AAPRCO Trip 2014 - Day 3: Sunday, September 21

We all slept pretty well though we could hear a lot of partiers and reving motorcycles on the streets below after the bars closed. Had a yummy Holiday Inn Express Cinnamon roll and omelet. 

We then headed across the street to the North Station to depart on tha Amtrak Down Easter to Portland, Maine at 9 am. Here is Debbie loading her suitcase. Yippie they have AmtrakConnect wifi on the train!

On the way to Portland we passed lots of large abandoned manufacturing buildings ripe for redevelopment. You can see how these closings impact our employment and productivity.  

We passed over some rivers. 

We passed a seaside resort Old Orchard Beach. 

And by lots of trees turning colors and right before Portland a beautiful open wetland area. 

My friend and former classmate from Sandhills High School, Scott Benson, met us at the station, took us to the Westin which was the old Eastland Hotel sign seen here. It has been refurbished into a nice luxury hotel in the historic district of downtown Portland.

We at lunch at Gilbert's Chowder House on the docks. 

Then walked around and went to Bull Feeney's Irish Bar. He opened his first saloon in 1854 behind a grocery store. These bars became gathering places for new immigrants, get registered to vote. Selling illegal liquor during Prohibition allowed many to rise out of poverty.  We heard Irish music by Scott's Irish flute instructor. Scott's wife, Beth, plays fiddle in an Irish Fiddle orchestra called Fiddilicious. 

Then we took the ferry to Peaks Island where my sister Deb lived. 

I got to visit here there in October 1985 for a month so was trying to find the house. We didn't but think it might be this one that has a turret in the distance. 

We then returned to Portland and Scott showed us his office at SMRT an architectural firm he has been with since 1986.  They employ about 75 people and their offices are down by the water.

Scott's Office:

The office and library of architectural drawings:

The Scott drove us around the Mon? historic district which overlooks the water and has a lot of nicely restored homes.  Scott has served on the Historic Preservation board.  Here are a few of the beauties:

Then we went to South Portland to the Portland Head Light.  Longfellow walked out here to visit the light house keeper and wrote a poem about it.  Debbie has a stained glass replica of the lighthouse so we took a picture of her and Mark with the lighthouse.  Unfortunately.  It was VERY foggy so we didn't have much of a view. Here are some photos from that stop:

We finished the night by stopping at Scott & his wife, Beth Gallie's home in South Portland for wine and snacks.  What a neat house-- built at the turn of the century, lots of woodwork still in tact, spindle work, and mission style furniture.

And then Scott treated us to dinner at the Salt Water Grill on the water in South Portland.  They then took us back to the hotel via the area where the AAPRCO private cars were parked.

AAPRCO Trip 2014 - Day 2: Saturday - September 21

This morning got up for 7:30 breakfast in the dining car on the Lake Shore Limited. 

We were going through Cleveland so Rick showed us approximately where the New Your Central Collinwood shops were located while enjoying a second cup of coffee. That is where he got our N & W Pullman, Buchanan County. 

Passed through PA to NY and alongside some tree nurseries and vineyards. 

Buffalo, NY had their huge old train station just waiting for rehab. 

Here at their Amtrak station they used the handicap lift. There are a lot of what I think are Amish who ride the trains, one, the fellow in the blue and white hat, stands to the side. 

Rochester had the big Kodak building, just barely caught in this picture. 

Amtrak staff are very helpful. David Martinez is the steward for our sleeping car. He will be serving us supper tonight in the Cafe car since the dining car got split off in Albany to continue on to NYC. 

Mr. J. Zelligerl was our dining car waiter for breakfast and lunch. 

We had brats, chicken, angus burgers, and a variety of desserts. 

In Schenectady had the huge General Electric plant still in production.   

Debbie checks over our route options for our Maine and New Brunswick and International Park at Campobello Island where FDR had a summer home. We had been along the Erie canel but outside the window is the Mohawk River. 

Albany was a fuel stop which also meant a nicotine stop for the smokers. They have a new Amtrak station. Rick and Mark check it out while the train is refueled, cars rearranged, and a new engineer takes over. 

With the dining car going to NYC they used the Cafe car and our sleeping car steward served us supper there. We also discovered it had free wifi!

Our train is 2 hours 45 minutes behind schedule. 

We arrived at the Boston South Station about 10:30. Last time I was here in 2006 it was covered totally in Apple banners. This time Heineken. 

Took a "livery" taxi to the Holiday Inn Express near the North Station and Boston Gardens at 280 Friend St.  There were some very popular night spots with long waiting lines next to our hotel. This is the view at the end of Friend St. 

We checked in adn a couple on the elevater had a Mike's Pastry box. I remembered that place from last time, too. We raced down to 300 Hanover St but they had just closed at 11:30 pm but you can see they have a wonderful aray of Italian pastries. This place is full of people waiting in lines on the evenings. 

So we walked back to the Guglielmo Modern Pastry at 270 Hanover and had shared carrot cake and rum soaked sponge cake. 

They have been in business since 1947. They also sell Pizza, Calzones, and Arancini- which means "little orange" in Sicilian. It is a small stuffed with rice, cheese, tomato sauce, etc. and breaded deep fat fried ball. We haven't seen these in Omaha and we have a lot of Sicilians there!

Walking back we saw a sign to get to Paul Revere's house. 

 The night ended with us sharing a very expensive room but all slept petty well. 

AAPRCO Trip 2014 - Day 1: Friday, September 19

We are excited to be going to the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners annual convention in Portland, Maine. I worked late last night and had a lot to get done at home before leaving. Since we were meeting our friends Mark and Debbie Wolff at 4:30 am I decided to just forget about going to sleep.  I finished cleaning the house for the cat sitter and watched the reruns of the Roosevelt's Ken Burns episode from earlier that night. Got Rick up at 3:30 am. Omaha to Chicago on the California Zypher went by lots and lots of wind farms through Iowa and Illinois. Was a beautiful day. It did turn sunny. We sat in the observation car or in our coach seats throughout the day.

Ate an early breakfast in the dining car and had a 2 hour nap in coach. Got 3 extra pieces of bacon as a side for $4. They weren't as big as I thought they'd be but still a good breakfast. Here we are at Breakfast on the California Zephyr.  Each Amtrak train features it's own special meals --but Railroad French Toast is pretty standard on all.

A lot of the restrooms were out of order and one of the car attendants said they were short on staff. Arrived in Chicago about 4 pm about 1 hour late. Walked to Miller's Pub on Wabash St for supper. Yummy food. It was right by the L. 

Walked back by the Harold Washington Library which was closed. They have a You Media digital space for teens with lots of great programs that were advertised in the window. 

Got windy! Sat outside for awhile and I got scammed by a guy selling me a freebie newspaper for $2. I was thinking it was to support the homeless like the Heartland voice does in Omaha so wanted a paper to take back to the publisher. This always happens-they see me coming. Returned to Chicago Union Station to sit in Metropolitan Sleeper Car Lounge for free drinks and chips and worked on posting some pics to Blaine County Pinterest board since I had free wifi. Boarded Lake Shore Limited for Boston. When Rick and I took this to Buffalo for our honeymoon in 2007 they has a wine and cheese party for the sleeping car riders. That has been eliminated. We sat on track waiting for Empire Builder from Seattle which was late to arrive with their connecting passengers. The Empire Builder was almost 6 hours late. We left about 10:15 pm, stopped, and by 11 pm finally pulling out. Debbie and Mark had brought their own wine and cheese to share with us so we should sleep well! Here is Rick in our roommette, drop down sink on the left with toilet underneath. The upper berth will slide down to just above his head.   There is a communal shower down the hall as well as juice, ice and coffee in the morning. We have been going down to the coaches to use their restrooms.

This is how our sleeping car attendant, David, turned our roommette from sitting room to sleeping room.  You can still sit on the upper and lower berths with no problem. 

Rick will be looking out the window & listening to the railroad scanner radio so he will know what they are discussing and keep us apprised on why the delays!

AAPRCO Trip - Day 6, Chattanooga, TN - Thursday, September 27

AAPRCO Trip-Day 6, Chattanooga, TN - Thursday, September 27

Bob Willetts, the door knob fairy, came to the Dearing early this morning.  Our door into the Deering from the Berlin first had no door knob and we put our fingers in the holes to open it.  Then we got a plastic electrical tie to pull on for a couple of days.  Having a knob this morning was really nice!  AAPRCO meetings started today.  Talked to Bob Owens from Omaha about his Suits Me car and his proposed facility to house cars.  Also, Mike Anderson from the Northern Sky who battled a flesh eating bacteria on his leg since February but is recovering.  Mark and Debbie and Rick and I walked over to the Urban Stack hamburger joint which served locally sourced foods-they had just started serving Lucky Bucket beer from LaVista, Nebraska.  I had a New Mexico Green Chili Burger and Rick a Hercules which was made with Lamb.  Debbie and I took the electric shuttle to the south side of the Tennessee River and then another one to the north side of the Tennessee River to go shopping.  Went to a tie dye place and couldn't find a single thing I wanted to buy.  There were a lot of little shops, used book store with funky art and jewelry, a hand crafted jewelry place with everything under lock and key with no prices, and a Go Fish store where I bought a bracelet for Lyn back at work.  Took a partial walk across the walkway across the river to take a picture, then caught the bus back.  I found my lost camera beside my bed - it had slipped down while I was taking a nap yesterday.  VERY glad to find it.  First car party was tonight starting with drinks on the Puget Sound and ending up with desserts on the City of Spokane. Talked to Dave and Judy Rohr from California.  She is a retired librarian - they just learned that they had a flood in their house but their daughter is home to deal with the damage.  They had just renovated their home this summer and they had a bathroom sink pipe break.  Came back to the Deering and they had a surprise birthday cake for Debbie's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Debbie!  She told a joke about where jewelry comes from.  Nelson reminded her of that line ---the one she always crosses!