In Shadows

As I stated earlier, my wife and I went of vacation. Had a blast. Here's a short update.

Flew out to Orange County on a Friday. Got there to discover the wife's suitcase was hanging open because of a 'faulty zipper.' Doesn't matter that security left their card inside to say they'd gone through it. Doesn't matter that the EXTERIOR zipper mechanism was missing altogether. Doesn't matter that one of the feet on the base was hanging by a half of a rivet. No. The entire thing was 'a faulty zipper.'

Saturday we surprised the hel out of my friend, Shawn. Told her we were going to Mexico, but went to Sea World instead. (She's a not-so-closeted seal freak.) Fed seals, watched some shows and got drowned by Shamu. Sunday we were at Disneyland where our friends bought us REALLY appropriate gifts . . . baseball caps. Mine has Grumpy on it. My wife's has Stitch and the words 'Here Comes Trouble.' (And, man, did THAT one turn a lot of heads on the train!)

Sunday night we hit Amtrak in LA. Didn't leave the station until 12:30am - 2 hours late. Went through Arizona, New Mexico, a whole day's worth of Texas (Yes, Jean! I waved!) and then into Louisiana. We were due in New Orleans at 8:30pm on Tuesday, but we got our very first lesson on what to expect from Amtrak . . . We arrived at 4:30am on Wednesday. *sigh*

Got a nap before breakfast (thank the gods we paid for the hotel in full through Priceline! They couldn't sell our room even though we officially arrived a day late!) and went to our first tour. Oak Alley and River Road Plantations. Really cool stuff, especially the Laura Plantation, which is Creole. I've now got story fodder for a rich young Creole plantation owner and her slave . . . *wiggles eyebrows*

The next day we did two more tours - Cemetery #1 just outside the French Quarter, and the Southern Comfort tour. Both were really informative for various reasons. Got lots of pics, too! On the last day, we had the worst food we'd had the entire time we were in New Orleans on the Natchez Riverboat tour. Seeing the Mississippi was fun, but I won't eat there again. Blech. That evening we went on a haunted history walking tour.

(FEATH! I got pictures of ORBS!!) Got two pics of orbs which may or may not be ghosts. And there's one pic that might be an ghostly image forming, but I could be biased.

Caught Amtrak for a trip up to DC. Expected to be late, but actually arrived on time on Sunday morning! We had a six hour layover before our next train out, so we stepped outside with the intent of taking a walk. Lo and Behold! There's an Old Trolley Tour bus that stops at Union Station! So we paid our fee and went for a ride! Got to see a lot of DC, stopped at the Lincoln Memorial for lunch, hit the Smithsonian Air & Space museum for a piddly hour, and got back in time for the next leg of our journey.

Needless to say, being on time to DC was a fluke. Our four hour layover in Chicago was lost, and we spent an hour in the Chicago train yard before finally pulling to the platform so we could disembark. They held our connection, which officially started an hour late. Fortunately, we didn't add much time to that delay. We got home to Portland about an hour and a half behind schedule.

After getting home and reminding the cats who actually pays the bills here . . . my wife called Amtrak the following day to complain about the delays. (Which isn't to say the trip sucked. The people we dealt with on the trains were fantastic!) In next to no time, we had a $400 credit that we can use within the year. We're thinking about the Grand Canyon during spring break next year.

Such is how Redhawk Rail Trip 2004 went.

Now I return to work tomorrow. *sigh*