Meals on Wheels

The picture accompanying this post is of my absolute favorite breakfast in the whole wide world. Soft boiled eggs with butter, a dash of salt, and a dash of Tabasco, along with a piece of toast with lingonberry jam (compliments of T&C), and a juice glass of grapefruit juice. This is why there's no place like home, for anything, including eating.

Even so, on the Great Train Trip West, our train meals were pretty darn good, the ultimate meals on wheels! Our porter, Jamil, on the Capitol Express going out, took our dinner reservation and communicated the evening's choices. There were several entrees from which to choose: roast chicken, steak, vegetarian pasta dish, lamb shank, and crab cakes. If you want to see the actual menu, here is the link: http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/81/708/Capitol-Limited-Dining-Menu,0.pdf   JS immediately knew he was going to order the roast leg of lamb and I immediately knew I was going to order the crab cakes....all the other choices quickly faded into oblivion! I now realize I didn't think to take pictures of the food, and am truly regretful for that miss. When our reservation of 7:00 p.m. was announced, we walked to the dining car to be seated, and were placed at a table with a gentleman named Mike. Another gentleman, AJ, joined us shortly after, and our drink orders were taken. A lovely salad and bread were served, a nice repast of which to partake while we were getting to know our fellow table guests. The entrees arrived with a vegetable and baked potato (or rice, or mashed potatoes). The lamb was delicious, so I am told, and the crab cakes were very good as well. Dinner was followed by various dessert choices and hot beverages. JS and I each chose to order the berry cheesecake, the perfect ending to the meal. It was really nice to be seated at a table, to eat our food with stainless flatware and from glass dishes, and to have cloth napkins to dab the corners of our drooling mouths : )

Breakfast the next morning was just as good. Scrambled eggs, bacon, grits or whole grain bisquit, juice, and coffee. Our table mate that morning was Leon, who was on his way to Indiana, and again, we had an interesting conversation and received glimpses into each others' lives. We knew we would probably never see our fellow meal guests ever again, but then, who knows....it's a small world, and the possibilities are infinite!

We had some time in Chicago after arriving so walked around Union Station, as there was a bazaar in progress. About half an hour later who did we see on his way to the street exit but Leon!!! See....you never know!

There is also a cafe on the train, and a bar, so on our return trip we enjoyed a cocktail before dinner. Our porter on the return trip, Lou, offered to bring dinner to our cabin or make a reservation for us. We chose the reservation and made it for 8 p.m. since the return train was pulling out a bit later. JS liked the lamb so much the first time he ordered it again! I ordered the roast chicken, and was just as pleased with it as I was with the crab cakes. We were pretty stuffed so shared a raspberry sorbet for dessert this time. Our table mate for our second dinner was Helen.

Return breakfast (or should I say "second breakfast"?!!!) was the same as the trip out, and just as welcome and delicious. Our table mate that morning was Ben from Florida, who wasn't sure if he liked the cold or not, but was beginning to decide that if he had his druthers, he'd probably choose Florida!

We both are somewhat introverted, but we so enjoyed the opportunity to meet other travelers at mealtimes and to get to know their stories. What a great experience, we wish it for everyone. That's why we are joining http://www.narprail.org/ we think more trains and more routes are good ideas!

Automobiles, Planes, or Trains?

Each mode of transportation has its merits, however, I vote for trains, 100 percent.

Cars are very convenient, personalized, and comfortable, but on a long trip, someone has to drive and pay attention to the road. If the driver lacks skill, the passenger(s) may need to pay attention as well : )  Either way, someone has to always be paying attention and watching the road, which detracts from the mutual enjoyment of the roadside scenery. In a car, you also have to stop at a roadside rest stop for bio breaks, and depending on whether or not it's a toll road, selection of eating establishments may be limited. Some states still have full service stations, so if a person is not accustomed to pumping their own gas, there is also the trauma of self serve stations!! Cars conveniently go where you drive them, so you have the flexibility of pulling off and digressing from your route whenever you wish, that is their primary advantage.

Planes are fast, once you're in the air. The problem is, getting in to the air! I have never encountered so many scheduling delays as when I'm at an airport. Plane routine: check in and go on a long trek to the gate, go through security, if there's a connecting flight, go on a long trek to the connecting gate, land and go on a long trek to the baggage claim area. While on the plane you have a little seat and are usually squished between two other people who also have little seats. The bathrooms aren't bad, but people have to constantly get up and down to accommodate the bio needs of other passengers. I haven't had a meal on an airplane in quite some time since budgets are constantly being cut, but when I did, they were merely passable, nothing to shout about. In the airport food is expensive, there are times when it's impossible to find a place to sit, and if you're stuck for hours due to delays, there is nowhere to go. Planes are fast, that is their primary advantage.

Trains.....aaaahhhhh trains! Local travel on trains is fun, fast, and convenient. Long distance travel on trains is even more fun, just as fast as a car or faster, depending on stops, and allows for mutual enjoyment of the trip. Our train ride from Washington, DC to Chicago on the Capitol Express started our vacation the second we stepped onto the train. Since we booked overnight train accommodations, we had use of the Station Lounge and all the comforts therein (refreshments, plenty of seating, luggage stowage, and wireless computer service). It's a short walk from the station to the train car entrance, with porters waiting to help with luggage. Once in our cabin, there was a long sofa type seat on one side and a chair facing the sofa seat, with a fold up table in between. There was coat storage and a booth that housed the toilet and shower. We stored our larger suitcase on the lower deck, and took the smaller suitcase to our room upstairs; the suitcase stowed well under the single seat. We plugged in our cell phones to recharge them, removed our shoes, sat back in our chairs, and enjoyed regular conversation without worrying about infringing on the space or boundaries of others. The porter came to take our dinner reservation (all meals included in the overnight fare), and the food at mealtimes was diverse as well as delicious. We ate meals in the dining car at tables covered with table cloths and on dishes that were real. We enjoyed time in the lounge car when we felt like taking a little walk. We arrived at our destination earlier than scheduled and we already had our luggage in our hands to walk to the car rental booth just inside the station. Layover to await a connecting train? Simply walk out of any train station and there is something to do because you're in the middle of the city. There are so many advantages to taking the train, their primary disadvantage is they are not as fast as planes, and extra travel time needs to be accounted for when taking long trips. More detailed accounts of this trip to follow.

Gems

So....due to a grand delay at the airport during a trip last fall, we decided to take the train this time. We rode the Capitol Limited from Washington, D.C. to Chicago and loved it, more details on that later, as I want to write down some observations from the start of our adventure. While riding through DC and Baltimore, I noticed millions of sparkling pieces of glass along the banks of the train tracks, thoroughly disgusted by the thoughtless discarding of trash by my fellow humans. I also, however, caught myself appreciating the sparkles and beautiful rainbow colors emanating from those hills of dirt. Why not, I asked myself, think of them as they really are? They are beautiful. It's just because they are not rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds that I am disgusted. If they were nature's minerals sparkling there, I'd pull the train stop and go gather them. So I allowed myself the luxury of discarding my own judgmental trash and enjoyed those gems for what they were. Change of perspective so often allows us to be a little bit more happy, so why not?!

Here are a few more gems we encountered during the ride:

Beautiful bridges along...
...Beautiful waterways
Kids playing basketball on inner city courts
Herons
River otter
Lounging deer
Galloping horses
Churches
Lovely barns
My seatmate : )
Small, medium, and large houses and buildings housing lives being lived
People of all ages sitting on benches and playing in city parks
Farms
Manufacturing - and the smell of diesel and coal
No delays
Great train food
Leon, AJ, Mike, Suzanne, Jamille, Helen, Ben, Lou - porters and meal partners
A pair of Canadian geese and a pair of swans
Graffiti of great artistic talent
Crescent moon smiling down through the window during an evening in the lounge car
Headlight of the train as we traveled round a curve at night
Waking at night to hear the train whistle, only to be rocked back to sleep by the movement of our car on the tracks
City skylines
Orthodox priest
Mance, PA
The minimalism of our shower and lav
Discovering overnight train travel!
Those dear to us who were waiting at the other end, and those dear to us to whom we would be returning

Let us gather our gems each day and appreciate their value.