Phillips Maine and the Sandy River Narrow Gauge

A donkey engine with cars from the Sandy River Railroad in the background.

At the end of our loop drive one day, we stopped and looked at the Sandy River Narrow Gauge Railroad in Phillips, Maine.  It last ran as an operating railroad during the Great Depression and now runs only as a tourist train.  Sadly, it was closed the day we were there but it was still fun to just look.   Perhaps one day if we go back we can catch it on a day it's running.

One of the tourist open rail cars.  Looks like fun don't you think?

I believe this little green house used to be the railroad's office.  There were several small buildings like this.

This was the track to nowhere as it ends right before the little building.  I have no idea why.

The round table.  This is amazing.  They could turn the locomotive or any of the rail cars on this -- and I don't think it took that much effort either.  I bet a couple of men could have done it easily by just pushing on the car or engine's sides.

The front of the round table - can you see the wheels under the platform that would ride on the single rail to turn the engine or car around?  There was also some sort of handle/brake on the wheel.

Tracks from the roundtable going to the roundhouse on the left.

A caboose that was by the roundhouse.  I bet if your dad was a brakeman or engineer or conductor; you wanted to grow up to be railroad man too!  Especially if he ever took you to work once, you would be hooked!

The Phillips Maine depot

The Depot from the other side.  This car had long green seats down each side, it had been revamped and was not original.

The Sandy River was very rocky and very scenic!!  Just beautiful.

The back end of the one of those long one-unit farmhouses across the Sandy River.

This was on the way back out from the Narrow Gauge Railroad by the road.  If only this house could talk.  I would love to know who built and the story behind this house.  It did not look like it had been modernized or was being lived in currently.  I hope it will be preserved in the future.

Here is a link to the Sandy River Railroad and it's history (and schedule)www.srrl-rr.org/

It was fun to see and I hope someday we can RIDE on this narrow-gauge.  This is the end of the postings for our Maine Vacation.  Hope you enjoyed.

Santa Barbara Mission

I want to start out this blog post by stating I was very saddened by the recent Amtrak accident on the California Zephyr near Fallon, Nevada.  My condolences to the families who lost loved ones in this tragic accident.  C & I rode that train in 2010.

We rented a really nice comfortable hotel kitchenette at the Blue Sands Motel. It was perfect at a great price for the 3 of us.  About a 1/2 block away was a nice local market so we went over several times to buy supper and fix it.  The only thing we didn't use was the pool (or the ocean) to swim.  It was pretty cool when we were in Santa Barbara.  I give this motel a FIVE STAR rating and recommend it if you are in Santa Barbara.  It is across the street from the ocean.  Couldn't have a more PERFECT location.

The first place we visited was the Santa Barbara Mission. Old California history has always fascinated me so I was really anxious to 'dig' into the history at the Mission. (Remember the Zorro TV series when we were kids?  I was a fanatic!!)  Turns out the Santa Barbara Mission was one a series of Missions the Francisan Monks built up and down the California coast during the 1700's and early 1800's with the most northern being near San Francisco and the southernmost in San Diego.  The Santa Barbara Mission is the only one still operating as a monastery.  

From the Gardens in the interior of the Mission

Another shot of the Gardens

Just Look at this Cactus.

C walking in the Garden of the Dead.  A sign said over 4,000 Chumas Indians were buried in this small courtyard!  The Chumas Indians built the Santa Barbara Mission it had some very interesting pieces built by them on display inside.  They were craftsmen for sure.  Unfortunately, like most native Americans, they were devastated by the European diseases introduced by the Francisians, mostly smallpox.  I am sure some must  have perished simply from overwork also--something that was glossed over by the history.  The Chumas were enslaved by the Mission system.

The flora was simply outstanding in the gardens.

The tree in the Garden of the Dead under which lies the 4,000 indians.

L in front of a shrine of some sort in the Garden of the Dead.

Not a single marker for any of the 4,000 Chumash buried here but this ONE man gets his own marker.  One of the founders of Santa Barbara who died in 1851, Francisco A. Cota.

Entrance into the Garden of the Dead from the Chapel.  Notice the skull and crossbones over the entrance.  Creepy, huh?

The front of the Mission showing the fountain.  The Chapel is the structure on the right and the Garden of the Dead is to the right of it.

We also visited the Santa Ynez Mission later in the trip and there were a lot similarities and some differences.

Next the Botantical Gardens in Mission Canyon!

The Delta KING and the Sacramento Train Depot - ALL ABOARD!!

We ate lunch at the Crab Shack on the River in Old Town Sacramento (Joe's?? it was some chain type of thing) and I ordered crab.  MY WORD, that is a lot of work for one little mouthful I must say.  It seemed like it took me all afternoon and we threw our 'trash' into a galvanized pail that was in a hole in the center of the table!!  Fine Dining at it's best?  I didn't take any photos here, I was afraid of permanently buttering up my digital camera!

After Lunch we went down to the Old Train in Old Sacramento for a 3 mile trip down the Sacramento River. It was a nice train ride and fun to see.  It was really inexpensive.  

The Car we went on. They all looked like maybe 1940's era cars?

The Conductors.  They said everyone, including the engineer, were volunteers.  The kids were having a lot of fun, so were the adults!  Well most of us anyway.  We rode in the car (above) on the way down but moved into the open air touring car on the way back.

The Delta King Stern Wheeler River Boat

Supper that evening was on the DELTA KING paddlewheeler.  It is the sister ship to the Delta Queen that now runs up and down the Mississippi River.  It was sunk in the Sacramento Harbor and quite the mess until the current owners purchased it, spent years refurbishing and repairing it.  It is now harbored permanently to the Sacramento Wharf and it has 62 hotel rooms on it plus the restaurant.  Maybe next year I will feel particularly rich and we can stay on the Delta King.  Note in the picture I am standing ABOVE the canvas tarped wharf.  Remember I said they had raised Sacrament 15 feet to prevent flooding?  Well my guess is I was taking this shot from about 15' above the water.

The ramp onto the Delta King.  Remember all those old civil war photos of riverboats and the slaves pushing bales of cotton UP a ramp to the deck?  Must have been about 15' to the deck because here it is pretty level and that's to 2nd level on the boat.

The Dining Room.  I asked, and yes this is how it looked in it's heyday.  Pretty neat huh?

C had a window seat and the river was pretty fast and rising when we were there.  They say the current is very strong and swimming in the Sacramento River is really not safe because it has a strong current off the Sierras out to the ocean.  Every year there are several drownings.  C was on a swim team in college and she said she was almost one of it's victims.  She never went back in the Sacramento River after that.

A Happy Customer of the Prime Rib (or maybe that red wine?)

The Sacramento Southern Pacific Train Depot

The Sacramento Depot was the originally built by the Southern Pacific Railroad.  In 1929, they commissioned John McQuarrie to do the the mural you can see in the upper right corner.  I'll tell you more about it later.

On the left, the blue screens are the departures and arrivals of over 40 trains a day plus numerous buses and the local public transportation system for Sacramento.  The Sacramento station is the 2nd busiest station in the  State of California and the 7th in the nation.  Of course, today it is used by Amtrak but is owned by the City of Sacramento.  There was one big waiting room.

Details of the arches in the ceiling with the windows.  They lined the waiting room area.

Here is L taking a picture with C looking on.  And what was L taking a photo of?

The Mural of Course!

Like I said before, the mural had been commissioned in 1929 by the Southern Pacific Railroad (which I am also assuming was the year they were completing it's building).  One corner you could see it was starting to Deteriorate and peel away from the wall.  I asked several Amtrak employees who had painted this lovely painting and they all said it was 'just old wallpaper'.  WHAT????  I knew that wasn't right and finally someone told me to ask the man in the baggage area.  He did not remember who painted it but at least he knew it was painting and there used to be a plaque but someone STOLE it. Now why on earth would they do that?  Sometimes the stuff people will do makes NO sense at all.

The Mural commemorates the laying of the first rail of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1863, which began in Sacramento.  An email to the Sacramento Historical Society revealed that a major upgrade (similar to what is taking place in Denver at Union Station) is planned to begin next year which will significantly change this old station, making it a modern transportation hub for the city.  Renovations do include the Mural but it is way down the list after much needed code upgrades to the electrical, plumbing, structure etc.  Everything it seems is important but I sure hope they do not forget this mural.

The benches were interesting with the Southern Pacific logo carved in the ends and HEAT Registers in the backs.   Now that was welcome on a cool rainy morning when we left! Another feature I hope they keep are these benches.  In fact I hope they do not change much at all.  I am SO glad I took the train out of Union Station in Denver, and now out of Sacramento so I got to see them BEFORE the renovations.

The Baggage area.  Be forewarned, few Amtrak stations have 'checked' baggage so the rule for the train is pack light because YOU will most likely be packin' your stuff your little ol' self.  I learned me lesson last year on that little tidbit and this year was much much easier as I had about 1/2 the stuff.  Like 20 pounds LESS.

"I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane.....NO I'm Not.  I'm leavin' on a TRAIN.'

Next Blog, the Coast Starlight!!! to Santa Barbara.

My Beach Sunburn! Ocean at Shelter Cove!

Black Beach, Shelter Cove, California

 

Warning Sign on Black Beach

This is DEFINITELY bigger than a horse trough!!  This is Black Beach near Shelter Cove and the beach was all this black gravel/rock.  Near the water is was smaller but never sand grain size and then became larger up towards the shore.  It was deep and hard to walk in.  Warning signs were posted all over about the dangerous rip tides and to stay out of the water.  Sadly, my friend told me, people ignore the warnings and there are several drownings every year on this beach.

 We had my friend's Patterdale terrier with us and she found a place to cool off at Black Beach in a small fresh water creek that ran to the ocean.

 

People on the beach at Shelter Cove

We then drove south to this beach but I don't recall it's name.  It's the cove part of the shoreline and here people were swimming and sailing.

Just beyond the rocks you can see a sailboat in the distance from the shore at the cove.

 

We had lunch at this nice cafe with a patio overlooking the ocean.  I had fish and chips.  Is there anything else to order for lunch on your day at the Beach?  The seagulls were very experienced scavengers at this place; they perched on the roof just waiting for you to drop something.

Seal Beach

After lunch we went over to Seal Beach where we saw.........(drumroll) SEALS!  They are kinda like rock slugs. Not much action there.  This beach had California sea lions.  The males were huge and one male wanted to go back in the water so he inched down and then waited for wave action to lift him off.  It must be very hard for them to navigate around on the rocks.

A view of some of the homes in Shelter Cove.

While at this point of the beach we could hear all this commotion.  It was the bird above, and another one who were doing some sort of ritual thing.  Maybe a mating dance? Or mating shout-out would have been more like it.  We watched them for quite some time.

This was my last day in California and I got sunburned!  So when I got back to Wyoming I made SURE to tell everyone I got the sunburn at the beach!  LOL.

It was a wonderful trip with a great traveling partner, and I saw many of my good friends and visited their farms and horses, and basked in their wonderful hospitality.  Thanks to all of you.  YOU ROCK!

(In fact, we had such a great trip for 2011 we are planning on riding the Amtrak Coast Starlight, probably south from Sacramento!)

And now back to my regular rambling blog.  Hope y'all enjoyed the trip.

When You Take the Train

The Trip is the Thing!!

I'm back from Vacation and let me tell you it was a Corker!  I had so much fun.  So I'll give you some glimpses over the next few blogs and share some Train Tips I learned with you.

 

Porch of Gregory Inn.-- Our room was directly behind my friend.

First, my friend Chestine & I met in Denver.  We stayed at this lovely Bed & Breakfast near the Lo Do District (lower downtown).  The Gregory Inn --  our host Steve was a great host and the cook, Tracy, was very engaging and a great cook!  I do recommend it the next time you visit Denver!

We met at the airport DIA and then took the Denver public transportation into Lower Downtown.  Now that was an experience for two country girls, let me tell you.  I think the Shuttle driver was trying to tell us we needed to get off at 30th & Something which was a transfer station to get another bus to get closer, but instead we jumped off EIGHT blocks from the Inn and drug our suitcases the whole way.  WHEW!  I gotta learn more about this RTD system!! in Denver.  Worked out okay.  Turns out we walked through a district with a lot of homeless persons so we fit in :) (note to self: Pack Lighter! Much Lighter!!!)

We spent a day touring Denver.  First we saw the Molly Brown House.  Interesting story, she never went by Molly.  That was a Hollywood fabrication.  She was always Margaret.  The house was beautiful, victorian and too small to be declared a MANSION at a mere 7,000 sq feet!!!  I guess it takes 10,000 sq feet to be a Mansion. This is the front of her house near the State Capitol building.  My friend Chestine took this photo because I stupidly left my digital camera on my desk!!!  So I had to make do with Funsavers but I do have some photos also I will post.

Next we went to the Byers Evans Museum and Home.  They had a display of lovely hand-woven southwest rugs. I have always wanted to do a quilt in one of these patterns.  I believe these are Hopi patterns.

 

The Byers Evan Mansion was lovely and interesting.  It was added onto several times throughout the years to accomodate various family members and several generations lived in the home.  Here is a shot of the front of this home.

 

The Byers Evans house from the street.  And one of my photos!  Some of the photos will be Chestine's and some are ones I took.

Then we spent the rest of the day at the 16th Street Mall which is a long street in Lower Downtown Denver with many many shops, restaurants, you name it.   They have a shuttle system running the entire length of 16th street and there is a shuttle on each corner every minute or so--really!   They only run on 16th Street (finally, a public transportation system I can UNDERSTAND!)

Okay, call the Taxi Guy.  Get me a Starbucks while I wait. I am shopped out, financially and physically! (Have I ever told you guys I REALLY REALLY hate to shop?  True story)

I'm beat and ready to go back to the Bed & Breakfast!!  Okay, Chestine, ONE MORE trip to Rockmount's Western Store and THEN we are going back!!

Tomorrow -- Union Station & We Get ON the Train.  (next blog in a few days)