Day Tripper

[jaunthie]

I did something yesterday that I haven't done in a long time. I took the train. And not only was it was all kinds of awesome fun, but it put me ahead of the NaNo word count. I managed to write 5,400 words while riding the rails.


Earlier in the month, one of my fellow NaNo writing group members suggested the idea of doing a write-in day trip. We had done this last year, at least in part so that we could meet up at least once with our out-of-town member K without her having to drive several hours. We met at a coffeehouse approximately halfway between her city and ours, and it was a lot of fun, but rather tiring with all the driving.

So would we do this again this year?

We went one better. We went one way, WAY better, because we came up with the idea of doing a day-trip to the Rose City by train. Conveniently enough, Amtrak's north-south line has a stop in K's home town as well as ours. And the Web site for the train boasted of all the amenities it features, including power for laptops at every seat.

Several hours on a train with power outlets? Sounds like a mobile write-in to me.

We're all very busy women, so we couldn't find a day in November that suited every member of the group. However, three of us met up yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m. for our day of adventure. Nordic Boy kindly chauffeured us to the station, and the ticket master was kind enough to assign Zanne, monkeybard and myself a four-person table so that we could save the extra seat for K when we got to her station. The train pulled out promptly at 7:30, and off we went.

Now I remember taking the train on this exact route back in the late '70's and early '80's. Back then, the train cars were kind of dingy, and the stations themselves were utterly gross and kind of scary. Fast-forward to today, and what a lovely surprise. Our train station is in the process of being restored. It's still pretty ugly where they haven't yet removed the horrid 1960's drop-ceiling and wallboard, but the station itself is clean and fairly bright, and the already-restored parts are gorgeous. The newly revealed plasterwork (original to the station when built in the 1900's) is still being repaired in a few places, but it's utterly stunning. Wait - don't take my word for it. Take a look for yourself:


Photograph of station with original plasterwork

Oh, and that double-sided wooden bench in the photo? Still there, or its twin. I sat on it yesterday. The leather chair is long gone, but the benches remain. They built them tough back in the day.



Compass room foyer after restoration

And here you can see the nasty drop-ceiling next to some of the restored work:


Why oh why did they ever cover up all this beauty with THAT? It boggles the mind, but at least they didn't REMOVE all the plasterwork. I look forward to the day when the station is fully restored.

But I digress. The station is far nicer than it was back in the 1980's, even though the work is not complete. The train cars themselves were even nicer than I remember, even in coach. (I imagine business class is much more posh, but we didn't see the need to shell out the extra $$$.) The cars were clean and looked well cared for. The seats were large, comfortable, and either leather or a very good imitation. There was plenty of leg room. We could have technically used more outlets (there were two outlets for the four seats around the table), but we all had good batteries and were quite able to swap out power cords when needed, so that was fine. The table top was a little high to be ideal for typing on laptops, but still workable, and it was perfect for what it was originally designed to support (eating, laying out papers, playing cards, etc.). There was plenty of room overhead for our bags and coats. The ride itself was quite smooth, with only a few rocky patches. And of course you could get up and move around anytime you wanted, walk on down to the dining car (I didn't, but others in the party did), or just stand up and stretch out. Even the bathrooms were pretty decent for what they were.

All in all, it was remarkably pleasant, particularly when compared to modern-day airplane travel. In fact, given the exorbitant cost of airplane tickets, the massive inconveniences of airport "security," and the charge-you-for-breathing policies of most air carriers, I can't imagine why anyone would ever take a commuter flight over the train, at least not for short distances. Sure, the flying TIME is a lot faster, but when you add in the hours you have to get to the airport before the flight, the time spent in security lines, the sheer uncomfortableness of the plane ride itself, and the near-utter impossibility of getting any work or relaxation done during the trip, I think you're probably better off taking the train.

Anyhow, it was a lovely ride down. K joined us on the way, and we reached our destination by 11:00, right on time (three and a half hour trip, for those of you keeping score). Union Station has been fully restored, and it is *stunning*, particularly since I remember how decrepit it was back in the day and considering the sheer amount of square footage they had to deal with. It's a much larger station, with incredibly high ceilings, but they still managed to keep it nicely warm both in temperature and in welcoming feel.



There's lots of free transit, but we didn't wind up taking any of it, because Union Station is in easy walking distance of everything that we wanted to visit during our day trip: pilgrimages to Powell's and to VooDoo Donut. We also had time for a lovely breakfast/brunch at Mother's (a tip from Shelagh, who definitely steered us well), and an afternoon beverage at a local pub (the Fox and Hounds, where my drink was cheaper than my friends' beers!). I had moderately decent luck at Powell's. They didn't have several of the books I was looking for, but they did have replacement copies (in the exact same editions) of several reference books that got accidentally ruined a few months ago. And really, I didn't want to have to lug home all that many books (or so we told each other). As it was, juggling bags of books and laptop cases and bags of delicate squishy donuts for people back home was quite the challenge.

Yes, several people asked us to bring back donuts. I had never heard of VooDoo Donuts a month ago, but they're apparently quite famous for their Bacon Maple Bars, among other things. I did *not* get a Bacon Maple Bar, but I did get a donut. Allegedly VooDoo Donuts has a "perfect match" donut for anyone and everyone. I am a sucker for cinnamon and for maple, so I asked the man at the counter if any of their really quite impressive number of donuts featured both cinnamon and maple. The guy grinned and pointed at a long, vaguely triangular cake/bar type of donut on one of the racks. Most of the donut was covered in cinnamon-sugar, he told me, but the broad end was dipped in maple and then coated with red sprinkles. Well all right then; it's cinnamon, it's maple, and there isn't anything on it that I can't stand. That must be my perfect donut. I asked for one, and also asked what it was called.

Apparently my perfect donut is the Doobie Donut. I find this highly amusing, given my straight-laced history. It was, I admit, an extremely tasty donut, and it did *not* give me the munchies.

We were pretty tired out by the time we got back on the the 6:15 p.m. train home, but we still all managed to put in quite a few more words on the works-in-progress. fisherbear was waiting for us at the station when the train pulled in, five minutes ahead of schedule, and we were able to escape the traffic-zerg around the station with minimal fuss.

All in all, a most satisfying day. We're going to have to do that again. And fisherbear and I need to take a weekend-trip on the train sometime in the near future, too.


So that was a very satisfying Sunday. Saturday was very satisfying, too. monkeybard and I carpooled down to the annual Glitter Sale, where we met up with InterPlanet Janet. I came away with a great winter coat and a never-been-worn pair of Mephisto vintage boots, along with a few other things. I also helped find some great stuff for IPJ and MonkeyBard. Thrifting with friends is always a hoot, and doubly so when you come away with a few great items. Yay!

About the only complaints I can make about this weekend is that it didn't feature enough time with fisherbear, and I had to get up early both days. Oh well, I can always catch up on my sleep some other weekend, right? ;-)

Comments

[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

During my epic cross-country train trip last year, I spent the leg from Philly to Pittsburgh in commuter business class, and the stretch from Chicago to Seattle in long-haul coach. Business class had maybe slightly larger seats, but much larger spacing and free coffee in the cafe car. Given that the coach seats were themselves palatial after the last few years of air travel, I could see being happy with coach. And that was even with the Chicago-Seattle stretch being more full than normal for the duration, since they'd missed some runs for weather and were fitting in a number of us who'd been delayed.

I so agree about train vs. plane for shorter distances - the one caveat I'd add over the time difference is that, if last year was any indication, you're more likely to cross the northern plains and the Rockies on the date you originally planned by plane than by train during the winter. I also found fewer outlets than advertised, too, although I've got a travel-sized powerstrip for meetings which made me a lot of friends.

[sunkrux.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a good time even if it was a bit tiring. Yay on the Nano stuff! :D