Our AMTRAK Adventures….Part II

December 25, 2010……Christmas and Winter in South Dakota…..what a beautiful time of the year!

December 31st, 2010….New Years Eve……..not too exciting anymore for an old married couple…..

January 10, 2011…..Winter in South Dakota…..Well, I guess it’s OK as long as I don’t have to move to much more of that stupid white stuff around….

January 11, 2011……Sis’s birthday….she is enjoying  sunny Arizona…In South Dakota, we’re waiting for spring……bummer…

January 15, 2011…..Cabin fever……

January 16, 2011…..Cabin fever……

January 17, 2011….Cabin fever…..

January 20, 2011…..IDEA!!! Let’s jump on AMTRAK and head for Florida!

January 30, 2011….Loaded the luggage in the car and drove to Omaha…

Hello James and Kris!

Can you drop us off at the Omaha AMTRAK station tomorrow morning and store our car for a week or two?

You can? Excellent!

January 31, 2011….Here we go!

Jamie dropped us off at the early hour of 4AM……Eastbound Zephyr is due at 5:14am…..we have a reserved sleeper all the way to West Palm Beach!

 

The anticipation begins…..……

Waiting……..waiting……

Gotta re-check those tickets for the umpteenth time……

Right on time!

Oh man, we gotta walk to the end car?????

All aboard!

Zooming by Osceola, Iowa…..

Zooming by highway traffic!

Nap time…….3:30am stuff is catching up to us……

Iowa countryside is about as boring as South Dakota, but still exciting to view from a train!

I did see some coyotes and deer right about daybreak…..wasn’t fast enough to get pictures of them….sorry….

It’s always nice to see the American flag proudly displayed!

Getting close to going under I-35 near Mt Pleasant, Iowa….

I still have a special place in my heart for steam power….this one was displayed in Burlington, Iowa….

A rather “railroady” pic here……

Crossing the Mighty Mississippi …..

And we’re in Illinois…..

Marcy came back to life and decided to update daughter Lisa on our progress……

Getting closer to Chicago…..

Our first view of the “Windy City”…..

Chicago Union Station is quite impressive……

We were privileged to have access to the “Metropolitan Lounge” since we had sleeper tickets…..

The columns in the front of Union Station were neat!

Looking at the station from street side…..

looking down the street in front of the station….I done some more exploring/sightseeing on the way back…..check my blog for the return trip  for that…..

On the way again, on the Capitol Limited, bound for Washington, D.C…..it got dark not too long after we left Chicago…..We woke up someplace in Pennsylvania or West Virginia…..

Scenery was kinda blah, but there were a few nice shots…..

Harpers Ferry, W. Va…..very picturesque area…..

Approaching Washington DC….

First view of the U.S. Capitol building looking out the front door of Washington Union Station…..

We had several hours to kill in DC, so we jumped on a trolley tour and saw some of the sights……would have been  nice to have more time to really explore them, but it was too Wintry anyway….

General Sherman statue….

Washington Monument as seen through the trolley window…

600 Independence Avenue…..The Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters……I attended a couple National Conferences here back in the 1980’s….

Jefferson Memorial….

Washington Memorial again…..

Lincoln Memorial building….we didn’t get to see the famous statue from the trolley….

Korean War Memorial…..spooky, but impressive……

World War II Memorial……The Greatest Generation…..

I believe this Memorial is to all Veterans…..including WW I…..

National Archives…..The Original Constitution and the Original Declaration of Independence is here, and I believe the flag that Francis Scott Key was inspired by to write our National Anthem is here also…..

The Newseum…….

Closeup of the saying on front of the Newseum…..

I would have loved to had the time to go through this place….

The famed Pennsylvania Avenue…..

The Freedom Bell in front of the Washington Union Station

Washington Union Station is quite a landmark also……the interior is beautiful and they have many formal functions there, including Presidential Balls…..

The Christopher Columbus Memorial, just in front of the Wash. Union Station….

 

It was a little chilly out……

Some interior shots…..

The circular platform below is a restaurant…..we were going to eat there until we looked at the menu at the bottom of the stairs…..salads started at $18.50……..

This is the Acela Lounge for Sleeper and Acela Express passengers…Like the Chicago lounge, it is completely separate from the main terminal area and is very quiet and peaceful….

We commandeered a corner spot and took advantage of the free WiFi with our netbooks……

It was nice to see some old Northern Pacific memorabilia hanging on the wall!

One of the high-speed Acela Express trains awaiting departure….they run in the Northeast corridor at speeds up to 150 MPH!

We  boarded the “Silver Meteor” out of D.C. bound for West Palm Beach, FL!

 

Crossing the Potomac River shortly after departing D.C……. I think I seen the ghost of George Washington!

It was dark shortly after we left D.C., so no more pictures until we got to Jerry and Elaine’s house in Jensen Beach……I will continue posting them in the next section……standby……