After a wonderful trip to International Quilt Market in Portland OR, I took an absolutely fabulous 2 week vacation to Seattle and Alaska. It was eye-popping every step of the way, including the unique trip to Seattle from Portland.
After arranging for a rental car to drive to Seattle and having increased fees added to my reservation on an almost daily basis, I decided to chunk the rental car reservation and take the Amtrak. Let me tell you, it was a great idea – not only did it cost much, much less, it was a pleasant, scenic ride without the stress of driving and none of the hassle of going through an airport. There was so much room, as you can see in the picture I took, plus dining and lounge cars.
Actually, this is business class. It only cost $13 more to upgrade and since I was already saving a bundle of money, I splurged! I really hope Congress passes bills to increase Amtrak’s funding so that we can have high speed trains like those in Europe. I love traveling by train and want to be able to travel this way in the U.S.
Just imagine – getting to the train station 45 minutes before departure, checking oodles of luggage with no extra fees and boarding with no hassles. And once on the train, you will have plenty of seat and leg room plus you can walk around and go to the dining and lounge cars to sit, talk, eat, read or have a drink. Oh, did I mention that there are bathrooms in each car – such convenience!
Once I returned home, I checked on the Amtrak schedules in this part of the country and they are very inconvenient for any trips I will be taking. So I will have to continue to use my car for short trips and fly on the longer ones. I look forward to the day when I can just hop on a train to go somewhere.
I too love to travel by train when I can. It is so much more relaxing and there’s nothing quite like curling up in those big seats with a good book and looking out the window from time-to-time at the scenery!
When I was little, my grandmother took me to a glass factory in Seattle, I wonder if it’s the same one but with new looks and designs? How long has the factory been in existence? Seattle is a fabulous town! Glad you got to take a break you work too hard 🙂
The glassblowing studio is on 5th AV (or ST) close to downtown. The buildings are all old along that strip so it could possibly be the same one.