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North America Circle
  • Sarah McCabe
  • Sarah McCabe

North America Circle

Sunnyvale -> Seattle -> Vancouver, BC -> Toronto -> Chicago -> Sunnyvale Leia mais
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  • Inicio da viagem
    3 de março de 2024
  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    First meal on board

    3 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    Before the train had even left the station, I was in the dining car ordering dinner. Of course I got the steak. It was delicious

    Then it was back to my room to settle in for the evening.

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Morning on the train

    4 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 21 °F

    I had an OK night.  I am not yet acclimated to the motion, so I woke up many times, but I always got back to sleep quickly. Our sleeper car was pretty cold, compared to the other sleeper car, but it wasn’t terrible. 

    I woke up to snow covered fields with scrub pine trees as we approached Klamath Falls. Evidently this was their first snow of the season so we had fortuitous scenery.   It was only a couple inches, but that’s enough to make everything pretty!    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Rear view

    4 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 23 °F

    Our car is the last one on the train so it is convenient to go look out the back window. It is all covered with snow and ice, which makes for artsy photos. 

    After that I headed to the dining car for breakfast. 

    I was seated with a young man from Oakland who is even more of a train fan than I am. I got lots more info about “rolling stock” (that’s “train cars” for the uninitiated) and details of routes current and past than I was ever expecting.

    Breakfast was yummy (but I forgot the photo!) and soon it was time to head back to my room. I did some online stuff before we lost internet connectivity on the climb through the mountains up to Eugene.     Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Oregon snow scenery

    4 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 32 °F

    Once we lost connectivity I headed into the lounge car to enjoy some spectacular scenery. There was only one vacant seat on the good side, but it was occupied by this guy’s backpack. So just sort of stood by a window to take pictures. The guy was eating his lunch (out of the backpack) so I got to see him open a Tupperware container with sticks of butter in it and saw him gnaw off a huge bite of butter. Then he pulled out a dry bread roll and gnawed on that for a while. I guess that’s just as efficient as buttering the roll, but boy did it look odd!

    Before too long, we passed through a series of tunnels and voila! We are now on the other side of the mountain and my side of the train has the good scenery.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Eugene

    4 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ 🌧 41 °F

    Before you know it we were in Eugene. We arrived early so we had about a 20 minute stop. Plenty of time to mail my ballot so it will be postmarked by tomorrow. Lucky that the post office was just a block from the train station Nothing like waiting till the last minute!

    The water bottle that I opened and resealed in the morning is quite collapsed. I guess we have lost a lot of elevation since this morning.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Portland

    4 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 43 °F

    We arrived quite early at the Portland station so we had about 45 minutes here. And while the Portland station is picturesque and has lots of amenities (compared to most Amtrak stations) there is not a lot to do around the station so I did not do much besides check out the station.

    The first class lounge was cool and even had nice snack boxes for the passengers to take, but I am already full from so much food in the dining car I decided to pass.

    The station even has a payphone! Just one, when there were booths for many, but still, it was amazing to see. The newsstand had a total of two books for sale, but really didn't want anyone just standing around reading    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Arriving un Seattle

    4 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 37 °F

    I had a vegetarian dinner. I needed to take a break from the last 3 meals having beef or pork (or both - bacon cheeseburger). It was quite good, but it tasted a lot like meat, which may be a turn off for actual vegetarians.

    Despite some minor delays the train ended up exactly on time. There was a cab outside the station and before long I was in the hotel and unpacked and settled in and it was time to head down to the lobby for a nightcap.

    We are staying in another citizenm hotel (same chain as London). Tiny rooms and very comfortable public spaces.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Seattle street scenes

    5 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    After we had coffee in the hotel lobby, Russell headed off to Google, while I headed off to be a tourist in Seattle.

    I saw some interesting artwork and buildings. One thing that was odd about all the pedestrians that I saw was that even the temperature was in the high 30s, I did not pass a single pedestrian who was wearing gloves. So I was peer pressured into having cold hands.

    I found breakfast at a bagel shop. Of course it wasn't until it was. I was on my way out of the shop, that I noticed that the bagel sandwiches were buy one get one free. Oh well. I really did not need two.

    I passed a restaurant that Russell mentioned seeing last night. If you are ever in Seattle and feel like spending $94 on a steak, check it out!    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Views from the Space Needle

    5 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F

    Next stop on my self-guided tour of Seattle was the Space Needle.  I've never been to the top, because it seemed like kind of a tourist trap, but I am embracing the role of tourist on this trip so up I went.  And I must say I was very impressed with the whole thing.  Partly that was due to the fact that we had great weather (for Seattle) and there were very few people there to block my view (a combination of this being the mid-week and not in prime touring season).  

    Your ticket gives you access to two levels, both with complete 360 deg. access.  The upper level has an open air viewing platform.  The lower level has a rotating platform with a glass floor.  Both were great, but they were a little disconcerting for me and I love heights.  If heights aren't your thing, you may want to pass.

    It was also fun to watch the families with kids.  There seemed to be two universal experiences: parents of young children (under 2) would invariably set the baby down on the glass floor to see their reaction.  Some kids didn't even notice.  Some were terrified.  All of the parents were amused.  The second commonality was that I heard every parent of an older child at one point or another say something along the lines of "don't put your face on the glass, people walk on that!"  Sometimes it was more like, "don't lick the glass ..."      Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Sarah at the Space Needle

    5 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F

    The other cool thing about the Space Needle experience is they have all sorts of opportunities for free digital photos. Some are taken by an automatic camera and some by real people who wander around taking your picture. Then you just download them all from online after your visit.Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Chihuly Museum

    5 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 45 °F

    I'm not normally a museum person, but the Chihuly Museum is worth making an exception for.  The glass is just so impressive: form, color, installation, ... it all can't be beat.

    Plus, I got to see what that weird yellow flower-like thing was that I saw from the Space Needle.  It was, in fact, a weird yellow flower-like thing.

    They even had some people demonstrating how glass is blown and how they make (relatively) simple pieces.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Light dinner

    5 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ 🌙 36 °F

    Since I had inhaled a pizza and Russell had a late lunch we decided to just go for a light dinner. Well, Russell's lasagna was not exactly light, but it was very tasty. As was my salad.

    It was a chilly night so decided to buck the Seattle style so I bundled up till I looked like the Michelin man. Good thing because I left something at the restaurant so we ended up making the walk back to the hotel three times as long as it should have been.

    After dinner we headed back to collapse, since Russell has a 9 am con call scheduled for tomorrow.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Breakfast deja vu

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    I decided to take advantage of the buy one get one free offer at the bagel shop and take one away from my lunch today. So the whole way on my walk to the bagel shop. I am anticipating a double bagel sandwich day, and planning out what exactly my order will be. And then, when I walked in the shop, I was devastated to see that the offer is only good on Mondays at this location. A detail I neglected to notice yesterday. Oh well. At least yesterday was not a Monday and so I did not miss the free sandwich yesterday either 😭

    I was so disappointed I couldn't muster the energy to order anything except my exact same order from yesterday: bacon, egg and cheese on a toasted everything. bagel with a cup of peppermint tea.

    I sure hope there wasn't someone named Zara who ordered the same thing, because, if there was, I took her sandwich. Oh well, she can have mine when it comes up    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Walk along the water

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    I purchased a CityPass to get access to three Seattle sights for roughly the cost of two regular tickets. After the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum, the third thing I really wanted to do was the Harbour Cruise to see the city sights from the water.

    So after I finished my (full priced) bagel I took a leisurely walk down to the ship dock. Today is warmer, but a bit more overcast. Ironically, I saw a lot of people wearing gloves today (did I mention it's warmer?) but I also realized the reason so many people put up with cold hands: it's not easy to do anything with your phone with gloves on. So once again I walked with cold hands so I could take photos.

    There is a lot of construction going on by the waterfront, but it looks like they are reaching the final stages on some of the big buildings, so this should be a changed environment soon.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe
    1

    Seattle from the water

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F

    I got to the boat and got my ticket and boarded in less than 5 minutes. This is the wonder of visiting in the off season.

    The boat trip was really informative about wildlife, geography, history, shipping, and much more. It was cool to see the city sights from the water.

    We even saw the tip of Mt Rainier poking through the clouds. It kind of looked like a small triangle cloud hovering over the other clouds. Let's just say that is a TALL mountain.

    The only wildlife we saw were some birds and 4 sea lions, but it was all good.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Pike Place Market

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F

    After we returned to the pier, I decided to head over to nearby Pike Place Market.  This is the one touristy stop in Seattle I have already been to many times.  It turns out that in the middle of the week, outside of tourist season, the market is pretty empty.  

    One new thing I did see was the back side of the market, which is a cool colorful mosaic.      Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Public Transport

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ⛅ 45 °F

    Upon leaving the market, I grabbed a small lunch to eat on the go, because I didn't want to do the thing I did yesterday (wait too long to eat lunch that I ended up spoiling my appetite for dinner). There is a cheese shop at the market that makes a yummy mac & cheese with salmon, so that was an easy choice.

    I decided to venture further afield than my feet could take me, so I needed to figure out how to get a bus.

    It sounds easy, but there are a lot of problems to solve: what bus do I want? where does it stop? when is it coming? how to pay once I get on the bus? I solved all of those and soon I had an app on my phone that displayed the bus ticket to the driver and I was aboard a bus heading in the right direction.

    Unfortunately, I spent most of the ride solving another problem: how to clean mac & cheese from my coat front and sleeve because it is now demonstrably true that I am not coordinated enough to walk and eat at the same time.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Fremont Neighborhood

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ⛅ 43 °F

    I ended up in the Fremont neighborhood. My original destination was the store Archie McPhee's, which is famous (infamous?) for having a very eclectic mix of gag gifts and tchotchkes of all kinds. It was fun to wander around there for a while, but fortunately, I was able to resist their extensive offerings of rubber chickens.

    I found a cat cafe, but I decided not to pay $16 to play with the cats for an hour. I really didn't want to explain to our own cats why my coat smells like strange cats (as well as mac and cheese). I did enjoy their cuteness through the window and a cup of tea while I got my second wind.

    Eventually, I headed down the hill to meet up with Russell at one of the Google buildings. On the way, I passed the Fremont Troll sculpture under this huge bridge. I also encountered a statue of Lenin that had an interesting story of how it traveled from Poland (where it had been toppled in 1989) to Seattle.

    The Google building where Russell was working this afternoon is right on the canal that leads from Lake Union to Puget Sound. It's a canal I hope to cruise through some day (I do enjoy going through locks).    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Dinner

    6 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☁️ 41 °F

     After a bit of internet searching, we settled on a nearby restaurant that had a great wine selection.  The food was also very good.  The atmosphere was low key and just what we needed.  OK, maybe we drank a little more wine than we strictly needed, but this was the first night Russell felt really well from his cold that he came down with on the weekend, so we may have overindulged.

    After dinner, I tested out using the yellow cab app to call us a ride to the hotel.  We are going to have to do this very early on Friday morning to take us to the train station, so I wanted to work out at least some of the kinks ahead of time. It went pretty well, but I think I need to build a fair amount of slack into the schedule on Friday.  It was not a particularly fast process.    Leia mais

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  • Sarah McCabeNorth America CircleSarah McCabe

    Bagel and buses

    7 de março de 2024, Estados Unidos ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F

    I was still in a bagel mood this morning, but I decided to try a different shop and a lox bagel instead. Who says I can't branch out of my rut?

    Then I decided to grab a bus to Capitol Hill, another Seattle neighborhood that is known for a vibrant scene.

    Unfortunately, it turns out I had not completely mastered the bus travel. Who knew there would be two bus stops just around the corner from each other? And that I would wait 10 minutes at the wrong one before I figured that out?    Leia mais

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