Cruisin'

(If you need to, I think you can click on each picture/caption block to make them a little bigger.)

 

Only Two Days Left...

...but let's be honest, I'm pretty much working my way back into school mode again already. The next two days I'll end up going into school to finish setting up for second grade anyway. Wednesday is my official day to report back.

Oh, how quickly the summer break flies!

Thankfully, I spent the last week here...

...doing this, among other things...

... with a couple of great people, Hubs and a friend.

It Finally Arrived!

Earlier this week.
It finally came.
Now I can officially plan
to go on the mission trip.
Hooray!

Riding the Rails

I'm not a pro, but I've had some experience traveling by train. My mom and I rode one to visit my grandma in Indiana when I was little. One way, the trip lasted about 15 hours. We left early in the morning and arrived in time for dinner.

My husband recently had his first experience on a train. He didn't just put his little toe daintily in the water; nope, he dove in head first! We rode 30 hours to the Los Angeles Union Station, spent a few days with family, then rode 30 hours back home.

I wanted to share some of the tips we learned on our 60 hour train experience:

• The Amtrak website advises, "Each passenger may bring aboard no more than two pieces of carry-on baggage." They also have a long list of exceptions. I took that first statement literally and ignored the rest of the information. Carry-on baggage really isn't monitored well, so make sure you bring a bag of snacks and drinks to eliminate (or cut) your cost of train purchases. Gas stations are not cheap, but trains are much worse! I tried to combine my purse, activity bag, and snack bag into one... Stressful! 

• Headphones are a must! Not only can they give you tunes to jam to (quietly by yourself), they block out annoying baby cries, obnoxious snoring, and occasional loud phone conversations that you really don't want to hear. 

• Bring a blanket. When we first boarded the train, I realized we were unaware of the unspoken rule that trains tend to be cold in temperature. It seemed like everyone had a blanket to wrap up in. Had it not been for the nice train lady, we would have been ice cycles by the time we arrived in California. Thank you, nice train lady!

• Let's face it, the pillows provided by the train people are less than adequate. Having no pillow will result in neck-aches. (I experienced that during the first 30 hours.) Bring a pillow. You'll thank yourself later. 

• A working foot rest on your train seat would be nice, especially if you have shorter legs (like I do). My wonderful husband offered to switch seats with me on the way to LA since my foot rest wasn't working properly.

I gotta say, riding on trains is a great way to travel from one place to another, but it's not 60 hours great. Any future train trips will last much less than a day!

Happy travels!