Short Trip Thoughts: The Coach Seat Vs. a Room

Back in October, we booked a trip to Flagstaff, Arizona in The Southwest Chief’s coach car. Being we were not seeing anyone for that trip, I felt it was safe enough for us to just mask on the train, and sleep with others. We did bring COVID-19 tests with us, on the off chance that we started showing symptoms of a respiratory virus. Thankfully, we had no reason to test, we enjoyed Flagstaff, The Grand Canyon, and the train trip itself, with no problems.

Fast forward to January. We have booked a journey to Tucson, Arizona and intend to visit some lovely parks and museums there, before driving to Phoenix, Arizona to visit with longtime friends. We care about them (there are 9 of them, from teens, up to our age) and so our train booking ended up being in a roomette this time. It costs more than the coach car, but we will be away from the other passengers and that will hopefully keep us safe from one of the respiratory viruses going around this winter.

The thing that sold me on booking the roomette, was its inexpensive price at this time of year, and the shortness of the trip. I believe we will actually get breakfast before de-training at Tucson, so that added value to our journey out. Back when we de-trained at Flagstaff at 5AM a few months ago, our breakfast cost upwards of $60, Eating out is very expensive right now, and any chance you have to cut a meal out, is found money. All in all, we are happy with our purchase, and look forward to a short vacation during the winter. We have done our best to make it as safe as we can.

A Trip To Tucson Is Scheduled.

I have been waiting for two things to happen. One, get past the 10th of the month, so that I am in a new billing period.

Two, wait out the bad weather. I had heard that the 20th was going to be better for Los Angeles.

My birthday is on the 25th, so yesterday I booked a trip for us, to Tucson, AZ.

It will only be for 4 days, so that we don't keep Makenna alone for long.

Our hope is that we get to the Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park, while in Tucson and then visit with friends in Phoenix, for a few days.

I actually booked Roomettes both ways this time. We might actually get breakfast before we detrain in Tucson.

School Daze

We put the holiday decorations away and decided to reorganize the closet, a bit.

One of the things we found were boxes of school papers. Two of them, in fact.

So we left them on the bed, to go through and sort.

Amazing things were found along the way and those we kept.

My Husband did not trust me, with the Junior High box and he went through the papers and artwork once again.

He decided to keep a few of them, and so they are now stored in the dresser in the closet. Out of the way, but not gone.

Glad to have a few boxes of room for other things.

The USA Rail Pass Is On Sale Now!

Amtrak has their annual sale of 10 rides for 30 days going on right now. They are only charging $299.00 for it, and compared to what it normally costs, this is quite a bargain. Normally it is $499.00. Here is what Amtrak says on its website:

“This year, don’t wait for travel season to come to you. Right now, you can save $200 on Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass. That’s 10 rides (segments) to or from any of over 500 destinations nationwide for just $299. From town hopping to cross-country adventures, the USA Rail Pass makes travel that much easier — plus, you’ll save too. Don’t miss out on savings — book from January 10-20 to get the USA Rail Pass for just $299. Other terms and conditions apply.”

If you are interested in this offer, Go to Amtrak’s website, for more information, and those most important terms and conditions. https://www.amtrak.com/tickets/departure-rail-pass.html/

I personally don’t ride coach if I can help it, but this deal is incredibly attractive to me. If booking coach, try for the lower level of the coach car and, (of course), wear your mask.

Words to live by.

A Change In The Living Room

I had decided that I would take the photo frames off the credenza and since it was already November, I decided to wait until January to rearrange the room.

Part 2 of the room is that I decided to thin out all the nicknacks I have sitting on every table in the room.

This is what I decided to do. I liked having the Dragon Tree on the credenza and I added 2 spider plants to either side of it.

Hopefully Makenna will leave them alone.

I think it looks a bit fresher and less cluttered.

More Rain And More Coming

First off, Happy 75th Birthday to Mr. Donald Fagen. Woot!

I was hoping to plan a trip to Tucson and Phoenix yesterday, but the NWS kept overriding my phone and TV and I decided to wait until the worst of this storm passed Monday evening and try again on Tuesday.

We have almost an inch of rain at this point, but expect at least 1 more inch by the end of this storm.

The water seems to be leaving our property as best it can and hopefully we can dry out a bit before the next storm hits.

Yep, it's a higher than normal start of the year.

Fill up those lakes, please.

Throgs Neck

My Water Post For Today.

The Throgs Neck area, not far from the bridge itself.

I am still glad my friend told us to meet at the park by the water and I got to take photos that day.

It is always calm water in that area and serene.

I hope you enjoy.

The Canyon Santa Clarita Has Closed

Our local venue for concerts: The Canyon Theater Santa Clarita just announced that it is closing immediately.

Scheduled concerts are now going to be at other venues the owner has.

It ends up that Westfield Valencia Towncenter refuses to fix problems the venue has, like floods, vermin, etc.

I know I am heartbroken about this. I have seen many concerts there and love the fact that I can just drive 3 miles to my house.

Very sad, and another thing you can blame on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Three Kings Day Has Come And Gone

Three Kings Day came and being I was out running errands in the area, I stopped at our local Vallarta Market.

The last time I had purchased a Rosca De Reyes, there was just one variety.

This time there were three choices and I went for the one with guava and cheese in the center of the bread.

What is a Rosca De Reyes, you may ask? "Three Kings' Day occurs on the 6th of January and during Día de Los Reyes, Mexicans serve Rosca de Reyes, or King's Cake. “Rosca” means wreath and “reyes” means kings. The Rosca de Reyes has an oval shape to symbolize a crown and has a small doll inside, which represents baby Jesus.

As you can see in the photo, they gave me 6 baby Jesus dolls to place in the bread. I declined to place any of them into the cake.

I cut it into 2 pieces and will serve the second half later on in the year.

We Were Visited By A Bomb Cyclone

We were sent a bomb cyclone this Thursday.

Lots of rain in the morning and due to that, we stayed away from the gym.

We felt bad, but it was coming down hard, just when we needed to leave.

As you can see, we got over 2 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.

We need it, so this is good.

Train Travel Help Stats For December

I have been trying to bring hits over to my Train Travel Help Blog.

The month of December is just the worst for such things, but by looking at the stats, you can see there was some views on the site.

You can see on this report, where the first post was mentioned on my Facebook page and over on a few groups I belong to, that deal with train travel.

It seems to be 29 views on that first day. Obviously, I have never reached that amount again and I am sure the fact that December is such a busy month is the main reason.

Also, I did not give them too many posts, for that very reason. No one has time to deal with looking at my website.

But all in all, I am pleased with the overall stats.

137 Sessions
91 Total Users
271 Pageviews with people reading the entry within a minute.

I am pleased with this and hope that I can give it another push in the next week, as things come back to normal after the new year holiday.

Cauliflower Cheese

My Son and his girlfriend made a wonderful looking cauliflower dish for Christmas. We asked for the recipe and decided to make it for the New Year. It came out seriously delicious, without much effort.

Cauliflower Cheese

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower (leaves cut off), broken into pieces
3 cups or 500ml milk
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp or 50g butter
8 tbsp or 100g strong cheddar, grated
2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs, if you have them

Method

STEP 1

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, then add 1 large cauliflower, broken into pieces, and cook for 5 mins – lift out a piece to test, it should be cooked.
STEP 2

Drain the cauliflower, then tip into an ovenproof dish. Heat oven to 425 degrees or 220C/200C/gas 7.
STEP 3

Put the saucepan back on the heat and add 500ml milk, 4 tbsp flour and 50g butter.
STEP 4

Keep whisking fast as the butter melts and the mixture comes to the boil – the flour will disappear and the sauce will begin to thicken. Whisk for 2 mins while the sauce bubbles and becomes nice and thick.
STEP 5

Turn off the heat, stir in most of the grated cheddar cheese and pour over the cauliflower. Scatter over the remaining cheese, and 2-3 tbsp breadcrumbs if using.
STEP 6

Put in the oven and bake for 20 mins until bubbling.

Chocolate Chip Pannettone French Toast

With the turn of the new year now in our rearview mirror, I offer a final post regarding things we made this holiday season.

A month ago we bought Chocolate Chip Pannettone (with little ones bought as gifts for our neighbors).

It was under the Christmas tree until the big day.

We ended up using our normal recipe for French Toast.

Being it was chocolate chips instead of dried fruit, it came out sweet, but not too sweet.

It was a nice change for us.

Oh and thanks to Vons for having breakfast sausages for a ridiculously low price of $1.27.

Water And Snow In Skagway

My Water Post For Today.

Don't blame me for this Skagway photo!

It came up in my photo stream from Google Photos, and I went with it.

Even though we have cold weather and rain this week, it brings back memories of the good times we had in Alaska.

Still glad we took that trip.

I hope you enjoy.

The Holiday Flying Disaster

It was a horrid travel season this past December and I wrote about it on my Train Travel Help blog.

People stranded in cities all around the Country, Luggage sent places where people did not end up going to. In total, a week of hell for the poor travelers who did not deserve what they got.

Check it out here. Traintravelhelp.com