As you know, we arrived in Essex late, at midnight, for a two night stay. We settled into our room at the Isaak Walton Inn and had a good night's sleep. The Inn itself is charming, nice room, comfy lobby, porches on both sides to sit in and watch either the trains or the people coming and going. We took the Red Jammer Bus trip the next morning, left at 8:00 am and came home at 7:00 pm. A long day but great. The pictures from that trip around Glacier Park were linked to the previous trip report. The Going to the Sun Road was closed at the top not due to snow but rain had caused road washouts last November. So our tour went up the east side of the park and into three separate valleys. The road was expected to be open the first week in July, they were installing a "military bridge" to handle one large washed out area. The food at the Inn was exceptional. We had trout, ravioli, bread pudding, huckleberry cobbler, grilled sandwiches for lunch, nice continental breakfast. Art even had chicken fried steak in honor of Amtrak and it was excellent. Because the food was so good we had dinner at the Inn before leaving on the Empire Builder at 8:15 pm, just 1/2 hour late.
Darryl, our sleeper attendant, had made us reservations for dinner on the train which was very nice but of course we had already eaten. We were again in the Superliner I with the silly closet. At 9:00 pm we felt a now familiar feeling, the sudden braking and stop of the train. The entire train was on a high trestle over a river, even our car which was second to last. The conductor quickly announced the problem, kids playing on the bridge, he called it "a near miss". We had to spend about 15 minutes there getting our air (the brakes?) back up and then we were on our way. Rather unsettling to sit there on that trestle and it was very good he quickly told us about the reason as I had visions of the trestle being damaged and the train tumbling one car after another way down into that river. We went to bed about 11:00 and gained an hour during the night.
Up at 5:30 am, we were in Pasco, WA. Darryl said he got 2 hours of sleep in the crew car before Spokane and then a room in our car freed up and he slept a bit more. His room #1 (we were in our favorite room #2) was full of supplies, linen both clean and dirty and there was no room for him to sleep there. We were running about 1/2 hour late, no problem for our upcoming connection in Portland. The scenery is of course wonderful as we traveled along the Columbia River. We arrived on time in Portland, a really lovely station, and put our luggage away in the Metropolitan Lounge, also a very nice lounge. The lounge attendant told me that Los Angeles was budgeted for a lounge and even has a plan for where it will be. Hope so, it is sad that our grand old station has no first class lounge area.
In Portland we followed the very good advice from some of you. We walked to Powell's Books, browsed there a while and then continued on to Jake's Grill. It was 11:30, just before the lunch rush and we settled into the bar. Art was most impressed with the huge assortment of alcohol. He ordered his favorite scotch, Macallan, and was asked if he wanted 12, 18 or 25 year old! Thank goodness he chose the 12. Our lunch itself was fabulous - pot roast for me and mac and cheese for Art. We shared a raspberry shortcake for dessert. I want to go back to Portland just to try other items from Jake's menu. The ambience was great too, a real grill with lots of wood, bar and restaurant and a charming waitress. Thanks much for the recommendation. We took the street car, free in the downtown area, and walked a few more blocks back to the station, light rain falling, surprise, surprise.
We boarded the Coast Starlight which left on time at 2:30. Chris was our sleeper attendant and we were in roomette #5 this time. Good thing - it was on the west side of the train. Bad thing - no Pacific Parlour Car! Darn, I have yet to have one. We were in a Superliner II, tiny bathroom but no ridiculous closet. We traveled through rain and fog and had hotdog and burger for dinner. A great deal of pine beetle damage was evident as we traveled through the mountains. We had seen the same, but not to this extent, in Montana. I guess it is now a nationwide phenomenom. We had also taken the free DigE Player offered. There were about 10 movies, some TV shows, games, music and music videos on it. I ended up playing some games after dark but we never did watch a movie. There was a youngster in our car and it kept him totally happy. Good idea for the kids at the very least but not something I would pay for.
By morning we were in Sacramento, about 1.5 hours late. It was sunny and the scenery was good, farms, the bay, the mothball fleet, bridges, ships, birds. We stepped out at Oakland for some air. Elizabeth, a customer service supervisor, had joined us and she came through checking with everyone about their trip, complaints, compliments, whatever. I bemoaned the lack of the PPC, she said two were now out for repair. She also noted that the planned upgrades for the CS were not going to happen in August but they hoped to have them in place by the holidays. These plans do include full meal service. I noted that some of the food now was not edible, e.g. our table mate's catfish on the SWC. She felt that it was not cooked properly and it should have been as good a fresh cooked. Me thinks she is too optimistic about SDS.
We continued to lose time as we headed to Paso Robles, lots of stops and starts, also rough track. Art went to wine and cheese, I skipped it. For dinner he had the "special", yes indeed, the chicken fried steak. He said it was OK. I had a hotdog which the waitress doubted was available for dinner but when I persisted she said OK but it would be "steamed not grilled". In truth it was good, however it was done. The dining car seemed to be surprised we were all still on board - on our table the basket with the salad dressings held two packages of dressing, both already open. No salt and pepper on the table. You get the picture. But they did still seem to have food. We reached SBA about 1 3/4 hours late, looked for Frank but alas, he again missed an opportunity to be among the favored ones who have met us. We arrived in LA at 10:15 pm (due at 9:00) which was excellent for this train. In fact, it was 14 hours late a few days earlier and recent checking notes it is usually arriving about 2:00 am. Because we arrived at a civilized hour our friends picked us up. That was very nice. Sue noted that, even though we were physically in the station, she had just phoned Julie who said we would arrive at 10:39. Guess Julie isn't quite up to the minute.
Our total trip was 5953 miles and we had a ball. We can roll with the punches, food, timeliness, etc. and we really had no big problems that compromised our trip such as missing the CS connection. That would have been a bummer. The difference in food between the EB and the others is considerable and rather sad. I also find it so strange that they run out of things, have no place for the sleeper attendant to sleep and sometimes act like they are in the middle of the ocean instead of near towns, stores, availability of supplies. There is always an air of surprise about Amtrak - "Oh, are you still here", "Gee, we didn't know we would have this many people", "We're out of one third of the dinner entrees". Rather interesting. But we still like it and will encourage others to take the train.
Thanks so much for all your kind remarks about the reports and the pictures. It makes the work putting it together worthwhile. And of course thanks for the up front information that made our trip so good, info about the stations, the towns, where to eat, all that. Thanks Gil and TwinStar for meeting with us, that was great fun.
Fabulous report.....I've been waiting expectantly for the Montana pictures for days.
You know, if I ever just get totally fed up with my career, I think I'd like to move to Montana and drive one of the Jammers for a living!
(Wonder if my wife would go along with that?)
Posted by 20th Century (Member # 2196) on :
Thanks again Vicki. Now welcome home! I again enjoyed the pictures, especially the ones along the California coast to Los Angeles. On my Coast Starlight journey, 1994?, the train was so late that it was getting too dark by the time we arrived in Santa Barbara.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Great report and pics, Vicki. I look forward to joining the elite group of Friends of Vicki and Art (FOVA?) one day soon.
Frank in gorgeous SBA
Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :
Very nice report indeed!
I have been hoping to travel to Essex (from Los Angeles) for some time now. It seems like a perfect rail destination.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Vicki - great pictures again, and another great report!! Thanks a lot!! Your room at the Izaak Walton looks like the room we had on our trip there last year.
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
Completely off topic, but of interest to the most serious railfans on this forum: Today in the St.Paul paper's "Savvy Shopper" column, there is a question on where one can purchase a kilt locally. Very pricey at $150-$600. But if I can ever can work up the money, I can now meet Trainweb members in more appropriate attire.
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
TwinStar - I did rather expect to find you in a kilt or at least with bagpipes when we met. I forgot to note in my reports the immense number of ponies we saw throughout North Dakota and Montana and all of them had baby ponies. Of course the cows, deer and ducks all had babies too. And so did the passengers. I was pleased to see the number of children on the train, often with their grandparents. Perhaps there will be a new generation of train riders.
Posted by box283 (Member # 5546) on :
That nature photography is breathtaking...kudos, and thanks for sharing!
Posted by John Hull (Member # 4465) on :
Vicki, I've really enjoyed your trip reports and the great selection of pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us. It makes me even more determined to come over and travel on the EB and CS. John
Posted by Mike Smith (Member # 447) on :
Very nice 3 part trip report.
I enjoyed reading it and seeing all of your pictures.