We woke up and showered and prepared to get some breakfast and do some shopping before checking out of the AirBNB. We went about a block from the AirBNB to a place we had seen the previous night called West Town. WHat a great decision that turned out to be. West end was affiliated with the Roots Pizza joint and there were chefs involved, a roof-top garden and a Farm-to-Table restaurant upstairs. The West Town had a huge bakery and kitchen and supplied many other restaurants in the area with goodies in addition to what they served in the restaurant. We ordered Eggs Benedict as suggested by the waitress who could have doubled for the spokesperson for the restaurant. We also ordered the Biscuits & Gravy she said was a staple of the local patrons. She served us coffee and offered a complementary Dough-sant explaining the gourmet chefs upstairs liked to show off to the folks who eat there. The Dough-sant was their version of the trademarked "Cronut" (Donut+Croissant). Anyway the Dough-sant was the size of a mini loaf and we were worried we wouldn't even be able to eat our breakfast if we ate it. However, it was a wonderfully light and fluffy layered affair with crunchy stuff here and there and sliced almonds and a light sugar sprinkle on the outside. It was like eating a light yeast roll. It just melted away without loading you down. Then came the entrees and did they ever look good. A full half an avocado was adorning the Eggs Benedict along with a bunch of other stuff and sitting beside all that were some really crispy hash browns that just couldn't be left on the plate. The Biscuits & Gravy? Well, just look at the picture and you'll figure it out..... They were doing an all day Brunch and we could see their lunch stuff was over the top good as well. West Town is not contending for my favorite Chicago restaurant!
We knew we were set for food at least as far as Los Angeles so we summoned UBER and headed back to Chicago's Union Station. Once there we check to make sure everything was on time and sat in the Grand Hall to await the train.
We left the station at 3:00 and headed west across Illinois, the Mississippi River and Missouri before it got dark. We had a dinner of Smoked Trout (about a 3 inch slab from the middle of the fish) and Ukrainian Cheese at about 9:00 pm. We got out and took a walk when the train made a stop in Kansas City Missouri that would last about a half hour or so. Wow the Great Hall of the Kansas City terminal was the biggest we've seen by far of all the Train Stations. 3 of Chicago's Great Halls could have easily fit into Kansas'.
We spent another restless night in coach and awakened to the flatlands of eastern Colorado and had a breakfast of train coffee and some pastries we had bought in the Uranian village in Chicago.
Following Breakfast we had a brunch of Ukrainian Borscht & Blintzes before entering New Mexico.
After crossing the southeast corner of Colorado we entered New Mexico's upper eastern corner through the Raton pass.
We waited until we got to Las Vegas (New Mexico) before breaking out the Ukranian food bag and chowing down on various meats and cheeses and some pringles.
We traveled with lots of Amish and Mennonites along our train travels. They only travel by train and the winter is when they are not busy with their farming and do most of their traveling.
After lunch we passed through Lamy New Mexico. They had what looked like a defunct Train museum that had once acquired a bunch of train cars and engines but didn't maintain them and had just abandoned them. It looked like someone was living in one and that the one beside the station had been used for some kind of events or as a restaurant at one time. The town looked really small and nearly abandoned but when Shawn googled it there were tons of homes for sale (about 25% based on population, and they we 1/2 million dollar prices. Someone musta bet on the future before the housing bubble burst and were now trying to unload them?
Eventually Mount Sandia near AlbaTurkey came into view and we knew we were getting close to the Albuquerque Station where Shawn had her heart set on getting some Ice Cream during our hour long stop. We got off the train and walked around the streets near the station but the Ice Cream shop had closed and reopened as a pizza place. We ended up going into t theater and buying ice cream there.
Then it was all aboard and headed west. We rode along and eventually dug out the Ukrainian bag again for a dinner of smoked candied salmon and perogies near the Continental Divide.
During the night, but before midnight, we passed through Winslow Arizona where I looked the window to see if I could see a Flat Bed Ford. I wanted to see if Standing On A Corner was worthwhile on a cold January night before actually doing it. No ford so we stayed aboard.
We woke up in California at Riverside and bought some train coffee and had the last of the Ukrainian Blintzes for breakfast.
Our train arrived at Los Angeles Union Station about 8:30 am. The station's Great Hall was pretty much what we had expected, tall and large. However, the rest of the modern part of the station reminded me of the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport! A never ending stream of people 7 or 8 wide moved back and forth from the east side to the west side and in and out of the tracks. We looked around and found where the baggage storage counter was and then went out to the courtyard where we could lay our bags on a table to repack for our overnight needs. We wanted to use the baggage storage service to store our large roll-on bags because it was too early to check into the AirBNB and we wanted to be able to go do some sightseeing and get lunch. They will store your bags for $4 per bag for 24 hours.
They told us that we had to pick up the bags by 10:00pm but after a little discussion we found that if we didn't pick them up they just moved the bags upstairs to the long term storage and we could simply pick them up there. So we stored the bags for $4 each.
bought a $7 TAP card day pass to use to pay for our Subway and bus transportation for the day. We jumped on the Gold line light rail (subway) and headed to Mariachi Station to see where our AirBNB was and to explore lunch opportunities.
The AirBNB was about 300 ft from the Subway entrance/exit and was gonna be really convenient for us in Los Angeles.
The neighborhood was predominately Mexican with shops and eateries all around us. We walked several blocks exploring and eventually stopped at Yeya's Mexican grill. A couple of the folks on the street had pointed it out as a good place to eat so that made the decision easy. We ordered a couple Sopes for a late breakfast and wolfed them down before checking into the AirBNB. It was 11:00 am and time to check in so we walked across the street and used the combination to open the house door and found our room key in the lock. After a quick tour of the house we deposited our overnight bags and took off for the Subway that we would ride to downtown.
We rode the subway to downtown and got off near the Grand Central Market to explore. We walked through the Market that was probably at least as large as a city block and filled with restaurants and shops. We stuck to our Mexican theme stopping at Carnitas Estilo Michoacan where we ordered a couple tacos with avocado to snack on. Then we stopped and ordered a couple of pounds of granola and trail mix for train food.
We walked up the hill to the Central Library and walked around taking pictures.
Then it was back underground to the subway and Holywood. We got off near Hollywood & Vine and walked a couple miles following the Stars in the sidewalk down to Grauman's Chinese Theater and took a picture of the Iconic Hollywood sign on the hill from there. Crazies everywhere made the walk a lot of fun.
Shawn learned what you do when you gotta go in the middle of 3,000,000 of your closest strangers.....
We were tired from walking nearly 9 miles so we headed for the hacienda and Yeya's for dinner. We took the subway to Mariachi Plaza where our AirBNB was and walked over to Yela's. We ordered Chicken Mole with beans and rice and made to order corn tortillas and I had Carnitas (tender short ribs) with beans & rice & spicy salsa. We explained that we wanted something to take on the train with us but didn't want anything that might spoil of get soggy during our travels. Mama said Burritos were the best traveling food and she would make us a couple especial burritos to go. They ended up weighing about 2 pounds each! We thanked her and went home to the AirBNB. We settled in but it wasn't long before we were asleep because of all the walking and food.
When we got up we took a shower and got our things together, locked the front door and headed for La Monarca Bakery & Cafe on the corner of our block. We ordered a couple Organic Mexican coffees and some pastries for breakfast and a few pastries to take with us on the train. Prices were about 1/3 Starbucks prices.
From there is was a short dart back underground to Union Station where we popped up like Prairie Dogs from the subway to enter the Station. We dropped off all our overnight stuff at baggage storage where our new found friend agreed to not charge us to store it with the roll-on bags while we did some more exploring.
Once again we were off and running. This time we took the Red Metro double-bus down Santa Monica Highway to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. We had some folks snap a photo of us in front of the Beverly Hills sign and then strolled down Rodeo Drive like the high rollers we are. We window shopped our way all the way to breakfast at Tiffiny's 208 Rodeo Drive Beverly Hills 90210.
Of course Shawn wanted to do "Breakfast at Tiffinay's"!
From there we walked down Willshire Drive where we got coffee at Trimana's just past the Ferrari dealership and chatted about what to do next. We walked a few blocks further and then caught the Metro 720 bus, tapped our TAP card to pay and rode nearly an hour down to Los Angeles County Museum of Art to snap a couple photos of neat stuff before sinking down to the Brea Tar Pits to check out the prehistoric Wooly Mammoths stuck in the tar. Then we caught the Metro 20 bus to Western Street where we got off and went back underground for a 20 minute return trip t Union station on the Subway (3 times as fast as the bus).
Upon arrival at Union Station we retrieved out checked baggage and repacked everything for the train. Then we ate one of our Yeya's burritos for lunch and made sure we knew exactly what to do to be ready to board the train. They assigned seats so there was no hurry to be in the front of the line to get on the train so we lingered a bit in the station watching all the people. The Station is much like the Atlanta airport terminal but with a lot less invasive/intrusive security. The security was very visible but caused no delays or concern. There were a few beggars around the station but they were very well behaved due to the security and didn't bother us at all. We boarded around 3:45 and the train pulled out at 4:00 pm.
We pulled out the snacks we had bought for munching along the way.
The train was relatively full when we pulled out but thinned all the way to Tuscon where it was leveled off at less than 1/2 full allowing us to both have 2 seats to spread out in for sleeping. We woke up around Lordsburg New Mexico and watched the sun come up and ate wonderful Mexican pastries with our train coffee. We chatted and watched the familiar sights and waved to Mom & Dad and our other relatives who were buried in Deming New Mexico.
Our Grandfather helped build the railroad station south of here at Hatchita and fought with Colonel "Black Jack" Pershing who chased Poncho Villa back & forth across the border. In later years my dad moved out here and helped build the Phelps Dodge Copper Smelter and then lived in the company owned town of Palayas and worked at the smelter for about 10 years. My grandparents lived directly behind the bus station in Deming New Mexico for years until my Grandfather died and my Grandmother moved back to Indiana. All my brothers and sister lived out here for a brief period of time while my parents were out here. I was in the South Pacific serving in the Navy in those days but visited often. I got out of the Navy in Orlando and everybody ended up coming there eventually. My parents and all my Father's side are buried in Deming New Mexico. We waved as we passed on the train.
There was nothing much that was too exciting other than views of the desert till El Paso but we were anticipating the opportunity to buy some burritos from the Burrito Lady when we got there. We had about 20 minutes stop in El Paso and easily found the Burrito Lady who was pulling a roll around cooler full of hot burritos wrapped in tin foil. She was easy to spot since she was the center of attention. We bought 3 Beef & potato w/green chili sauce and 2 bean burritos for later. All Burritos cost $2 each.
We ate the Burritos for brunch & lunch along with some desert items we had bought in LA
We stopped on a side track in Marfa Texas to wait while our sister train, the Sunset Limited "West bound", passed by headed to Los Angeles.
The next stop for the train was Alpine Texas where we stopped for 45 minutes. Alpine is the stop for folks getting off to go to Big Bend Texas. There were several eating establishments within easy walking distance of the train and even a grocery store to resupply your train food from. We walked around and toured the Holland Hotel to stretch our legs while we were there.
From there the train took us east towards Sanderson Texas but we got held up on a side track waiting for a freight train to pass. The train wasn't near us so we had to wait for it to get to us and then past before we could resume our travel. We were stopped for almost an hour on the side tracks with no cell service/wifi. It also caused us to miss the view of the Pecos river/canyon and Judge Roy Bean's Lilly Langtry bar.
We had decided to give Train food another chance so we got a dinner reservation and picked what we were going to order off the menu. We went with the "Signature" Steak figuring they surely couldn't mess that up. We also got the Chicken to try as well. We did not order an additional cost drink or salad.
and an &8.50 beer!!! The total for the meal & tip was $47 plus the $8.50 for the beer ($55.50 total)
Little did we know that like Mexico we should have went with the beer or wine and stayed away from the water. We split up and I went to find 2 seats together for sleeping. Shawn spent the entire night in the bathroom sick as a dog and got no sleep. I got a good nights sleep but spent the morning running back & forth to the bathroom.
