November 30, 2004
Finally!
Okay! It has taken too long, but I am finally done with posting my vacation pictures.
Go... Look... Fawn...
All the pictures from the trip are under the SamerFest link. You can also see all the pictures for each city (San Francisco, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver), each state (California, Oregon, Washington) or each country (USA, Canada). We slice, you decide.
Posted by Samer at 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 23, 2004
Cascades Service
I've completed the train part of my trip. I've travelled on the Starlight Express from San Francisco to Eugene, and from there on the Cascades to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. I'm pretty impressed.
The Starlight Express starts off in Southern California and goes right up the coast. It is a slow, lumbering train, that often gains a lot of delays on the way up. LVH and AB both warned me that it would likely be late and just get later. But the train left Emmeryville just about 10 mins late and, almost 15 hours later, arrived in Eugene.
Yeah, 15 hours is a long time to be sitting in a seat. But that's just one of the great things when you compare Amtrak to flying. For one thing, you don't have to sit in your seat: you can get up, walk around, go to the dining car or the lounge. The views are spectacular, even in the fog. Your seat mates are sometimes a fun bunch, and sometimes just crazy. Oh, and there's no long security lines or annoyances that make flying a pain in the ass.
Here's a shocker for those used to dealing with Amtrak's NE Corridor and big city staff: the staff on the west coast are just amazingly nice people. They were all helpful, even to the annoying people on the Starlight Express.
There's decent food at not too high a price, the seats are comfortable, and did I mention that there are no body cavity searches? If time is on your side, what's there not to love?
Posted by Samer at 07:12 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Ed Crane
Here I was wandering the Pike Place Market in Seattle when I spotted a nice view out a window. I walked down there, and an affable older gentleman was sitting sipping on some coffee and reading the paper. He welcomed me with a booming voice. It was the sort of voice you don't forget, you know? Deep and authoritative. A broadcast voice.
He asked where I was from, and I told him "DC". He smiled and told me he knew DC quite well. He'd been the traffic reporter for a bunch of radio stations, including WTOP, WMAL and WRC. We talked for about ten minutes, and he shared the story of the closing of Pennsylvania Avenue, and how he basically broke that story that sad morning in 1995.
It was pretty cool to hear his stories and remember the old days in radio and TV. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Crane.
Posted by Samer at 03:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack