The Coast Starlight Train - We Begin in Sacramento.

I started my vacation by flying to Sacramento with my daughter-in-law, where we met my train pal that went with me last summer.  We stayed at the Vagabond Inn Downtown which turned out to be perfect for us.  It was only a hop, skip, and a another hop through the under pass to Sacramento Old Town!  Which was a lot of fun!  And only another hop, skip over to the old Union Station where we would board our train.  Knowing that we would want to spend some time exploring Old Town Sacramento we gave ourselves a full day to do that.  The Vagabond Inn's location is so convenient if you are taking the train, it is an older style motel, but it's clean, the price is right, and the free breakfast was varied and certainly filled us up.  The Daughter-in-Law and Train Pal used their hot tub at the pool that evening but since it was in the low 60's I thought it was a tad cool for that!  But they enjoyed it.

 

You felt like you just stepped back into time except for the cars.  One could get a good feel for the way Sacramento must have been during the Gold Rush days.  It was similar to being a Hobbit coming out of his hole because after we walked through the pedestrian pass-way under the interstate you were IN old Town.  Magical!

 

This building on the right contained the Wells Fargo Museum and the Welcome Center to Old Town.  Both worthy of a stop!

 

Most of the buildings had quaint shops on the ground floor and boardwalk sidewalks.  I don't know what the upper floors were on most.  We ate supper at a Mexican restaurant on Saturday evening that was on the 2nd floor of one of the building.  Another interesting thing we learned was that when it was first founded, Sacramento would flood very badly every year.  Not to be deterred, the city founders simply raised all the buildings, including the capitol building, 15 feet and put fill in under them! Quite the engineering feat today but this was well over 100 years ago and done with real horse power.  Amazing!  A few of the buildings (probably some of the last ones raised) had left their ground levels the same with a lower 'courtyard' effect and then built on more stories.  At first that puzzled us until we found out the whole story.

 

Sunday morning we went to the California Train Museum located in one corner on the Sacramento River in Old Town.  They say it is one of the premier train museums in the United States and after spending all morning here, I do believe it!  Don't miss it if you are in Sacramento.  And don't miss Old Town either!

 

There were wonderful displays of all sorts of early locomotives, including some Diesels.

 

A Victorian Passenger Coach.  Isn't it beautiful!

 

They had an old sleeper couch from the 1940's with the old style pull down upper berths, and it moved and clacked as you walked through it.  Very Realistic.  This kitchen was in another coach, the dining coach and the man is a really a mannequin.  They had a the different tables in the dining area set with a variety of samples of the different china they used to use on the various lines.

 

Did you know that trains carried our mail right up to the 1970's?  They sorted the mail in the couches and this was a docent who was explaining how they did this to my Train Pal.  I do remember when they elminated the "Air Mail" Class of postage.  Apparently that was when they quit using the rails to move the mail.  From thence on, it was ALL Airmail.

 

A display of several rail cars.  One Mr and Mrs. Ronald Reagan had dined in when he was President.  It was then the private home on the rails for a couple of wealthy people for a number of years.  Very Rich paneling and amenities.  They had tried to furbish it like the old President of the South Pacific had furbished his private rail car.  I believe maybe that was Stanford?

The Capitol Corridor and Amtrak Thru-Way Motor Coach

The Class Reunion was a blast.  I had not seen a lot of those people in forty years!  Glad I went and hope we do it again sooner than forty years! Now back to the trip to California...........................

 

Flowers Blooming at Quincy, California

Now back to my trip.  After we de-trained (is there such a word?) in Colfax, California, my traveling buddy and I spent a few days visiting dear friends and their Morgan horses in that neck of the woods.  I won't bore you with that part of the trip or post pictures of all the horses (I know, the Morgan people are gnashing their teeth right about now and rending their clothing)..

Then she and I got on the Amtrak Thruway Motor Coach to catch the Capitol Corridor in Sacramento.  We got on the bus in Auburn, California and I had the distinct displeasure of trying to print my tickets while the bus driver was impatiently waiting for me.  Why? Because I had stupidly misread the time we were suppose to leave and we almost missed the bus! YIKES.  But all is well that ends well I guess.  A miss is as good as a mile.

And in case you were wondering, the QUIKTRAK ticket thing-a-ma-bob is NOT quick when it is printing nine gazillion boarding tickets for two people and the Amtrak bus driver is checking her watch every 1 millionth of a second.   Oh, now that WAS stress.

 We got off the Bus and onto the Capitol Corridor train at the Sacramento Station.

I noticed a lot of Amish were on both trains we took.  Apparently trains are faster than horses.

On this leg of the trip, I found it difficult to switch from the bus to the train. Getting on the right bus was very easy as all of the buses were marked with lighted signs on the front which rotated the stops they were going to. NONE of the trains were marked and almost every single passenger that got on was worried they were getting on the wrong train. The conductors had to keep repeating the train's destination over and over and over. It seemed to me a sign like the buses had was warranted and would have made it much simpler. 

View of the Hills East of Sacramento taken from the Capitol Corridor Train

One of the ladies on the train said she rode this train almost every week and it had only been a few weeks earlier that the hills had been very green and then bam! they dried out very quickly.

 

Wetlands near Martinez.  Do you see the Egret?

At Martinez, we changed from the Capitol Corridor train back to the Amtrak Thruway Bus to head north to Garberville, which is near the Humbolt State Redwood Park.

Harbor at Martinez from the Bus

The Rust Bucket Fleet in Martinez Harbor

The 'Rust Bucket Fleet' was interesting.  It is scrapped naval vessels that are warehoused in the harbor.  They said they will need to do something to get rid of them as they were leaking and polluting the water.

 

Hills Heading North

 

Valley from Bus with fog as night nears.  Did you know that Redwood trees get their moisture not from the ground but from fog?  They only grow in a 45 by 250 mile swath along the coast of California. 

  

Almost dark as we near Garberville.

My friend lives near Garberville and that was Home-Base so to speak for the next few days.  A wonderful place to have Home-Base!  I really enjoyed her hospitality immensely.  And it was sure nice to snuggle into a bed after our arrival that evening.  A long day traveling!

Next Blog - the Redwoods, Ferndale, and  a wonderful car ride down the Coast.

How am I doing?  Still enjoying the Armchair Trip?