California Train Ride

June 20, 2010

The Bay Bridge in the early morning light.

Our plane ride from Hawaii went off without a hitch.  All things considered (hey, that would be a cute name for my blog too), Clark and Harry did pretty well on the plane.  Sure, there was a 45 minute screaming and crying fit that Harry started, which it systematically triggered off every other kid on the plane...but it could have been worse.  We landed in San Fransisco early in the morning and took a cab down to the Ferry Terminal to wait for the bus, that would take us to the train.  

Here is Jason, clumsily trying to drag all our luggage to the bus depot.  I was in charge of dragging both the boys and the strollers, we didn't think this part through very well, I am glad we didn't have to walk too far.  I am sure we looked like a crazy homeless family, dragging all our suitcases and car seats around, the boys blankets and backpacks, not wearing any jackets or real shoes... we got a lot of stares.

We were NOT prepared for how cold it was.  It was realistically probably only 60 degrees or so, but coming from Hawaii, all of us in shorts and flips flops...well, we were freezing.  (So much so, that Jason spent $55 -way TOO much money- buying me a sweatshirt and we took turns wearing it.)

I was also not prepared for how excited I was to be back in California.  The whole plane ride was pretty sad.  We were looking forward to our vacation, but we were sad we weren't going to come home to Hawaii at the end of it.  But, as soon as we landed in San Francisco I got so nostalgic.  It was so familiar, and sure I was sad to leave Hawaii, but now I was happy too.  I was fondly remembering the time we lived there (well we lived across the bay in Alameda, but I took the Ferry to "work" everyday, and SF was kinda my second home).  I kinda wanted to stay... ok not kinda, I would have given anything to be able to stay in California.  I had forgotten how much I missed it.

Clark counting the little fish he saw in the water.  

He was fascinated by the giant bridge.  He had never seen anything like that before.  I wish we would've had more time to stay in SF, to show him the Golden Gate Bridge.

Jason and Harry starting out the train ride.

Sadly, I didn't take too many pictures on the train.  We were all so exhausted, after flying all night, and the stress of traveling was getting to us.  I missed out on so many cute opportunities, like Clark getting a picture with a real train conductor (in a fancy train conductor hat)... I am making a sad face right now.  

Clark was thrilled to be riding the train.  At the train station in Oakland he was running back and forth across the platform saying "all aboard, choo-choo, all aboard!"  I was afraid he wouldn't really get what was going on, but he was ecstatic!  I have to say I was pretty impressed too.  The train was so roomy and comfortable, especially after a six hour plane flight.  I didn't now what to expect, but we had a great time (despite being bone tired).  It is definitely something we would do again, even though it takes a little longer than driving or flying, it is cheap and fun.

The Bosko Family

(Such a crappy picture, I know, but it was the only one I thought to take.)

Eating dinner in the dining cart.  I was hoping they were going to push around a little cart, with food and treats, like in Harry Potter...but no such luck.  The food was not the best, but it was a super fun experience.

Our train was called the California Zephyr, and the ride was about 14-15 hours, it made a few stops along the way which added to the time.  It took us from Oakland, California to Salt Lake City, Utah (where my awesome Mom picked up up at 3:30am).  The part I enjoyed the most, besides eating in the dining car and napping, was when we went through the Sierra Nevada mountains.  They had a few guys from the National Parks Service on board, and they were giving a history of the train line and surrounding areas, it was cool.

Great fun was had by all, and I couldn't think of a better way to start our family road trip... I know Clark totally agrees with me on this.  It was his tiny little dream come true, that he never knew he had :)

Next time though, we are totally getting our own train suite!