My best girl friend's son is getting married in April, over the weekend that I turn 58, damn it. I was setting up a fun trip to NYC and now I have to go to Seattle, WA! Well, I've never been there, so it should at least have some fun value (laughs).
Eddie refers to me as his hockey mom, because back in the day, he had hockey lessons and practices that his mom had problems sometimes getting him to. Since I had started being self employed around that time, I had more availability, time wise, to take him to his hockey practice, hence his reference to me as his hockey mom. Also, and unexpected, was my daughter's interest in the sport back then, because after a few trips she said to me, "hey, I can do that," and hence, she joined Eddie in the "program."
Linda and I hired a pro speed skating coach to help train them (he's got credits on lots of movies ... all the Mighty Ducks movies and Mystery, Alaska) and he used to refer to our kids as Gretzky and McSorely (Eddie was Gretz, and my daughter was McSorely ... and yeah, my daughter played defense, which is why she's got awesome back skating capabilities).
I'm so not into flying since 9/11 (for more than the usual obvious reasons) and I checked into taking a train to Seattle. Linda and I haven't done a "road trip" since going to Detroit for a hockey game in 1997.
Like the movie "Silver Streak," we can purchase a room for two, which we can share for most of the trip (which is a long one, more than 31 hours), which Linda and her BF can have the "sleep time" which amounts to turning room into bedroom, while I'll sleep in a chair that is far bigger than any fucking airline seat, and has more extension to boot, while I just purchase my "reserved" seating. After figuring the price of the air fare (plus ridiculous baggage, food, and other amenities/problems, uh, did I mention waiting lines for air checks, scanners, etc.?) the train ride is like the road trip oasis for us oldsters! Especially going to an event you HAVE to go to, uggg, a wedding!
I am definitely going to blog my train trip from Los Angeles to Seattle, via Amtrak. Finally, a train vacation (although, I always thought I would do the L.A. to Chicago trip ... but, hey, you take what you are given, right?)
UPDATE: My friend and her boyfriend have decided to do a drive to Seattle with other family members going to the wedding. If Tony couldn't take a train or ship trip, I'm sure he'd hate a car road trip from Los Angeles to Seattle! Besides, Linda and I have already done the coast run from L.A. to S.F., and personally, I've already been up Mt. Shasta, not to mention I used to live in Portland, and I've done the drive from L.A. to Portland in 13 hours straight! She'll end up spending more in gas and hotel/motel rooms for what will ostensibly be a longer trip than my 34 hour perfectly cozy train ride!
7 comments:
With your love for coffee, you will be in heaven in Seattle. The entire city smells like coffee, it's great. I'm surprised you have never been there. I'm sure you will have a great time, and the wedding should be a blast. I can't believe little Eddie is old enough to get married. I don't understand how all these kids keep getting older and I, of course, do not.
Yeah, I hadn't thought about the coffee aspect. It's almost as if coffee as we know it today was born in Seattle.
Well, you are wrong on that assumption Carrie. I love a road trip. Don't you remember when I drove from Achorage, AK to El Dorado, CA. Then my nephew and left El Dorado (he was 12 at the time) and drove to LA. Then I got the VIP passes from my cousin for Universal and you and Mercedes joined us for the opening of the Jurastic Park ride. I still have the picture of the 4 of us during the drop. I do road trips all the time. My 2005 Hummer H2 has almost 130,000 miles, 2008 Cadillac SRX has 39,000 miles and 2003 Mercedes has 210,000 miles. All were bought new, and I'm the only driver. I'm even thinking about buying one of those custom RV buses and doing a cross country 6 or 7 month road trip. Now that would be fun.
I think you are mixing comments on separate posts!
No, in your update to this post you said that since I don't like trains or cruises, I would not like a road trip. I was pointing out that was incorrect. I do enjoy road trips. You also mention that a road trip would be more expensive, but I don't see it that way. For the fun of it, I priced a round trip from NYC to LA. It's $5288.00. I could take my most expensive to operate vehicle, the Hummer, and spend less to drive from NYC to LA. It's about 2500 miles, I get about 300 miles per tank at an average cost of $85.00 to fill. So figure about $850.00 for fuel. Add 4 nights at hotels for about $600.00 (probably less, but I'm estimating high) and say about $500.00 for food (also high), I've done the round trip for less then $4000, if I took the Benz or the Cadillac it would be considerably less. And I have the ability to stop when and where I want to.
I don't know what Amtrak route you looked at, but I priced it at approximately $1,623 (RT) to get to NYC over the last week of December 2010 (such that I could actually be in NYC for New Year's Eve). At that price, for my 60th birthday, I can take around 7 people, and still be under my budget for my original birthday disco bash.
And I bypassed the northern route both times, with a layover in New Orleans coming and going, AND including sleeper rooms (x 4). The December trip will be solo, but with a sleeper unit from Los Angeles to New Orleans, layover in New Orleans, then a sleeper unit from there to NYC Penn Station.
There's no way the price is $5,288 unless you are buying the most expensive bedroom sleeper, which I don't need.
For the heck of it, why don't you re-try to figure the price, using the departure date of 12/26/10 from Los Angeles to New Orleans, and 12/29/10 out of New Orleans to NYC, single, round trip, sleeperette. According to my check, the first part of the trip is $460, second part is $310, for a total of $770 to get to NYC. Trip back, leaving 1/1/11, first part $310, second part $543, for a total of $1623. I decided to check out the last week of December because my office is actually closed, so I won't really miss any work.
I can't drive because I gave up my driver's license for an ID card. I don't fly. So, the only way for me to get anywhere long distance is to take the train.
As an aside, all the meals are part of the price, and the layover in New Orleans will not require a hotel room, as I can still sleep in my train car. So I'm only out pocket money to hang out in the Big Easy, eat some crawfish and enjoy Burbon Street! Fantastic!
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