10th April 2002 – 26th April 2002
Wednesday 10th April
Well this is it!!
Tonight I should be in America, WOW.
I have just said good bye to Steven and Kevin, Kevin was upset because he wanted to see me off, so I let him have the day off of school.
The train leaves King’s Lynn for King’s Cross, London in about 10 minutes. I am drinking Hot Chocolate on the train.
Arrived at King’s Cross about 12.35, Bob wasn’t there to meet me, I wondered around and he turned up 15 minutes later, he got caught up in traffic.
We then went to Paddington and caught the Heathrow Express, which was £12 each ouch, but this did take us straight to our terminal. Terminal 4, we had a drink and at 3pm we checked in, bags were checked very thoroughly at security, my nail scissors were confiscated, and Bobs nail clippers had a nail file on and that had to be broken off.
We then looked around the shops and had a meal, and at 5.15pm we boarded the plane. The plane is a Boeing 747, is has 10 seats across and carries 401 people. The plane was delayed by about 10 minutes, then we took off, I didn’t like it, this is the first time I had flew and it was worse than I imagined, I think possibly because the wing was very visible to me. It was very jerky.
We have a miniature TV screen in front of us which shows films, and listen to radio, it also shows a map and information on our route.
There is not much leg or personal room (and she’s only got little legs).
The food was hot but not very nice.
Clouds have always held a fascination for me and when we were up in the air, and the sun was shining through the clouds, which gave it an ethereal misty look, it is quite beautiful, looking like they are out of a fairy tale, the next minute looking like candy floss and the next like fields of pure white snow, lovely.
We did hit some turbulence, but only a small amount, not very nice.
As we descended over New York, we saw lots of lights, like it was a magical Christmas tree covered in fairy lights, we landed and went through customs, I was tired and ached everywhere, It was 8.30pm New York time and 1.30am UK time.
We then got a New York Cab and went to the hotel, then we collapsed, but woke at 4am being on UK time.
Thursday 11th April
Today is our Silver Wedding Anniversary, we left the hotel at 6am and walked to Penn (Pennsylvania) Station, and booked in, we got on the train and it left on time.
It was a large train, a lot of spacious personal room, the staff were very helpful.
We passed Yonkers (from Hello Dolly) lots of water and some lovely scenery. It is a lovely sunny day.
The surprising thing was very little boats or wildlife considering all the water, most houses were pretty timber framed detached houses.
We saw very long freight trains.
We passed through Syracuse which is a name I know but do not know why.
The terrain for the most part was very flat, although for a short while after Syracuse it became hilly.
About 4pm we arrived at Niagara Falls, New York side and took a cab to the Canadian side. We then booked into the hotel and walked down to look at the falls, it was specatacular, words cannot describe, the fantastic power of the falls, our room was overlooking the falls.
We then had a meal, our first proper meal since we left UK, at a restaurant called ‘Appleby’s’.
Friday April 12th
All night in the background we heard the falls, although it did not affect our sleep because it wasn’t too loud. We woke and looked out of the window and saw the sun rising over the falls, so we threw on some clothes and went out and took some pictures. We then went and had a good breakfast at ‘Appleby’s’. We took a ride to the bottom of the cliffs to the falls, we had a stroll and took some more photos, then went for a drink. Then we walked along the river stopping and looking at the falls, every so often and the play of a rainbow that is never far away. We got to the bridge that went across into the US and walked over the border, this was great because we got some wonderful unobstructed views of both sets of falls, hopefully got some wonderful photos. Bob acted silly when we got to the borders and kept crossing saying Canada/America, Canada/America. It brings me to mind of Homer Simpson.
We then went and looked at the American side of the falls, the rapids and raging torrents, such vast volumes of water. Just below me was the start of a rainbow, so I stood on a rainbow, in fact there was a double one but the second one was only just visible. We then caught a cab to take us to the station for a train back to New York.
On the way back the train developed a fault with the internal signalling so we never got to the hotel until midnight, walking through manhatten just before midnight is a whole different world, the shops were open, loads of people around, so many places were lit up, it was like day, I found it fascinating.
Saturday Apil 13th
We had breakfast in restaurant attached to hotel ‘Pigello’s, which was lovely, where ever you go for breakfast if you have coffee, someone comes round with a pot for continuous refills.
We then went for a walk taking in sights, sounds and smells, we walked to Central Park, there was a track for joggers, cyclists and skaters.
We sat and watched some lads playing baseball, we then walked along 7th and 5th avenues where we looked in a Barnes and Noble bookstore and bought some books.
We then made our way back to our hotel on 8th Avenue passing a ‘Pokemon Shop’ en route, we checked out and walked to Penn Station. We got on the train and was shown to our Sleeper compartment, it was very small but quite amazing, there was a bunk bed above, 2 facing comfortable seats, that get made up into the lower bunk, a toilet, a fold down sink, soap and towels, a mini TV which played videos, a rubbish bin and fold down table, all fully air conditioned, in the next compartment was the dining car, we could have all meals and drinks at no extra cost.
We passed Philadelphia, went over a mountain range, some spectacular sights, weather was cloudy and drizzly, but as we went through mountains the sun came out which made for some spectacular sights.
About 9.30 the attendent Ron came and made up our bunks, and we went to bed to read. I had a restless night, during the night we passed through Pittsburg, and also got a new attendent, during the night there had been a 2 hr delay because a freight train had broken down on the line.
Sunday 14th April
We arrived in Chicago at 10.30am but we had to turn clocks back 1 hr, so it was in reality 9.30am. We were recommended by the attendent to visit the Skydeck at Sears Tower, which we did, it is said to be the highest tower in the world, there was fantastic views of Chicago. Unfortunately, it was misty on the horizon, so we couldn’t see as far as we would have liked. Then we wondered around Chicago, Skyscrapers everywhere.
We boarded the train at about 3.15pn, it is called the Southwest Chief, it is a double decker and we are upstairs.
Monday 15th April
Woke up early, during the night we had passed through Kansas City. We had a lovely breakfast and while having breakfast we passed through Dodge City, Kansas.
Mid morning we had to put our clocks back 1hr as we passed from Kansas into Colorada.
Now we are in real Wild West Country, nothing for miles around but prairie everything dry and brown, we passed through Trinidad, our train has 8 carriages, 4 engines and is towing 35 freight cars, carrying US mail. The prairies eventually gave way to mountains with some specatacular views. At about 11.30am the train stopped on a mountain to let the engine cool, to get extra power to go over a mountain pass, called Ratton Pass in New Mexico.
We have done over 1000 miles in this train alone, and we pass alongside the Santa Fe trail for quite a way.
We couldn’t get over the pass after several attempts, because one of the engines overheated, so they had to bring in another engine from Ratton to pull us over the pass. This caused a 3hr delay.
We then went to Alberqueue where we had to wait for the engine to be replaced, this was a further 3 hrs wait, so in all we are 6hrs behind schedule.
The train eventually pulled in to our station at Williams Junction about 3.20am, it was due in at 10.16pm, it was 5hrs late.
Williams Junction was a stop in the middle of no where with one light, luckily the hotel had a car waiting for us.
Tuesday 16th April
We got up at 7am after 3 hrs sleep ugh.
After breakfast we went into Williams by taxi to catch the Grand Canyon Express. While waiting we were entertained by an amusing Wild West Show we caught the train at 10am, it was a Pullman 1923 carriage. We went through varying landscapes including Desert where you could imagine a cowboy riding across the desert with the mountains in the background, just like the movies. On the train Cowboy came along singing Railroad songs. We arrived at the Grand Canyon at about 12.15pm and walked up to the Canyon, wow it was so awesome, words just fail to describe. We had lunch overlooking the Canyon, there were loads of Grey Squirrels, trying to pinch food and it is strictly forbidden to feed any wildlife including squirrels.
At about 3.30pm we got a taxi to go to the hotel, hotel was fantastic, lovely low level Mexican styling, friendly staff, lovely room.
We went for a walk and went to see an IMAX Grand Canyon Show, brilliant it was.
We had dinner in the hotel, lovely restaurant with water features and nice décor, lovely food.
Wednesday 17th April
We got up and had a good breakfast, then we went to the Grand Canyon, we are both suffering a little with the altitude.
We started off and looked round the bookstore and visitors centre. Then we went and looked at Mather Point. We then took the Kaibab Trail bus route upto Yaki Point and then walked back to the village along the rim, it was about 1.75 miles but seemed a lot longer probably due to the altitude.
We then visited an American Indian Craft Store which had an open fire burning pine logs, it smelt strongly and was very warm. We continued on and at about 2pm we had a quick lunch. We saw a mule train coming up the Canyon via Bright Angel Trailhead, unfortunately we were not in time to photograph them.
We then decided to descend the trail ourselves for a short way, going down is a lot easier than coming back up.
We then caught the Hermit’s Rest bus and stopped at Hopi Point and Mohave Point, then we continued on to Hermit’s Rest, where we had a drink and looked in the gift shop. We went back down to Mohave point and waited an hour to see the sunset, which was spectacular. It was a very cold wind.
We got back to hotel tired, aching and sunburnt, and had dinner.
Thursday 18th April
Got up and had a good breakfast, weather forecast said sunny here and in LA but 12” snow in Montana, we will be there next week.
After breakfast we got a cab into the Canyon and went to see Trail View, Abyss then Pima Point, we then had a tea break at Hermits Rest then went to catch the Grand Canyon Express back to Williams on the way train was stopped by Train Robbers on horse back, they boarded the train and demanded money.
At Williams we had a meal, then walked around what little there was of Williams, we found out that this is one of the few places that you can still legally wear a gun on your hip.
We then caught the train ‘The Southwest Chief’ at Williams Junction for LA at 10.30pm, it was 15 minutes late.
Friday 19th April
Train arrived in Los Angeles at 8.10am, ½hr early, fairly good considering we were late starting out. It is very hot.
We went to Metro to the hotel and then checked in, we then went and explored Hollywood and saw the Hollywood sign, I tried a Pretzel, I found it rather salty to my taste.
In the afternoon we went back to the hotel for a rest, then went back to Hollywood in the evening, everywhere was open, it was so bright. We saw people dressed up, and enormous stretch limousines. We went to the cinema and saw The Rookie, a lovely cinema with wonderfully decorated ceiling and walls.
Saturday 20th April
We caught ‘The Coast Starlight’ that takes us to Portland arriving tomorrow.
The train left on time at 10am, a lovely train, that has a parlour car for drinks etc, it was very nice, and below that was a Movie Theatre, then a dining car. And a Lounge car, and below that was a buffet. Everything for eating and drinking (except alcohol) is free. Just North of LA we passed an area where lots of Westerns were filmed in the 40’s and 50’s. We passed through Santa Barbara which is a very pretty town.
We passed some stunning scenery with the Pacific Ocean on one side and mountains on the other.
We partook of some wine and cheese tasting and a trivia quiz.
Sunday 21st April
We awoke to snow covered mountains and pine trees in Oregon, a lovely state, I think it was my favourite state.
Oregon is very beautiful, we passed lakes, log cabins, mountains, pine trees and lots of snow.
Overnight a stolen car had been left on the line, so we had a delay while it was removed. We passed through Salem and Albany.
This afternoon we also partook of wine and cheese tasting and trivia.
We arrived in Portland at 6.30pm, 2hrs behind schedule.
We went and explored Portland, and found a wonderful bookshop.
Monday 22nd April
We had breakfast and then left luggage at station, so we could explore Portland, It is a lovely clean town, with lots of decorated lifesize cows for some reason. We also explored the river front.
Then we went to the station and waited for the train The Empire Builder to depart in the Sleeping car lounge.
The train left ½ hr late, we passed through Vancouver and Spokane in Washington. We also passed Mount Hood which looked mystical, now covered and peeking through the clouds.
Tuesday 23rd April
We awoke to Spectacular views of the Rockies in Montana, during the night the clocks went forward. We passed Glacier National Park and Whitefish town. We went through some severe snow blizzards. Just before Cut Bank, snow was very deep and visibility poor, in the evening clocks went forward an hour as we passed into North Dakota.
Wednesday 24TH April
We passed through Minneapolis, Minnesota.
For the first time we saw rain, it rained most of the day. We went through Wisconsin, we followed the Mississippi River for about 140 miles.
We arrived in Chicago about 4.40pm, looked round station and had something to eat, then went to wait for the New York Viewliner train which should leave at 7.09pm, we had to move clocks forward another hour, and ended up having dinner about 9pm.
Overnight we passed through Toledo and Cleveland.
Thursday 25th April
We had breakfast. Weather awful and wet.
We passed through Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and by the River Hudson.
We arrived in New York 1 1/2hrs late, and went to the hotel, where we had a shower and explored Broadway, we went to see Aiba, a Broadway show written by Elton John and Tim Rice.
At 11.30 we had our evening meal.
Friday 26th April
After breakfast we caught a cab to the Statue of Liberty, we got the ferry to go and have a closer look. We passed the sight of the World Trade Centre. We caught a cab to the Empire State Building and went to the 86th floor, to see the spectatular views, the weather was good and we could see for 25 miles.
We then went and looked around 5th Avenue and Broadway, there was a fantastic Toys R Us with a lifesize Barbie House, and a fantastic Ferris Wheel, which went through all the floors.
We went back to hotel to collect our bags and caught the 6pm shuttle bus for the airport, it took over an hour to get there because of traffic, we checked in and at 10.10pm went on board the plane.
Saturday 27th April
We arrived in London, Heathrow about 10.00am.
We caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington, then the underground to King’s Cross.
We then caught the 12.45 train to King’s Lynn arriving at 12.20pm, where Kevin and Steven met us.
Transport
The Plane
Boeing 747-400
Seated 10 across, 401 seater.
4 engines.
2 passenger decks.
Mini individual screen which showed movies and a map and info of your journey.
12 programme choices including movies and other programmes.
The Trains
The stations and trains were very clean and well looked after, the staff were very helpful.
New York to Niagara Falls
Very large and spacious, plenty of personal room.
Viewliner
New York - Chicago
The Sleeper compartment was very small but quite amazing, there was a bunk bed above, 2 facing comfortable seats, that get made up into the lower bunk, a toilet, a fold down sink, soap and towels, a mini TV which played videos, a rubbish bin and fold down table, all fully air conditioned, Further along the carriage was a shower and drinks making facilities.
Dining car, we could have all meals and drinks at no extra cost.
There was an attendent to each carriage, who looked after you and got your beds ready.
Superliner
The Southwest Chief Chicago – Los Angeles
Empire Builder Portland - Chicago
Coast Starlight Los Angeles – Seattle (Premier Line)
Double Decker
Sleeper Compartment.
Upper bunk, 2 chairs which change into a lower bunk. Folding table.
In carriage is a toilet, and drinks making facilities.
Downstairs in carriage, is 3 toilets and a shower, and luggage storage.
Each carriage had it’s own attendent.
Dining Car
Table sits 4, has linen table cloths, flowers on table, china tableware, you sit with other passengers. Downstairs is the kitchens
The Lounge Car/Sightseer Car
There is lots of window space for viewing and taking pictures, comfortable chairs which swivel, either end is a TV screen, which plays movies periodlically during the day.
Downstairs, is a buffet where you can purchase snacks and drinks, as well as tables and chairs, for sitting, talking and eating.
Coast Starlight only
Parlour Car
Half was tables and chairs, the other half was comfortable sitting, there was a bar which sold drinks, the hot and soft drinks were free you had to pay for alcoholic drinks.
In the afternoon was free wine and cheese tasting and a trivia quiz game.
Downstairs was a Movie Theatre.
Patch Kiddie Car
For children with childrens activities, parents must be there.
Grand Canyon Express
A 1923 Pullman train with a diesel engine, sometimes it has a steam engine but it was being renovated at the time.
They was free Pepsi and water.
A cowboy came down the train singing Railroad songs.
On the return journey we were held up by Cowboys on horses, who were robbing the train, the train stopped and the robbers came on board.
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