MY VACATION IN OUR NATION!
Bright 12 year old kids when they get excited about something have a way of giving off a special energy that ignites the imagination of everyone with whom he or she comes in contact. So, when Elizabeth Brown-Worthington told me about the great adventure on which she was about to embark I became almost as excited as she was about her cross- country train trip to visit her grandparents in San Clemente, California.
She told me about the homework she and her mother Christine had done so that they wouldn’t miss seeing the things they should along the way and on the train’s stopovers in Washington D. C., Chicago and other Western Towns. Interestingly, the prospect of meeting diverse and interesting people on the 8 day train trip, (total for both ways), was just as exciting to her as the geography and historic sites that she would see. Of course, seeing her grandmother and grandfather and the fun they would have together in California held great delight for her too.
Since I know Elizabeth is an honor student and a recent recipient of a “Spirit of Gulfport Award,” (which came with a key to the city), I figured she could handle what I was about to propose. I said, almost without thinking, “ Elizabeth, you should definitely keep a log about all the things you see and the interesting people you will meet on this great trip.” As soon as she agreed that that might be a good idea, I said, “Would you be interested in sharing your experiences with other kids and adults back in Gulfport?” “Would you become the Watchdog’s first national correspondent and send reports of your trip via e-mail every day or two?” She said she would and in a few minutes came up with an doggy based moniker in keeping with Watchdog practice, “Gulfport Lassie.”
So for the next month or so, Gulfport Lassie will be reporting in almost daily via the COMMENTS section under this story of her great adventure which begins when she boards Amtrak’s Silver Star in Orlando on June 10 at 1:57 PM or thereabouts. (Unlike Europe, our trains are a little flexible when it comes to scheduling.) The next major stop is in Washington DC where a 6 hr. 30 min. layover already has a planned itinerary for most of the day on Friday the 11th. From DC on Amtrak’s Capitol Limited Elizabeth and her mother move on to Chicago, IL where there is a 3 and one half hour layover on June 12. For the next two days the travelers see the fertile Mid-West and glorious West on the Southwest Chief before arriving in Fullerton, California on Monday, June 14.
The next ten days or so will be spent relaxing and sight-seeing with “Gammy” and “Grandfather” in California. Hopefully we’ll get some reports on the fun things they do while there. Elizabeth and Christine get back on the Southwest Chief at Los Angeles’ Union Station on Friday evening June 25 and arrive back in Orlando on June 29. The return trip and all the folks they meet will be duly reported as well.
So, for the next month or so everyone can share in Gulfport Lassie’s wonderful adventure. Both parents and kids wont want to miss a single installment. If anybody has any questions or suggestions along the way, please feel free to put them in the comments section. Elizabeth will respond, if possible.
Bon Voyage Elizabeth, Christine and you, the reader.
Safe and happy travels to the Gulfport Lassie and her Mom. I’m looking forward to the updates. Can we have pictures too?!?
Chapter One
Thursday June 10, 2010
We just finished dinner in the dining car. The tables seat four. If you don’t have four people in your party you will get to meet lots of other nice people. On this lovely day we sat with a grandmother and granddaughter from Tampa heading to Charleston.
At about 10:30 this morning we left Tampa Union Station on a Martz bus to get on the train at Orlando Station. When we arrived our bus driver told us about this hot dog place across from the station called the “Jazzy Dog”. Mom and I decided to eat there and it was absolutely positively delicious. Also their fries aren’t made in a greasy fryer, rather in a 600 degree convection oven. Finally, we are departing and so excited.
We went through Winter Park which is home to the oldest college in Florida called Rollins College. Then it was on to Sanford, the celery capital of the world. Who would have thought?
Next stop was Deland, home to Stetson University, Florida’s oldest university, named for the famous hat maker. Henry Deland founder of Deland was also the magnate of baking soda. Deland was also the first city in the state to have electricity. The St. John’s River is here, one of the only rivers that flows north.
We just left Palatka, an Indian name meaning “forbidden place”. Near here is Pierson, the fern capital of the world. Also near here is Deleon Springs. Legend says that Ponce De Leon found the fountain of youth here and has lived comfortably ever since in Spain.
We will be getting to Jacksonville soon, which was named after President Andrew Jackson. Near here is Green Cove Springs. This was where President Grover Cleveland and J.C. Penny enjoyed spa treatments. Once we leave Jacksonville we will be out of Florida.
Once leaving Florida we saw our first of many corn fields.
Mom and I are going to watch a movie on the laptop. More tomorrow after our adventures in Washington DC.
Very refreshing to find a bright, articulate young person who has the good fortune to live in an obviously supportive family.
All of us can benefit from her generous offer to let us see her pilgrimage by rail across this great country through her young eyes. Like a rare quiet night under a star lit sky in the desert or out on an ocean we may find renewal in her journey.
Thanks to Elizabeth and to the Watch Dog for this vicarious break from the petty challenges of the day and the onslaught of misery on print and TV media.
Congratulations on your first Chapter Lassie, well written and fun to read!
“”…nothing so liberalizes a man (woman or child) and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.”"
Mark Twain
““The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.””
Marcel Proust
““Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.””
Francis Bacon
““Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.””
Ernest Hemingway
Thursday evening, June 10, 2010
After leaving Jacksonville last night we entered Georgia. Folkston is the home of the 650 square mile Okefenokee Swamp. Jesup, is named after General Thomas Sidney Jesup who provided service during the Creek War of 1836. Then on to Savannah Georgia which is Georgia’s’ oldest city, designed by General James Oglethorpe, Savannah was Americas’ first planned city, and even though it never snows here James Pierpoint composed Jingle Bells in Savannah. Savannah is also the home to Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts. I am a Girl Scout. We ate in the Dining Car with a Woman with her granddaughter Carly on their way to Charleston.
Next we entered South Carolina, once Great Britain’s 13th colony. Charleston was where the civil war began and this is where my mom and I decided to turn in for the night. While we were sleeping we went through Kingstree, Florence, and Dillon all of South Carolina. Also in South Carolina we traveled through Camden, home of the Colonial Cup Steeplechase. Bethune South Carolina is where most of our countries eggs are produced.
During the night we made it all the way through North Carolina. Here is some history of the cities that the train traveled through during the night. Raleigh was named the “City of Oaks” by its founder Sir Walter Raleigh. Money Magazine voted Raleigh Americas #1 place to live. Selma, the childhood home of Ava Gardner, Wilson is home to Ralston Purina and Levi Strauss. Rocky Mount, the home of Hardees and the Barcalounger and is where all the tobacco crops come to be marketed. On either sides of the train in Enfield are peanut storage warehouses. And in the distance, if we weren’t sleeping we could see North Carolinas Wesleyan College. Lastly, Weldon was the setting for the Sally Field movie Norma Rae.
Next the train took us through Petersburg, Virginia where the battle of the “Crater” was fought. In 1864 Union officers dug a tunnel under the Confederate lines and filled it with dynamite. The huge blast stunned the Union soldiers so much that the Confederates launched a surprise attack and ended up winning the battle. The Civil War ended 75 miles west of here when Grant accepted Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Richmond is the Capital of Virginia and the heart and soul of the Confederacy. Patrick Henry tended bar at the Barksdale Theater here and it was near here that Mr. Henry delivered his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech. Ashland is home to Randolph-Macon College.
Friday morning, June 11, 2010
In the morning we saw from our train window the small white house in the middle of a meadow where Stonewall Jackson died and the Meade Pyramid which is the memorial to the Civil War General George G. Meade. It was a stone pyramid about one story tall. We saw 3 or 4 deer this morning just as the sun was coming out. Near here is Fredricksburg, the site of four civil war battles. In the Rappahannock River in Falmouth, Virginia is where George Washington threw the silver dollar. Alexandria is next, the home of George Washington and Robert E. Lee. We watched Quantico U.S. Marine base from the dining car window as we ate breakfast. Speaking of breakfast we ate with a husband and wife headed to Chicago to visit their grandkids. The husbands’ occupation is a train cleaner in Deland, Florida. Quantico base is right on the Potomac River and is also where the FBI academy is.
We arrived in Washington DC on time.
I suppose you need to sleep, maybe you’ll see what you’ve missed on a return trip with your children someday.
Rail travel is a unique experience, there were some settlements built just for trains, and train built for settlements. The major settlements of this nation were built on waterways, on or near the rivers. You’ll be crossing some of the major river systems as you venture west and it’s a good idea to keep this in mind. Rivers are the life lineof this continent.
Trains have a rhythm, rivers have a melody.
In case you awake at night don’t forget :
Moon river, wider than a mile I’m crossing you in style some day!
We arrived in Washington DC on time. Upon our arrival, since we had a sleeper we had access to the lounge in the DC station, so we went in there to get some free wi-fi. After that we slowly made our through the station and then outside to catch the trolley. The first stop we got off at was the Lincoln Memorial.
After that we walked over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial taking pictures along the way. We walked down the wall and went over to one of the books that help you find family members killed in the war. As far as we know, we do not have and relatives that were killed in the war, but my Grandfather that I am going to see in California did serve in the Navy during the Vietnam War. My mom and I looked up the name “Worthington” and found 6 people with the last name of “Worthington” killed in the war. Then we took about a 15-20 minute walk over to the Museum of American History where we saw the very first American Flag which was all tattered and torn. It was the flag that inspired our National Anthem. Then we took another 5 minute walk over to the Museum of Natural History where we explored the Sea life exhibit, the Mammal exhibit and the Gems and Minerals exhibit where we got to see the Hope Diamond which was absolutely gorgeous as was the rest of the gems. This picture is for you Aardvark. I hope the pictures make it on here. I sent three.
After that we somewhat patiently waited for the trolley to pick us up and we rode over to the Washington Welcome Center. Where we did some gift shopping and also where I was able to purchase a pink shirt sporting the words “Future President” with an American Flag We tried to go to Ford’s Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated but the line to get in was out the door and around the block so we decided to skip that. We ended our day with a slice of Pizza from Sbarro and a tall double chocolate chip frappucino from Starbucks then we headed back to the lounge to relax a little before we departed.
We saw our first mountain as we left DC, Sugerloaf Mountain. After we saw Sugarloaf we went through Point of Rock Tunnel, the first of thirteen tunnels that we will go through between here and Pittsburg. We then headed straight into Rockville Maryland where St. Mary’s Church is and the final resting place for F. Scott Fitzgerald. Near Harper’s Ferry is where the Appalachian Trail crosses the tracks. The trail is the world’s longest continuous footpath at 2050 miles. In 1959 John Brown and his supporters seized the government arsenal. Robert E. Lee and his troops came by train to force Brown’s surrender, it was the first time that a railroad had been used for military purposes. You can see the arsenal ruins from the train. As we were leaving Harper’s Ferry we had just started dinner when the train stopped and the power went off. We just figured there was another train coming or something. Sooner or later the conductor came over the intercom to tell us that earlier we had struck a tree and it had cut off the airline on the breaks. It only took them about 5-10 minutes to fix it then we were back on our way. In Martinsburg, Pennsylvania the Martinsburg train station is the oldest working train station in the U.S. It was the only structure in the town that survived the Civil War. Cumberland Gap is where actor William H. Macy hails from. Next is the Pennsylvania/Maryland state line which is also called the Mason/Dixon line which was a line to settle a dispute over which state owned which land. The surveyor’s names were Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
We made it to Pittsburg around midnight. I only know this because Mom said she woke up when we got there and could see the skyline. We slept through Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, the home of Joe Namath, and Kaufman’s Run where Frank Lloyd Wright designed a home called Fallingwater. He designed the house for a Pittsburg department store owner and it has a waterfall in it. Through the night we went through Garfield, Ohio which was the home President James Garfield who was assassinated in the old Washington DC train station. We woke up this morning near Huron Ohio, birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison. On the way into Toledo we caught a glimpse of Lake Erie. When the train leaves Toledo it begins a 68.5 mile perfectly straight stretch of tracks without even a slight curve. Bryan, Indiana is the home of the Etch-a-sketch. Elkhart, Indiana was the inspiration for The Music Man and it is the home of Alka-Seltzer and is the worlds largest producer of brass musical instruments and mobile homes. From the train we saw the old Studebaker plant which closed in 1963. My Mom was only 2 then. South Bend is the home of the Notre Dame fighting Irish and is where settlers negotiated a treaty with Native Americans under the Council Oak Tree which can still be found in Highland Cemetery. Hammond-Whiting was the home of Roebuck of Sears and Roebuck fame. Mr. Roebuck used to live in our town of Gulfport Florida too. Not only that, but he lived on our same street a block south of us. Alva Roebuck was also portrayed in Gulfport! The Musical. So far on our trip we have seen a whole bunch of different animals, mostly deer, horses, and cows. And of course we have seen MORE than our fair share of corn.
We arrived in Chicago on time, but not dressed properly. It was unexpectedly freezing. Rainy, foggy and a whopping 68 dregrees. We did manage to get to the Sears Tower and to Starbucks. Sears Tower was sold and is now Willis Tower. It was so foggy we couldn’t see the top.
Cool picture is here of me holding the 1st edition of Gulfport the Magazine in front of the Sears Tower. I hope it makes it on here.
We are now headed west.
Lassie, I check the ‘Dog every day for your latest installment. Your charming combination of history lesson and personal experience is both impressive and uplifting. Imagine what The Council Oak Tree will witness over its lifetime. The affectionate and insightful reader responses to your posts touch my heart and add a delightful and unexpected component. Terrific work, Lassie, your correspondence is a real tail wagger.
~First Friend
“His name is not Wild Dog any more, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always.’” -Rudyard Kipling (Just So Stories)
You stir fond memories. In 1953 before I was old, and before there was an interstate or an internet or even a WalMart, my parents loaded me, my grandfather, an aunt and our much loved cocker spaniel, “Sparky” into a 1953 Buick Roadmaster and we headed out for a cross country adventure. That trip through the America of my youth stays with me always. I have traveled and worked in many other lands and would return to each given the chance. While much has changed in our culture, more recent travels across the U.S.A. remind me America is still a beautiful and special place. That trip with my parents through a still segregated nation, with nights spent in the car on an Indian reservation when we ran out of road, daylight and ideas did a lot to shape me perspective of how things were, are and could be. I returned to that reservation last year to visit a Navajo friend with whom I served in the military.
Travel is a great education. I suspect we will all be blessed by what you experience, learn and do.
Thanks for keeping memories and hope vibrant.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
We left Chicago at 3:15. We passed through Mendota, Illinois. An Indian name meaning crossing of trains. In Mendota they have the Sweet Corn Festival and its no wonder because that is the only thing we see growing in this country. Every town seems to have a Native American name; we just passed through Kewanee, Illinois which means prairie chicken. Kewanee is the hog capital of the world. Galesburg, Illinois, the home of writer Carl Sandburg, TV superman George Reeves, drug store founder Charles Rudolph Walgreen and ferris wheel inventor George Washington Gale Farris. Next we left Illinois and got to Iowa. It was really cool because we crossed the Mighty Mississippi River by going over the longest (3347 ft) double-track, double-decked swing span bridge on earth. It was built in 1927.
While we were sleeping we went through Fort Madison, Iowa, which is our only stop in Iowa. We are only in Iowa for 20 miles. US soldiers set fire to the original fort in 1813 to throw the Indians off course so the settlers could escape the Indians. Also through the night we missed La Plata, Spanish for silver, Missouri. La Plata is famous for deer, pheasant and turkey hunting. Outlaw Jesse James used to hang out in Sugar Creek and died in 1882 in St. Joseph, both towns near here. In Kansas City we passed over the Missouri River on a 135ft high steel bridge. Mommy and I are glad we missed seeing that. Harry S. Truman and Jean Harlow were born in Kansas City. Near there is a town called Marceline the home of Walt Disney. They say that this town was the pattern that Walt used to make Main Street, USA at Disneyland. Next up was Lawrence, Kansas where the founder of basketball lived, James Naismith. And then Topeka, Kansas’ capital was our next middle of the night stop. In Topeka once lived Linda Brown, of the Brown vs. Board of Education school integration case. Hutchinson, Kansas was our next stop. Salt was discovered here in 1887 and is still mined here today. Excavated portions of one mine are used today for archival storage of movie and television masters including the Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind and Star Wars. Hutchinson also has the world’s largest grain elevator. In the early morning we missed Dodge City, the setting for Gunsmoke. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson once lived here and today it is the meat packing capital.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
We woke up this morning in Garden City, the last stop in Kansas. Mom said it rained, really stormed all night. The skies were still overcast. Near here in the town of Holcomb the murders described in Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood took place.
We have gone from crop land (mostly corn) to a lot more grazing land.
Lamar is our first of three stops in Colorado. Lamar is the goose hunting capital of the world and of all things the route guide tells me that Lamar is the planned site of the Pierre Auger Observatory of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The only other international site is in Argentina. What is that all about? We went through La Junta Colorado, home of the Rocky Ford cantaloupe and home to the writer of One Flew over the Cookoo’s Nest Ken Kesey. And then Trinidad Colorado, a big coal mining town and it is also where the Spanish and the U.S. Settlers had a battle on Christmas day in 1867. Bat Masterson once served as town marshal of Trinidad. A couple years ago when we drove to Colorado for my great grandparent’s memorial we came through Trinidad and took one of the Highways of Legends north to Salida. We saw some of the most beautiful scenery on that part of our trip.
First up in New Mexico was Wootton Ranch, we didn’t stop there but the original Santa Fe Trail could be seen on our side of the train. Wow that was so cool to see the actual trail. We watch the History Channels program “America, the story of us” last month and I remember what the pioneers went through when they were on the trail. Amazing! Next is Raton, New Mexico where there is a 137,440 acre Boy Scout ranch. That explains all the boy scouts that are on the train, and just in case you wanted to get a snack out of the snack car, you can forget it because the boy scouts ate everything in site. They can’t take it in the camp with them so they pre-eat everything the can hold. It is here that we reached an elevation of 7,588ft and got to go through a half mile tunnel. That was totally cool and a little scary all at the same time. Raton Pass is a National Historic Landmark and took us through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which means the blood of Christ. The Spanish settlers named the mountains this because of the hardships they went through while crossing them. We got to see the very outskirts of Las Vegas, New Mexico where Billy the Kid used to live. I was unaware there were two Las Vegas’. Thirty miles from here is Starvation Peak where some Spanish settlers escaped to the top of a mesa and defended themselves from the Navajos but couldn’t out last the Indians and ended up starving to death. Glorietta, New Mexico is the western most Civil War battles happened. A Texan supply train was destroyed by Union forces. Between here and Lamy the train goes down 1000 feet over ten miles. Los Cerrillos is where the earliest us gold mines can be found and scenes from the first Superman film were shot on the train here because it is the fastest sections of track.
In Albuquerque we had a 60 min stop so the train could get serviced. There were Native Americans on the platform selling their wares. It was soooo cool. I got a beautiful pair of handmade earrings and a small purse. The old woman I bought from was a Navajo Indian and was so beautiful. She had such character in her face. I got a picture that I will send to Big Dog and hopefully he can put it in here. More later from the rail.
Sunday evening, June 13th
After we left Albuquerque we had dinner with two elderly sisters. They were headed to our next town, Gallop, New Mexico which is the Indian Capital of the world. It is a meeting place for Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Apache and Acoma Indians. The sisters were going to a girl family get together. Turns out, one of the sisters was sister, a retired nun. They were both from Illinois. The train stopped under an over pass right in the middle of nowhere while we were at dinner. The whole story, which we did not find out until later was, that a man in Coach had slouched over in his seat and couldn’t breath. So he passed out. He was intoxicated, that’s why he slouched over. Authorities were called to remove him. Once the sheriff got there they gave him a choice, he could go the jail in the next town or they would take him to the nearest gas station and leave him. He chose the gas station. I wonder how he will complete his journey. Next is Winslow Arizona. This is where the meteor struck the earth and formed a huge crator. It is also the town made famous by the rock band, The Eagles, in their song “Take it Easy.” We are going to bed now.
While we were sleeping we road through Flagstaff, Arizona which is alongside the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine forest in the continental U.S. and is 7,000 feet above sea level. Quite a difference from Gulfport’s 7 feet. Flagstaff also, in 1958, passed the country’s first ordinance against outdoor lighting to keep the skies dark. I can tell you from the train in the middle of nowhere at night there are a tremendous amount of stars. Something we don’t see at home. Williams Junction was the next stop; I know a lot of people were going to be getting off here to go to the Grand Canyon. Kingman Arizona, where Route 66 goes through is our last stop in Arizona.
Next was Needles California, where we crossed the Colorado River, and Barstow California, both located in the Navajo Indian Reservation and are parts of the Mojave Desert. Victorville is quite historic. The Roy Rogers Museum is here, the first two drafts of Citizen Kane were written here and Sammy Davis Jr. got in a car accident here and lost his eye. The train comes through Cajon Pass which is where the Summitt Inn is. It is a Route 66 diner that has been in operation since 1952. Just after Cajon Pass came San Bernardino where the first McDonalds opened and Gene Hackman was from. Yorba Linda was next where President Richard Nixon was born and by the way he lived in San Clemente which is our final destination. We woke up this morning at around 5 o’clock because we get off the train at 6:30 in Fullerton California to catch the local train to our final destination of San Clemente. The Fullerton train station was used in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie, Send Me No Flowers. We actually got off the local train in San Juan Capistrano and Grandfather met us at the local Starbucks. San Clemente is just minutes from San Juan Capistrano.
It has been such an adventure. We have been through 18 states and Washington D.C. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvainia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. At Grandfather and Gammies house we will start a new adventure. I will keep you up to date on our daily happenings.
Ah so much to absorb, so little time. It’s been a pleasure reading about your adventure.
The contrast between the subsidized land in the Corn Belt to the Prairies, Mts and Parks is apparent. Beyond the travel guide the geological history is remarkable as well. A study of the Colorado Plateau (four corners area) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau will give you an enlightened perspective of the area. The information and maps on this website will go a long way in informing that discovery. http://www.americansouthwest.net/
North of San Clemente and Camp Pendleton. Crystal Cove State Park near Laguna Beach (an art community) is/was a nice place to visit. Have fun!
Monday June 14th
After putting our things in our room and saying hi to everyone, Grandfather and Gammie took us to “The Breakfast Place” for lunch. Mom and I split a Tuna sandwich. After that Grandfather had to go to a little rendezvous at the Historic San Clemente Hotel so Gammie took us to the Rainbow Sandals factory. They have the best flip-flops ever and they were on sale! I bought 2 pair and so did mom. For my 2 pairs I paid a total of $48.00. They cost $50 a pair in regular stores. Later that day we went to the Harbor Grill for dinner with 2 of Gammies’ friends. Whilst getting ready for bed we got a nice warm California welcome! You know what it was? Earthquake!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s what it was. There are so many new noises to get used to around here including noises from Camp Pendleton, a local army base.
Tuesday June 15th
The first thing we did today was go to the post office to check on a box we had mailed a week before that hadn’t arrived yet. Then we went grocery shopping. Then back home. After waiting what seemed like forever our package finally arrived somewhat damaged since the side of our box was ripped. What is so important about this package you ask? Well what my mom and I do is we only bring 4 outfits onto the train then send the rest so we don’t have to lug around 2 or 3 suitcases. Sometime in the afternoon mommy and I went shopping down at the Harbor. Later on before dinner I got to go to the Driving Range with Grandfather.
Wednesday June 16th
We headed to Long Beach to have lunch with Margaret, an ex-step mother to my Mom. She is going to be moving to Spokane and my mother wanted to see her because we may never see her again. After lunch Margaret took on a tour of Long Beach. We even went by Vickie Lawrence’s house, apparently some old actress. Just a few yards off of Long Beach we went by was an island. Or so we thought. Look closer and what we found was oil rigs. When they decided to drill there they didn’t want to ruin the view so Disney designed some fake palm trees to put around the oil rigs to make it look like a tropical island. Never drill on our coast!
Thursday June 17th
Today mom and I went down to San Clemente Beach just to get our feet wet. The water had to be at least like negative three degrees Fahrenheit. While we were at the beach, since I am a rock hound I gathered a few rocks and even a muscle shell. Then we headed up to Del Mar Street and did a little shopping there. Most things were way too expensive like a pair of flip-flops for $107.00! No way. But we did manage to buy 1 dress, on sale for me, 1 hair pin for me, 1 sweatshirt for mom, and 1 Frisbee thing for my cousin Eric. Then we went back home so we could meet my Aunt Lisa for Lunch in Solano Beach (or salami beach as Grandfather calls it).
Friday June 19th
Today Grandfather took me to do all 18 holes of golf with his 3 golfing buddies (Mikey, Lee, and Dick). Of course I was only caddy but I got to putt at every hole. Then after about 4 and ½ hours of golf we headed home then back out to the San Diego Zoo. We got to see everything from the monkeys to Polar Bears and got out at around 6:30. We stopped at a restaurant on the Mission Hills section of San Diego, where my cousin Eric lives.
Saturday, June 20
Today it was another early wake-up so we could go to Los Angeles!!! In Los Angeles we went to The Grove, a fancy mall. That is where the American Girl store is. I bought a new doll, her name is Gracie Lynne I also bought 2 outfits for her and she got her hair styled at the American Girl Salon. We ate at the Farmers Market where my mom’s original parents first met. My mom’s mom lives in Gulfport with us and my mom’s dad is who we are visiting now in California.
Thanks for sending another wonderful posting of your adventures. I didn’t know that there are salons at the American Girl stores. AND I do feel so old now, because I do remember Vickie Lawrence!!
Continued safe and happy travels.
By the way, I found out that Vickie Lawrence plays the grandma of Hannah Montana, so I really do know who she is.
Sunday, June 20th
My mom’s sister, Aunt Lisa, is visiting her son in San Diego, she came to Grandfathers house to spend Father’s day with us. Her son Eric came too. We went to Thousand Oaks to have lunch with Grandfathers Aunt Charlotte. She is 90 years old and doing quite well. She is my great-great-aunt. Wow. Once back to grandfathers we had a nice dinner out on the deck overlooking the canyon. We toasted fathers day and Eric’s birthday, which is tomorrow. Eric will be a quarter century old tomorrow, but for today he is exactly twice as old as I am. Mom says this is the only time in our lives that this will happen.
Monday, June 21st
Grandfather had a meeting at Cal Tech University today in Pasadena. So Mom and I hitched a ride. After we dropped Grandfather off we went to the historic city hall in Pasadena and got a map of the city. Outside of city hall were two massive bronze heads, one of Mack Robinson and one of Jackie Robinson, brothers that were both from Pasadena. They both had inscriptions and pictures on their heads telling about their lives. Mack was an Olympic gold medalist in the 1936 Olympics. He stayed in the community and his head was facing City Hall. Jackie moved to Brooklyn and his head was facing in the direction of Brooklyn. Jackie was the father of home base stealing. We set out to do some shopping on Colorado Avenue where the Rose Bowl Parade happens. Then we went to The Huntington Museum. The Huntington family made their money in the railroad business and left their estate to the City of Pasadena. The Huntington Library was awesome. They had a great collection of old books and documents on display, even a Gutenberg Bible from the 14th century. Even cooler was the vault that you could see in but not enter had 3.5 million manuscripts, books, and other rare documents in it. We went to the Huntington home which was turned into a museum and it was fabulous. I even got to see the famous painting The Blue Boy. There was another art museum and botanical gardens but we ran out of time. When we left there we went to the Gamble mansion to take a tour. It was a home built for the Gamble of Proctor and Gamble fame. Unfortunately they are not open on Mondays. It was a beautiful Craftsman style house. Maybe next time. We drove by the front of the Rose Bowl stadium and got a picture, and then it was off to 21 Choices. My cousin Eric said do not miss this place. It is a frozen yogurt shop that was great. We picked up Grandfather and headed home. It seems everyplace we went out of San Clemente and the neighboring towns was a 2 hour drive. This place is the king of the mountain when it comes to traffic.
Tuesday, June 22nd
Grandfather had to go back to Pasadena today and Gammie had some clients “up north”. Who knows how far that is. Gammie is a massage therapist. Mom and I decided to stay home and just relax, watch TV, something I have not done since I have been here. We have watched some old movies. Grandfather and Gammie like to watch movies with their dinner. So far we have seen Anna and the King, Casablanca, The King and I, Crouching Tiger; Hidden Dragon, Whispers of the Heart, and lastly, The Count of Monte Cristo.
Wednesday, June 23rd
Grandfather is the president of a non-profit organization called Disabled Veterans Business Alliance. Grandfather is a Vietnam era disabled veteran and this organization tries to help disabled veterans from any conflict to become entrepreneurs. They put a lot of effort into getting laws passed in California that will give government contractors a better chance of winning a bid if they have a disabled veteran sub-contractor working for them. Anyway, Grandfather and two other disabled veterans had to go to Irvine to tape an interview about their organization for Trinity Broadcasting Network. The show was called Joy in Our Town. Mommy and I got to go and be the studio audience. We were the only ones there to watch. It was very interesting; I have never seen anything like that before. The men did a great job. The Man Maids are coming this afternoon, so we have to be gone. Gammie has clients again. So we ran some errands.
Thursday, June 24th
Today we headed south to the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar. It was a lot like our State Fair in Tampa, but with fewer animals. There were basically only a few cows and more goats than you can shake a stick at. Who knew there were so many kinds of goats?
Friday, June 25th
We leave today. ? The train pulls out of San Juan Capistrano at 2:47. We went to Fed-Ex and mailed our clothes, souvenirs and gifts. When we left Gulfport we shipped one box and today we shipped three boxes! On the way to the train station Grandfather took us to In and Out Burger. Everyone has to go there once they say. There are only three things on the menu, a double cheeseburger, a single cheeseburger and a single hamburger. Everything is fresh made. It was good. The building is set up like Checkers, with car lines on both sides. The lines were all the way out into the street and down the block. We are sad to leave Grandfather, Gammie and sweet little Freddie. But a day or so on the train and we will be anxious to get home. The local train took us to LA Union station where we had a couple hours to kill. There is a very old part of the station that is well preserved and is used in a bunch of Hollywood movies and stuff. Something was being filmed there today, but there was a curtain up so we couldn’t see. I know that this station was used in a recent Nancy Drew Movie and a Garfield Movie. I have seen some commercials that are filmed here too. We stepped across the street to Olvera Street. This is the very first street in Los Angeles. Very Hispanic and very interesting. There was a Hispanic band playing in the town square. I think Hispanic people are beautiful and I love their language. We boarded our train at 6:55pm.
Saturday June 26th
We had a late dinner and went to bed early last night. When we were at breakfast this morning we heard about a bridge that was washed out up ahead. Later we found out the whole story. There was so much rain in the mid west lately that a railroad bridge was washed away in Lamy, Arizona. That is near Santa Fe. What does that mean to us? Well, when we got to Albuquerque, New Mexico all the passengers and all the luggage was de-trained and put on busses. They gave us all water, snacks and KFC. Then they waved good-bye to us and sent us to La Junta Colorado to meet another train. There are two Southwest Chiefs that run between Chicago and LA. While one is coming, one is going. So while the bridge is out each train only goes half way and gets turned around, loaded with bus people and sent back to where it came. Who wants to be on a bus, mother natures fault. Someone had John Adams, the HBO mini-series and we watched it the whole time, it was very interesting. We were on the bus for 5-6 hours and please always remember that New Mexico has the worlds worst rest stop bathrooms. Only 4 stalls with 230 people. I bet the bathrooms have not been updated since they were built. We got to La Junta with an hour to spare and the train was there, turned around and waiting for us. We left exactly on schedule.
Sunday, June 27th
So we woke up this morning an hour and a half behind. The rain has caused a lot of problems apparently. The rain beds are so saturated that now the train is going extra slow for safety. By 3:00, which was our expected arrival time in Chicago, we were 4 hours behind. We used up all of our three hours of layover that we had. You have to be flexible to be train riders. My Dad says, trains run on tracks not on time. We missed our connection in Chicago as did a lot of other people. There were a few options to choose from on how to handle this situation. We chose to spend the night in Chicago and catch the same train out tomorrow as were supposed to catch today. Everything will happen the way it was supposed to today, we will just be home a day later. The only other difference is that we will not be able to have a sleeper car from here to DC. Amtrak will reimburse us for the cost of not having a sleeper from Albuquerque to La Junta and also from Chicago to DC. And Amtrak gave us $60 cash for taxis and food while we are stranded here in Chicago. They put us up in a nice hotel room on Grant and 40th, The Homewood Suites (a Hilton chain). Our 8th floor window looks right onto the Sears Tower, now called the Willis. Flexibility is the key word. Daddy is not happy and we too are sad to be away for another day.
Monday, June 28th
While stranded in Chicago we went to Navy Pier and did some exploring. We played miniature golf and had a Chicago pizza. It was a really nice day. Our train left at 6:00pm. We had only coach seat and we made the best of it. Mom had problems sleeping but nothing we can’t handle.
Tuesday, June 29th
We got to Washington DC about 1:00. We walked to the Supreme Court House. Wow, what a place, it’s like it was carved out of one piece of marble. The elevators had gold doors. We could see into the court room, but couldn’t go in. Then we went next door to the Library of Congress. It was very impressive too. Again though, we couldn’t go in but there was a glass wall upstairs that you could look into the actual library from. What was cool was we had just watched the movie “National Treasure, Book of Secrets” and the book of secrets was kept in the Library of Congress. We walked back to the train station and did a tour of the station. They have a shopping mall within the station.
Wednesday, June 30th
We are finally home. It was a great trip and in the end we were only 24 hours and 10 min late. Thanks for reading my story. I enjoyed sharing it with you.