We arrived back to union station to watch as the train went from. ‘ON TIME’ to ‘DELAYED’; how can it be that a train originating at this station be delayed?? Thanks to Union Pacific freight that why.
When we boarded our Sunset limited bound for New Orleans, our carriage attendant Sandi was a hoot, the first we have had to introduce themselves with a handshake. As we settled into our roomette so the screaming started, yes screaming, a family of 4 kids with a father who couldn’t shut them up....thank goodness we were at the opposite end of the carriage! We enjoyed the scenery as we moved from the city to desert not quite, the change is not as obvious as it is in Vegas, the desert was slightly greener here!!
The rivers were carved out in a similar way to the Grand Canyon except but in a significantly smaller scale. the announcement said that at this time of year, this river is normally reduces to the most miniscule trickle, but due to a hurricane experienced in the region in the last 4 weeks the river was up to its normal flow rate for the winter...
Our first stop was dinner, steak and potato; we can’t quite understand this need to place a steak with potato (whether that be mashed or baked) and veg, why not the traditional Chips, or fries as it is here!!! We met a lovely family on their way to New Orleans for a holiday, this was complemented by a fantastic dinner service staff, another first on Amtrak. A delightful sunset along over the Arizona desert greeted us as we returned to our room
And we settled into an evening of top gear before we headed for bed. The next morning Mongo woke to see sun-rise
and got completely freaked out by Chris screaming....OMG it was so scary, it was a dream scream which i think was worse!! Anyway having tossed and turned for 2 hours it was reviled that we were about to arrive in El Paso
and so we set foot in one more state....at 7.45am OH MY GOD!! As we settled back into our room we realised that we will be in Texas longer than we would be in Louisiana despite spending a night there in New Orleans!!! Over lunch we had more great company, a women who has done a similar trip to us, but another person who loved Seattle, that is two in as many days...wow! What did we miss??!! While eating we passed through Alpine
And a little later we came within a few feet of the Mexican border!! Just across the river is Mexico (where the tree line is)...
Our next stop Del Rio....
Had a large border police presence which is normal, this is a common place for immigrants to try and escape into the USA.We continued on having made up the time that we had lost yesterday and we arrived at San Antonio, home of the Alamodome as in Miss Congeniality. At the station was a massive train look at the size of the wheels, I couldn't actually fit the train on my i-phone camera!!..
With that to the city we headed in search of some sustenance along to the riverwalk we went (not a great pic sorry) still busy despite the late hour.
On arrival back at the station we had a quick look at the station it was pretty impressive...the first we spotted was that it hasn’t been called Union station!!! Instead Sunset station!
So we once again boarded the train and to bed we went. Next stop New Orleans . The next day we arrive in New Orleans crossing the Mississippi just outside if the city
We had arrived into New Orleans a good 90mins early, a very annoying taxi driver who told us how much to tip him, the fare was 7.25 we were going to give 10 anyway but he said “$10 minimum” he got $10 on the nose and that was it. However how lucky we did give him what he told us.....more on that in a few lines”
After a slightly drawn out check in we entered our room, not amazing view or anything, but lets face t we really aren’t going to be here long!! We went to head into the city...
”Where are your sun glasses Chris??”
“Here” he says as he touches his t-shirt.
....ummm...after tearing the room apart we figured out they are not here. Thankfully the bell man downstairs was able to get hold of the taxi firm and the taxi driver returned with them....phew. Crisis averted we headed into New Orleans.We explored the river, the French quarter unavoidable really and more!!
Our first stop was artillery park were we found a canon, and had a good very of the Cathedral (Roman Catholic) please note that the canon is pointing away from the Cathedral...nobody's perfect...
It was so humid, we headed for the Cafe de Monde and the famous French donuts....can't think how to spell them....begins with a B??!! DAD???
We wondered around the Market in the French Quarter and listen to some of the Jazz going on in the street, part of the Louis Armstrong festival, beats the current Brecon Jazz anyway!!!
We headed for dinner whilst admiring the city’s architecture
And off to the Hard Rock we went to admire Louis Armstrongs’ trumpet and enjoy a very good dinner!!!
We headed to the river to check out the Natchez boat which were very impressive machines
And so we returned to the hotel not looking forward to our 5.30 wake up tomorrow!!! So we tried to sleep but down below us was road works....at 11pm.....12am....1am. Eventually we got to sleep and next think we knew....ring....ring....ring “This is your wake up call, thank you for staying with doubletree” ohhhhh it was that early it was still dark! We headed for the station, bag dropped and headed for the Magnolia room, For sleeping passengers, we hoped this would include, drinks and a little food we could sneak on the train....just coffee...bummer!
We boarded the train; a viewliner which meant each roomette had a toilet in the room. We later discovered this was the only toilet....great that will make using the facilities in the middle of the night interesting won’t it!! Anyway we also realised that this train doesn’t actually communicate to its passengers either. Only speakers are in the corridor and any announcement made you can’t hear anyway. We had no idea what our attendants name was, we just hope we get off in Washington as they don’t announce stops either!
Over lunch we sat with a lovely couple from Birmingham Alabama, on their way home, lunch was ok...service not great, nor my food; Chris’ though was better than his last one!
Our first stop was dinner, steak and potato; we can’t quite understand this need to place a steak with potato (whether that be mashed or baked) and veg, why not the traditional Chips, or fries as it is here!!! We met a lovely family on their way to New Orleans for a holiday, this was complemented by a fantastic dinner service staff, another first on Amtrak. A delightful sunset along over the Arizona desert greeted us as we returned to our room
And we settled into an evening of top gear before we headed for bed. The next morning Mongo woke to see sun-rise
and got completely freaked out by Chris screaming....OMG it was so scary, it was a dream scream which i think was worse!! Anyway having tossed and turned for 2 hours it was reviled that we were about to arrive in El Paso
and so we set foot in one more state....at 7.45am OH MY GOD!! As we settled back into our room we realised that we will be in Texas longer than we would be in Louisiana despite spending a night there in New Orleans!!! Over lunch we had more great company, a women who has done a similar trip to us, but another person who loved Seattle, that is two in as many days...wow! What did we miss??!! While eating we passed through Alpine
And a little later we came within a few feet of the Mexican border!! Just across the river is Mexico (where the tree line is)...
Our next stop Del Rio....
Had a large border police presence which is normal, this is a common place for immigrants to try and escape into the USA.We continued on having made up the time that we had lost yesterday and we arrived at San Antonio, home of the Alamodome as in Miss Congeniality. At the station was a massive train look at the size of the wheels, I couldn't actually fit the train on my i-phone camera!!..
With that to the city we headed in search of some sustenance along to the riverwalk we went (not a great pic sorry) still busy despite the late hour.
On arrival back at the station we had a quick look at the station it was pretty impressive...the first we spotted was that it hasn’t been called Union station!!! Instead Sunset station!
So we once again boarded the train and to bed we went. Next stop New Orleans . The next day we arrive in New Orleans crossing the Mississippi just outside if the city
We had arrived into New Orleans a good 90mins early, a very annoying taxi driver who told us how much to tip him, the fare was 7.25 we were going to give 10 anyway but he said “$10 minimum” he got $10 on the nose and that was it. However how lucky we did give him what he told us.....more on that in a few lines”
After a slightly drawn out check in we entered our room, not amazing view or anything, but lets face t we really aren’t going to be here long!! We went to head into the city...
”Where are your sun glasses Chris??”
“Here” he says as he touches his t-shirt.
....ummm...after tearing the room apart we figured out they are not here. Thankfully the bell man downstairs was able to get hold of the taxi firm and the taxi driver returned with them....phew. Crisis averted we headed into New Orleans.We explored the river, the French quarter unavoidable really and more!!
Our first stop was artillery park were we found a canon, and had a good very of the Cathedral (Roman Catholic) please note that the canon is pointing away from the Cathedral...nobody's perfect...
It was so humid, we headed for the Cafe de Monde and the famous French donuts....can't think how to spell them....begins with a B??!! DAD???
We wondered around the Market in the French Quarter and listen to some of the Jazz going on in the street, part of the Louis Armstrong festival, beats the current Brecon Jazz anyway!!!
We headed for dinner whilst admiring the city’s architecture
And off to the Hard Rock we went to admire Louis Armstrongs’ trumpet and enjoy a very good dinner!!!
We headed to the river to check out the Natchez boat which were very impressive machines
And so we returned to the hotel not looking forward to our 5.30 wake up tomorrow!!! So we tried to sleep but down below us was road works....at 11pm.....12am....1am. Eventually we got to sleep and next think we knew....ring....ring....ring “This is your wake up call, thank you for staying with doubletree” ohhhhh it was that early it was still dark! We headed for the station, bag dropped and headed for the Magnolia room, For sleeping passengers, we hoped this would include, drinks and a little food we could sneak on the train....just coffee...bummer!
We boarded the train; a viewliner which meant each roomette had a toilet in the room. We later discovered this was the only toilet....great that will make using the facilities in the middle of the night interesting won’t it!! Anyway we also realised that this train doesn’t actually communicate to its passengers either. Only speakers are in the corridor and any announcement made you can’t hear anyway. We had no idea what our attendants name was, we just hope we get off in Washington as they don’t announce stops either!
Over lunch we sat with a lovely couple from Birmingham Alabama, on their way home, lunch was ok...service not great, nor my food; Chris’ though was better than his last one!
Our evening was spent flying through the Georgia countryside, sorry Kate nowhere near Augusta... but a stop in Atlanta, Georgia allowed us to claim another state visited....Yayyy! we went to bed unsure as to when exactly our train would arrive in Washington D.C... a comfortable nights sleep was not expected.
An uncomfortable nights sleep later we awoke to find ourselves at a station, D.C.!!!! no it wasn't but it was only about 30 minutes away. prepared for disaster we'd packed up our bags last night so all we had to do was wait. Finally the call came, D.C. 10 minutes as we crossed the Potomac River from Virginia into the District of Columbia (D.C.) familiar sights came into view, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol centre of Washington D.C. headquarters of (as many Americans say) the finest Governments money can buy... we're not here to judge.
The Adventures of Mongo and The Boy written and experienced by
Kate 'the chronic insomniac' Davies
and
Chris 'whose body contains the unquiet spirit of Olaf the Hairy, High Chief of all the Vikings...who screamed a lot' Davies
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