Happy New Year 2019 and Happy Travels

Amtrak's Empire Builder

Happy New Year 2019

I hope you have enjoyed a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to happiness in the New Year 2019. Hopefully, there will be some happy travels for you in the new year. 

I have gone from no travel planned as I reported on my last travel blog post to now having three trips planned in 2019 in February, April, and June. I'll let you know a few details of all three below.

If you would like to check out all my 2018 rail trips galleries here is the link:

2018 Rail Trips

My 2018 Holiday Season

In addition to celebrating Christmas with my church and Tennessee family, I have followed my three favorite football teams. 

First, my alma mater Louisiana Tech played and won over University of Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu. LaTech has now won five bowls games in a row.

Second, for the NFL Tennessee Titans it's been a roller coaster year. Ended with a 9 wins 7 losses record. Multiple "excuses" with the injury bug chief among the excuses.

Last, my home state LSU Tigers are playing New Years Day in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona.

Reagan's Travel Plans for 2019

So far, I have planned three trips during the first half of 2019.  In February, using airline miles, Amtrak guest reward points, and Hilton Honors points I am doing a mostly free hopefully "snow trip" on Amtrak's Empire Builder and City of New Orleans. I wll be driving to my home state Louisiana to visit family in early April. In June I will travel for my first time on Amtrak's Cardinal.

February 18-27 Amtrak Winter Snow Trip - Flying to Seattle from Nashville on Alaska Airlines to ride Amtrak's Empire Builder from Seattle, Washington, through Idaho, Glacier National Park, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to Chicago. That's the "snow trip" part. From Chicago I will ride Amtrak's City of New Orleans to New Orleans. I'll fly Southwest Airlines home to Nashville. The photo above at the top of this blog post is the Empire Builder and just below are a couple more photos of the Empire Builder. I did not take these photos but obtained them from Facebook and the Internet.

April 3-10 Trip to My Louisiana Home - Dates are approximate but I will be driving home to Northwest Louisiana to visit my two sisters, one niece, and one nephew and their families. Not really a photo gallery type trip but I'm looking forward to visiting with the family and other friends in the Shreveport-Bossier City area. I might extend this trip to visit close friends in Dallas/Plano, Texas area.

June 13-24 Amtrak's Cardinal and Visit to Michigan - Flying to Washington, DC, for three nights followed by my first trip on Amtrak's Cardinal from DC to Chicago.  In Chicago I will stay three nights before traveling by regional Amtrak train to East Lansing, Michigan, to visit my older nephew and family. He is a professor at Michigan State University. After my visit I will return to Chicago by Amtrak train. I haven't completed plans whether to fly home from Chicago or maybe add more travel. Here are a couple photos of Amtrak's Cardinal I found on the Internet.

Last I would like to share this "after Christmas" photo featuring Amtrak's Empire Builder I got off the Internet.

I'll be back with more blog posts and links to my photo galleries in February.

Amtrak Fall 2018 Vacation Photo Galleries Ready to View

Amtrak's California Zephyr Ready to Board in Emeryville, CA

Amtrak Fall 2018 Vacation

I've been home almost two weeks and I've updated Reagan's Photo Galleries with five galleries and they are ready for you to view. All the photos are in the Amtrak Fall 2018 Vacation folder.

Here are links to the individual galleries. Click on the photo or caption to go to the gallery.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief Westbound 

Los Angeles and Southwest Chief Eastbound

California Zephyr Westbound

Emeryville and San Francisco

California Zephyr Eastbound

I hope you enjoy viewing my photos in the galleries. Believe it or not, I do not have any additional travel planned for the remainder of 2018 nor do I have any plans for now for 2019. I'm sure there will be some but just taking my time to plan any further travel until I get caught up with car repairs and other expenses. I do have adequate Amtrak Guest Rewards points and both American and Southwest Airlines frequent flyer miles to make some free trips on both Amtrak and the Airlines so my only expense would be for hotels and food, etc. Have you noticed how expensive hotels near city center have gotten?

I'll update this travel blog when I do make some travel plans. In the meantime:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessed Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Amtrak Fall 2018 Vacation - Eastbound Amtrak's California Zephyr November 2-4

I'm back in Chicago after a good three day ride back on the Eastbound California Zephyr. We left Emeryville right on time 9:10 AM Pacific Time Friday morning November 2 and arrived back in Chicago right on time yesterday Sunday November 4. Highlight of the trip was meeting three younger people from the Bay Area in California traveling to Denver. We just happened to be seated together for lunch the first day. We enjoyed being together so well we sat together for all the remaining meals until they departed in Denver. We shared lots of smiles, laughter, and friendly conversation. They made this the most memorable of the four long distance train rides this vacation. I've included a couple photos today of us together at the dining table and off the train in snowy Fraser-Winter Park, Colorado.

Well, I am in overcast rainy Chicago today so will be a day of relaxation doing this update, resting, and watching Monday Night Football Tennessee Titans vs. Dallas Cowboys. Here's hoping the Titans play well.

Since this is last update before I fly home tomorrow, I have included more photos. After I get home tomorrow, I will spend a few days optimizing and organizing the over 900 photos I took these past two weeks on the Westbound and Eastbound Southwest Chief and California Zephyr. Then I post them to my Reagan's Photo Galleries and post a final travel blog update to let you know the photos galleries are complete and ready for you to view.

Here are today's photos. Remember you can click on the photos and see the full size photos.

It's been a very good two weeks traveling Amtrak. For now, I do not have any more travel planned for 2018  and believe it or not, I don't have any travel planned for 2019 as yet. I've incurred some expensive  expenses related to my personal health and also my 16 year old Honda Accord so I do need to curtail some of my travel to catch up with these expenses. 

You will notice one of the photos today was a Christmas tree in the hotel inside of Denver's Union Station. So HAPPY THANKSGIVING and MERRY CHRISTMAS!