours in the Portland, OR, area due to "stuck" bridge that had been raised over a river and would not go back down and then a medical emergency in Salem, OR. As it turned out the train never made up any of the lost time so I boarded the train in Emeryville at 12 Noon instead of the scheduled 8 AM.  This resulted in the scenic part of the train ride along the Pacific Ocean being at night in the dark and arrival in Los Angeles Union Station at 1:05 AM the next morning instead of the scheduled 9 PM arrival time.  All of that added up to me not arriving at my hotel in the LAX Airport area until 3 AM and into bed by 3:30 AM.  All was okay since I was staying two nights at the hotel before flying out of LAX to Nashville at 8:35 AM. 

I arranged the photos in six galleries and provided a photo and a link for each gallery.  Simply click the caption to go the the photo gallery.  You may like to save this blog post as a bookmark so that you can check out all the photos as you have time.  

Here are the six photo galleries:

Chicago and Amtrak's Hiawatha's

Chicago Metropolitan Lounge and Galesburg Day Trip

Amtrak's California Zephyr October 3-5

California State Railroad Museum and Amtrak's Capitol Corridor Trains

Emeryville East Bay Walk

Amtrak's Coast Starlight to Los Angeles

Enjoy the photos.  I am home in Nashville/Franklin until November 28 when I fly to Washington, DC and travel all the way across the country DC to Chicago to Emeryville and then travel back from Emeryville to Chicago to DC.  I will be sleeping six nights total on the train and four overnight hotel stays in DC, Chicago, and Emeryville. All will be single night stays with the first night and last night of the trip in DC.  

My sister Pat's visit to Nashville and my visit to North Louisiana had to be cancelled due to some scheduling conflicts in Louisiana.

Here are my next three trips planned and all are Amtrak Adventures:

November 28 to December 8 Amtrak "Just because I can" Rail Adventure - Flying to Washington, DC, staying one night at the Hilton Garden Inn US Capitol near Union Station. From DC I will ride for my first time Amtrak's Capitol Limited to Chicago and connect to Amtrak's California Zephyr to Emeryville. I will stay one night in the Hyatt House Emeryville and re-board Amtrak's California Zephyr to Chicago where I will stay one night at a new Hilton Garden Inn near Chicago's Union Station. The next evening I will board Amtrak's Capitol Limited back to Washington, DC, and another one night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn US Capitol before flying home to Nashville December 8,

January 23-31 Amtrak 2017 Winter California Zephyr Trip -- This is becoming my annual "see snow away from home" Amtrak Winter trip on the Zephyr. Itinerary is almost exactly as the October trip except I will fly Southwest Airlines to Chicago and I will only stay two nights instead of three at the Hyatt House in Emeryville.

April 8-22 Amtrak April 2017 Rail Adventure -- On this trip I will be riding on two Amtrak trains for the first time and actually traveling coast to coast and return.  I will begin the trip by flying Southwest Airlines to New Orleans April 8 for two nights at the Hyatt House Hotel on Poydras Street near New Orleans Union Station. Early Monday morning (7 AM) I will depart on Amtrak's Crescent train from New Orleans through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia(Atlanta), South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia arriving Tuesday morning at Washington, DC, Union Station. That same Tuesday afternoon (4 PM), I will depart on Amtrak's Capitol Limited through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania(Pittsburgh), Ohio, and Indiana arriving early Wednesday (9 AM) in Chicago's Union Station. At 2 PM Wednesday, I'll board Amtrak's California Zephyr for the two night trip to Emeryville arriving Friday late afternoon April 14 for two nights at the Hyatt House Emeryville.  Sunday morning (9 AM) I will board the east bound California Zephyr bound to Chicago arriving Tuesday afternoon and staying one night at the new Hampton Inn Chicago West Loop. Wednesday evening, April 19, I will return to Chicago Union Station to board the Capitol Limited(6:30 PM) for overnight trip back to Washington, DC, arriving early afternoon (1 PM) for a two night stay at the Hilton Garden Inn/DC US Capitol.  Saturday, April 22, I'll fly Southwest Airlines home to Nashville from Washington, DC, Reagan National Airport.

You can see all my previous Rail Trip photos on my photo galleries in the Rail Trips Folder.  

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. 

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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Fall 2016 Amtrak California Zephyr Adventure Monday-Tuesday October 10-11 Amtrak's Coast Starlight

Amtrak's Coast Starlight Arriving Emeryville, CA

Late Coast Starlight Stretches Trip to Los Angeles into Two Days

Even before I went to sleep Sunday night I was aware of a serious delay the train I would take Monday suffered in the Portland, OR, area.  A river bridge my train and four others cross was stuck in the raised position.  All the trains were delayed over 3 hours until the problem was resolved.  After leaving Portland my train then was stopped in Salem, OR, for over an hour for a medical emergency. So I went to bed knowing my train was 4 hours late but expected to make up most of that time by the time it reached Emeryville.  When I woke Monday morning I discovered the train had made up some time but then lost all the made up time while stopped in Sacramento thus instead of boarding my train at the scheduled 8:20am I boarded in Emeryville at 11:45am.  The adage that delayed trains get later applied to my trip to Los Angeles.  By the time we arrived Los Angeles Union Station early Tuesday morning at 1:05am we were back over 4 hours late.  Although the "FlyAway" bus from Union Station to LAX Airport operates 24 hours every day, the schedule drops to once an hour late night so my bus to LAX departed at 2am.  After arriving LAX and then waiting for the hotel shuttle, it was 3am when I finally checked in to my hotel and 3:35am this Tuesday morning before I finally layed down to sleep in my room.  What a day and night, but that happens sometimes and I'm enjoying a lazy day today.  My American flight to Nashville departs 8:35am Los Angeles time tomorrow morning.  Here are a few photos from my day and night on the Coast Starlight.

Those night time shots from San Luis Obispo were around 7:30pm instead of the 3pm scheduled time.  That meant that all the travel ocean side was in the dark so no photos.  If you received two email updates today or one email with two updates it is because I did both Tuesday and chose to divide the photos into two updates.

Thanks for traveling with me on this latest adventure.  I'll be home in Nashville/Franklin until Monday, November 28, and my night Amtrak adventure.  More about that later.

I took over 600 photos so after I clean them up and update my photo galleries, I'll post a trip summary update with links to all the photos.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. 

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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Fall 2016 Amtrak California Zephyr Adventure Sunday October 9 San Francisco Bay Trail

Overlooking San Francisco from East Bay Trail

San Francisco Bay Trail - Walking the East Bay Trail

While hanging around in the nearby Emeryville area around my hotel Sunday I walked about 2 blocks to walk the East Bay part of the San Francisco Bay Trail.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge across the Bay were awe inspiring.  The above photo and these below are just a sample of the fantastic views.  I also included a few pictures of the Emeryville area and my hotel.  

One more update to come about my adventurous travel from Emeryville to Los Angeles and on to my LAX Hilton Hotel.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. 

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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Fall 2016 Amtrak California Zephyr Adventure Saturday October 8 - California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento

Driving the last spike in the Transcontinental Railroad

Amtrak's Capitol Corridor Train to Sacramento to visit the California State Railroad Museum

Traveled on the Capitol Corridor Train from Emeryville to Sacramento to visit the California State Railroad Museum. Enjoyed the sunny warm short sleeve weather while traveling on the train and visiting the museum. The photo above is of a painting in the museum celebrating the joining of both east and west lines of the Transcontinental Railroad. The museum exhibits feature the building of the railroad across the Sierras. The museum also has rail equipment from several decades including a prototype of trains similar to the Acela trains in the Northeast. After visiting the museum for couple hours, I found a shaved ice place in Old Sacramento and treated myself before riding the Capitol Corridor train back to Emeryville. Later I walked from the hotel to a upscale outdoor shopping mall and ate at my favorite hamburger place Fuddruckers. Now I'm back at the hotel posting this update. 

I have no plans for tomorrow and "that is good". There is a very nice coastal walk a couple blocks from my hotel so that sounds like a good walk for me sometime tomorrow. Since Emeryville is the east side of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the walk should provide great views of San Francisco across the bay since it is sunny and clear these days I am here - no fog this visit.

Early Monday morning 8:20 am I board Amtrak's Coast Starlight for the 12+ hours journey to Los Angeles Union Station arriving around 9 pm.  From Union Station I'll take the Fly Away Bus to LAX airport and then an airport shuttle to Hilton LAX Hotel for two nights before flying home to Nashville Wednesday, October 12. I'll do my next update post during the day on Tuesday. I discovered my Iphone Blogger App has a defect that gave me lots of problems trying to do the post I did from Denver on last Thursday so I'll not try that again this trip or future travels. The problem was that when typing the blog title when I hit the "space bar" after the second word in the title, that shut down the app without saving.  So it is not worth the effort to fight the App bug.

Here are the photos of my Capitol Corridor trip to Sacramento and the museum. That's my hotel in background of one of the photos and the flowers in last photo are in front of my hotel.

Look for my next update overnight Tuesday.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. 

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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Fall 2016 Amtrak California Zephyr Adventure October 5-7 Three Days on the California Zephyr

Unexpected Snow in Fraser/Winter Park CO

Three Days Traveling on Amtrak's California Zephyr Chicago, Denver, Utah, Nevada and California to Emeryville(San Francisco)

Another great three days traveling on Amtrak from Chicago to Emeryville, CA. As you can see from the photo above, I was surprised by snow in the Winter Park area in Colorado just as we climbed up into the Rocky Mountains and we passed through Moffatt Tunnel under the Continental Divide. While the snow was a surprise in early October, it was greeted with glee by most of the passengers. After we passed Grandby, CO, the snow gave way to sunny and dry conditions in western Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. Even the Truckee, CA, and Sierras were snow free. Thankfully for this cold natured guy, it is warm and sunny in California - in the high 80's.  

The train ride was good and I met several couples traveling. Across the aisle in my neighbor roomette was couple from Wisconsin. That is them in one of the photos below. Another couple I met and shared a meal in the dining car was from Michigan. Every trip I take is a new adventure and I enjoy meeting lots of different people from all over the world. One of my dining mates was from New Zealand and I met another from Sweden on this trip. And, yes, I do share my personal Christian testimony and love for working with youth and children in Sunday School. 

There was one minor problem on this trip and seemed pretty major during the last night in the sleeping car. Apparently, Amtrak maintenance did not realize that we would pass through the snow and even through Utah and Nevada last night the outside temperature was near or just around freezing.  It was actually 38 degrees when we stopped in Reno this morning around 8:30 am. Our sleeping car had NO HEAT and the cool air conditioning was going full force. It was probably one of the coldest nights I have ever tried sleeping.  The blanket provided was inadequate for the job so I ended up sleeping with my jacket with hoody my nephew Mark gave me last Spring while visiting them in Shreveport, LA.  So, Mark, I continue to advertise and promote Owen Engineering while traveling.

All is well though now and I'll look forward to the "hot" California weather.  I'm headed back a couple hours to Sacramento tomorrow to visit the California State Railroad Museum in Ole Sacramento right adjacent to the Amtrak station.

Here are several photos following my journey on the California Zephyr in sequence as the trip progressed.  No "captions" so enjoy.

   
So here I am in Emeryville.  My room actually overlooks the scene in the last photo above.  I'll post another update tomorrow night.  Sunday will be day of rest and worship via the internet services of FBC Nashville and FHBC Nashville. Monday will be a day of travel on the Coast Starlight from here to Los Angeles and then by bus to the LAX airport area and my hotel. That will be a late night arrival for you folks back in the central and eastern time zones so I'll plan to do an update on Tuesday since I will be relaxing and waiting until Wednesday morning to fly home to Nashville.

You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. 

All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.

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