I went on a trip this weekend
Oct. 28th, 2025 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glowingfishI went on a trip this weekend! Since it is Tuesday, I should probably catch people up that, since it started...last Thursday.
I took the train from Spokane to Seattle, a distance of about 300 miles (500 kilometers). Although actually I went to Edmonds, which is north of Seattle. The train leaves here at 3 AM! So I left the house at around 10 PM, got to the train station, and waited for four hours. Slept on the train for a few hours, woke up the next morning in Edmonds, spent a few hours there, and took a ferry across the Puget Sound (this is about a half hour ferry ride). I spent the night on the other side of the Puget Sound, in Poulsbo, and then next morning I took a ferry back across the Puget Sound, and after a small amount of time in Seattle proper, I got on a train going back home.
So that was a little more than 48 hours from the time I left my front door to the time I entered my front door. Or, a little less than 48 hours from boarding to deboarding.
I basically wanted to do something big, I hadn't traveled for a while. So I put together this itinerary to see as much as possible for cheap. I like traveling like this. Boarding a train at 3 AM is fun!
The only thing is, I didn't see anything totally new---everywhere I went was a place I had been before, although in some cases, not for 30 years!
I took the train from Spokane to Seattle, a distance of about 300 miles (500 kilometers). Although actually I went to Edmonds, which is north of Seattle. The train leaves here at 3 AM! So I left the house at around 10 PM, got to the train station, and waited for four hours. Slept on the train for a few hours, woke up the next morning in Edmonds, spent a few hours there, and took a ferry across the Puget Sound (this is about a half hour ferry ride). I spent the night on the other side of the Puget Sound, in Poulsbo, and then next morning I took a ferry back across the Puget Sound, and after a small amount of time in Seattle proper, I got on a train going back home.
So that was a little more than 48 hours from the time I left my front door to the time I entered my front door. Or, a little less than 48 hours from boarding to deboarding.
I basically wanted to do something big, I hadn't traveled for a while. So I put together this itinerary to see as much as possible for cheap. I like traveling like this. Boarding a train at 3 AM is fun!
The only thing is, I didn't see anything totally new---everywhere I went was a place I had been before, although in some cases, not for 30 years!
no subject
Date: 2025-11-05 09:11 pm (UTC)Not so sure I'd like it now. I wish there was a much more usable train network. As a young child, we were still able to ride passenger trains on the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe.
But I still live in a town where you can hear the train whistles blowing, as Malvina Reynolds would say.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-06 08:06 am (UTC)The policy is that Amtrak gets priority...when on schedule. If they fall behind schedule for any reason, they lose that priority. That is how I understand it, at least.
Of the Amtrak long distance network, I have only been on two (Empire Builder and Coast Starlight) more than once or twice. I hope I get to ride them again in the future.