Lori's Travels

My trip to Tucson and Galveston for birdwatching started out with a new experience for me: an overnight journey by train. Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train from Seattle to Los Angeles departed at 9:45 a.m. on Monday, March 28, with me aboard. After a bus ride with luggage from Issaquah to the train station, I boarded the train and was greeted by my train car’s attendant, Cindy. She directed me upstairs to roomette 2 on the left (eastern) side of the car, where I settled in.

Cindy provided me with all the informed I needed as a first time overnighter on Amtrak and was friendly and talkative. During the 35-hour ride, she supplied me with bottled water whenever I ran low, got my bed ready at night and put it away in the morning, and was fun to talk with.

I had 5 meals in the dining car, just one car away from mine. Unfortunately, due to COVID protocols, everyone could eat only with their own family/party, so I dined alone. It also meant eating on plastic dishes with plastic utensils. Passengers could choose whether to be served in their room or in the dining car, and many chose their rooms, so the dining car was never very full. The food was good, with some decadent desserts including a wonderful flourless chocolate torte, and even free alcoholic beverages. Sitting in the dining and lounge cars gave me the opportunity to see the view on the other side of the train from my roomette.

The first day in Washington and Oregon was cloudy and showery. The train was in southern Oregon when I went to bed Monday night, stopping in Klamath Falls as I tried to fall asleep. Although the motion of the train was comfortable rocking, I found it difficult to sleep with the various noises of passing freight trains and the hard bed. I finally drifted off, getting a few hours of solid sleep.

When I woke up Tuesday morning, we were in California and it was sunny through some fog. The sun continued as we passed through Sacramento, Gilroy, Salinas, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, and then along the coast. My roomette wasn’t on the ocean side of the train, but as I ate and early dinner at 5:00 in the dining car, I enjoyed the view of the coast.

The train arrived in Los Angeles about 8:45 p.m., the last stop on the route. I “detrained” and found my way to the front of Union Station, where I summoned an Uber ride for the 5-minute drive to my hotel, the Doubletree on South Los Angeles Street. My 10th floor room gave me a view over the city. I was happy to have a more comfortable bed than on the train and fell asleep quickly.

I’m looking forward to traveling again after staying home for two long pandemic years! I’m making sure my blog skills and tools are up to date and hoping that 2022 brings new travel adventures.

Last week, Linda and I traveled to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery for a 3-day getaway. We left early and caught the 7:55 ferry to Bainbridge Island. Then we drove through Poulsbo and Port Angeles, nearly 3 1/2 hours, to reach the Bullman Beach Inn between Sekiu and Neah Bay. The motel is right on the beach of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and we have a room with a view of the beach and a kitchen. The kitchen is important because we brought our own food for all three meals a day.

After unpacking the car, we made sandwiches for lunch. Then we were off to hike to Cape Flattery. Along the way, we stopped at the Makah Museum to purchase the needed recreational permit for the hike. Although it had been off-and-on rainy for the whole day, during our hike on the 3/4-mile trail to Cape Flattery it was dry and relatively warm. And while we were at the cape, it was even a little sunny. But as we returned to the car, it started to rain and got us somewhat wet, and it rained for most of the drive back.

Here are some photos from the hike.

Upon our return to the motel, we did some birdwatching from the deck of our room to the beach. Then we enjoyed some wine, cheese and crackers, and finally roast chicken prepared by PCC and green beans from Linda’s garden for dinner.

 

 This morning, it was another sunny day. According to news articles, high temperature records had been set in several cities in the Bay Area yesterday due to some high pressure and warm air perched over the area from Arizona. The warm weather continued today.

After our free hotel breakfast, we drove to the Fisherman’s Wharf area. Once parked, we first explored Pier 39 on foot, seeing all of the tourist shops and restaurants along the pier and stopping at the end to enjoy the view and the sea lions that hang out there. We even saw a baby sea lion hauled out on the docks with others.

Gary had booked tickets for a 90 minute boat tour leaving at 12:30, so we walked around and enjoyed some cold smoothies before getting in line for the tour.

The boat was a new hybrid-electric sightseeing ship built in Washington State a year earlier. As we boarded, we were given audio narration radios and headphones. We went upstairs to sit on the top deck in the sunshine.

After the cruise ended about 2 pm, we walked to Fisherman’s Wharf immediately next door and ate lunch at Alioto’s. Since none of the other tourist attractions at the wharf interested us, we headed back to the hotel. Along the way, we saw the crooked Lombard Street and went up and down several steep streets like the kind seen in movie car chase scenes. We arrived back at the hotel about 4 pm and it was quite warm by then.

Today we left the Monterey Peninsula and went north to see the redwood trees. We drove to Big Basin State Park, north of Santa Cruz. It’s somewhat elevated, maybe above 1000 feet, but is inland and quite a lot warmer than Monterey. It was more than 85 degrees when we reached the park and ate our picnic lunch among the redwoods.

After lunch, we went on a 3/4 mile loop trail to see two of the largest trees in the park. And I wanted to see a woodpecker that is rare in Washington but common here, the Acorn Woodpecker. I ended up seeing and hearing quite a few of the birds, high above us in the redwoods.

 After finishing our walk through the redwood forest, we drove to our hotel near San Francisco airport. We checked in to the Embassy Suites, rested for a bit, then drove to the city’s Baker Beach, which has a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 Then we drove over the bridge and viewed it again from the Marin Headlands. 

We finished off the day with dinner at a seafood restaurant in Sausalito.