With Evey and Eric

The train travel was a lot of fun!  I posted pictures every day on Facebook, and then I created an album of over 400 pictures that I have shared with the kids and the couple who drove us to the train station.  I'll post a few here today.

I weighed myself this morning on Evey's scale.  Every scale is different, of course, and I weighed at 9:30 after breakfast, which means a pound or two more than at 7 a.m. before breakfast.  The scale said 288.7, which would be 2.5 pounds gained since I posted it last Sunday.  It's not great, but it's not terrible either.  I can only keep trying my best.

In about fifteen minutes we are driving up to San Rafael, maybe 90-120 minutes north of here, to meet up with my high school girlfriend and her husband for lunch at a place called Terrapin Crosswinds.  That should be fun.  We always try to get together at least once when we are in California, although she lives in Sonoma, way north of here.  Her birthday is this week, so I have a little gift for her.

We have been having a lot of fun playing with Evey's dog, Kiwi.  She is such a little cutie-pie.  Last night Eric and Evey made us a fabulous dinner of halibut, twice baked potatoes, and steamed broccoli.  It was a healthy and nutritious dinner.  Then I ate her homemade brownies and Ben and Jerry's ice cream for dessert.  LOL

Here's a few pictures from the train trip. This is last Monday when we boarded the train up through leaving Chicago Wednesday afternoon.  I'll post the rest of the trip tomorrow.

Mark is waiting for the Silver Meteor.  It was about half hour late.

I really enjoy how spacious the train seats are compared to airplanes.

Enjoying a whiskey at dinner in the dining car the first night.

Tuesday morning we pulled in to D.C.

We had about a seven hour lay-over, so most of the time we took turns sitting and reading and guarding stuff while the other one walked around and explored or just got some exercise.

The great hall of Union Station.

I walked around outside for awhile.  We thought about going to the Capitol or the Smithsonian, but it was just too hot and humid.  We decided to kill the time mostly in the station.  We ate lunch in the station and picked up food from Subway to take onboard for dinner the second night.

We settled in to our coach seats on the Capitol Limited to head to Chicago.

Harper's Ferry, WV is a beautiful stop.

That night we sat in the cafe car to watch a movie on Mark's iPad.  It was cold, so we wrapped our blankets around ourselves.

The next morning we were in Chicago's Union Station where we got to kill six hours in the Metro Lounge because we will be boarding a sleeper car next.

The lounge is huge with comfy couches and lots of electric sockets and USB ports.

Unlimited, free hot and cold drinks plus snacks were provided all day.

This station also has a great hall, so we both took a turn to walk around there.

The best thing in the Metro Lounge was the big, beautiful, clean shower with shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner provided.

After two nights in coach, we were each thrilled to take a long, hot shower!

Then it was time to board our roomette.  

We are literally the last room at the end of the last car.  That's the door at the end of our corridor looking out at the track inside the station as we pulled out of Chicago.