She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

Well, for Christmas we are here in California. But, the interesting thing is how we got here! How, you may ask, did you get to California? By the train of course!

Over the summer I took the train so I could go to a friend's wedding for a weekend. While it gave us some problems (it was delayed about 12 hours because of flooding of tracks out east), the fact that it is so much cheaper (about half the price of plane tickets), so much more comfier than the plane or car, and safer than driving made it totally worth it to come out on for our little Christmas vacation.

So our train left Tuesday night, supposedly at 9:30 (we expected at least a little delay). Well, our train was stuck somewhere (we later found out due to rock slides), so a bus picked up the stops in Colorado and Utah and we were to get on at Salt Lake on an alternate train... So Amtrak told us the bus was about an hour late, so we left at 10:00 thinking that we would be early for the bus which should arrive at 10:30. Not so! The bus was in fact pulling way from the train station as we pulled up. My mother honked and drove next to it and the bus driver (thank GOODNESS he was nice) stopped for us.

So, we were safely on the bus and made our way up to Salt Lake. Once there, we waited until about 12:30 for the train to get there, and by 1:30 everyone was on and the train was moving! Yay!

After a night of tossing and turning, but still a lot of sleep, we woke up and Jed went into the Lounge Car. As you may or may not know, there are the sleeper cars (which you pay extra for), the coach cars, which have seats just like buses/airplanes but sooo much roomier, the lounge car, which has tables and booths and chairs, all facing huge windows, and last there is the dining car. Here is the lounge car:



So the day was uneventful, all except for an hour waiting outside of Truckee because of a traffic jam. But here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful Sierra Mountains and Donner Lake:





So, Jed and I both agree, the train is a great way to travel! Great, that is, if you have the time and flexibility if it's late.

But, the important thing is we are here safe and sound and happy to be in California with our family!

P.S. I will still miss my family on Christmas :( But yay for my new family!