We were still in Nevada and as the sun came up, we were seated for breakfast with an elderly man originally from Germany who was going home to Lake Tahoe. Becky decided to call him Fritz, after the boy in Sound of Music (go figure.) Our conversation with Fritz was awesome. We talked about politics and the anti-intellectualism that is so rampant these days. He talked about his days when he was a law student at Georgetown and his subsequent law career in Chicago.
We then bummed around the sightseer lounge for some more Nevada desert scenery and just before lunch we crossed the border into California and into the Sierra Nevadas.
Nevada Scenery
The Donner Lake area was GORGEOUS!! We saw drops of 2000 feet and pine forests for miles.
Donner Lake hidden behind the pine forests in the Sierra Nevadas
We had lunch with a mother and son going home to Oakland after living in Missouri for 5 years.
A guy going home to Martinez, CA, who we called Martinez (duh) told us what to look out for as the train went slowly through eastern California. He had done this trip many times before and was returning home after hunting deer in the Rockies with some friends.
Curators from the train museum in Sacramento were on the train explaining the scenery on the PA system. They talked about the California Gold Rush and the small towns that sprang up around the Sierra Nevadas.
We spent the afternoon talking to a Canadian guy we met in Colorado. He is a truck driver based in Vancouver who hauled a load to Granby, CO with another driver based in Granby. When he got there, the other driver fired him on the spot, gave him $500 and told him to take a train home. He was supposed to haul a load back up to Vancouver but got fired and was now on the train with us going to Sacramento to change to the Coast Starlight to Seattle and then the Cascades to Vancouver.
As we approached Sacramento, the terrain became relatively flat and then the train went through the fields and fields and just before Martinez we saw the Bay. After stopping in Martinez for a bit the train went around the Bay and, since the tracks were right next to the water, it felt like we were on a cruise.
By now the train was almost empty and all the passengers were in their rooms packing up. Dining Car Donna was sitting in a corner all smiles, relieved that the trip was over. She told me that they had one night in Emeryville and then they had to turn around and go back to Chicago!! No wonder they were not always in a good mood.
We pulled into Emeryville, CA on time at the end of the line. We had just been on a train from sea to shining sea and now had to take an Amtrak bus across the bay into Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
Becky gets down from the train after 3 days!!
The California Zephyr in Emeryville, CA--The End of the Line.
Donner Lake hidden behind the pine forests in the Sierra Nevadas
A guy going home to Martinez, CA, who we called Martinez (duh) told us what to look out for as the train went slowly through eastern California. He had done this trip many times before and was returning home after hunting deer in the Rockies with some friends.
Curators from the train museum in Sacramento were on the train explaining the scenery on the PA system. They talked about the California Gold Rush and the small towns that sprang up around the Sierra Nevadas.
We spent the afternoon talking to a Canadian guy we met in Colorado. He is a truck driver based in Vancouver who hauled a load to Granby, CO with another driver based in Granby. When he got there, the other driver fired him on the spot, gave him $500 and told him to take a train home. He was supposed to haul a load back up to Vancouver but got fired and was now on the train with us going to Sacramento to change to the Coast Starlight to Seattle and then the Cascades to Vancouver.
As we approached Sacramento, the terrain became relatively flat and then the train went through the fields and fields and just before Martinez we saw the Bay. After stopping in Martinez for a bit the train went around the Bay and, since the tracks were right next to the water, it felt like we were on a cruise.
By now the train was almost empty and all the passengers were in their rooms packing up. Dining Car Donna was sitting in a corner all smiles, relieved that the trip was over. She told me that they had one night in Emeryville and then they had to turn around and go back to Chicago!! No wonder they were not always in a good mood.
We pulled into Emeryville, CA on time at the end of the line. We had just been on a train from sea to shining sea and now had to take an Amtrak bus across the bay into Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
Becky gets down from the train after 3 days!!
The California Zephyr in Emeryville, CA--The End of the Line.
Et, NOTRE VOYAGE FINIS!!! We had just come 3219 miles by train from Washington, D.C. to Emeryville, CA.
Benny and Bjorn, ACLU guy, Willow Rain and us piled into the Amtrak bus and as we rode across the bay we saw the fog rolling in over the Golden Gate Bridge! Wowwww. :-)
Having travled to 5 continents and 15 countries this was one of the best trips I've ever taken. I think what made it great were the people we met on the train. So many different people and characters with such interesting life stories.
After we got off the bus at Fisherman's Wharf, we said bye to Benny and Bjorn and ACLU guy and hopped in a cab to the B&B, Noe's Nest.
As we walked in we were confronted with Victorian Halloween decorations straight out of the Adams' Family! We check into the View Room, which had a huge picture window overlooking Noe Valley and the Mission.
Up the next morning, I looked out onto San Francisco.
View from the View Room at Noe's Nest
Benny and Bjorn, ACLU guy, Willow Rain and us piled into the Amtrak bus and as we rode across the bay we saw the fog rolling in over the Golden Gate Bridge! Wowwww. :-)
Having travled to 5 continents and 15 countries this was one of the best trips I've ever taken. I think what made it great were the people we met on the train. So many different people and characters with such interesting life stories.
After we got off the bus at Fisherman's Wharf, we said bye to Benny and Bjorn and ACLU guy and hopped in a cab to the B&B, Noe's Nest.
As we walked in we were confronted with Victorian Halloween decorations straight out of the Adams' Family! We check into the View Room, which had a huge picture window overlooking Noe Valley and the Mission.
Up the next morning, I looked out onto San Francisco.
View from the View Room at Noe's Nest
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