an amtrak adventure story

the hub and i had talked about our 20th wedding anniversary off and on over the last year, but by the time it actually came around we still hadn’t settled on any particular way to celebrate it.  we debated a few ideas, and i don’t even remember how it came about, but what we ultimately ended up doing was something pretty unexpected:  taking the amtrak up the coast to seattle.

this is a 36-hour journey.  you read that right…THIRTY-SIX HOURS.  on a train.  heh.  we would leave from union station at 10am and arrive in seattle at 8pm the following evening.

and we booked the trip literally two days before departure, which got us the very last private sleeping room on the coast starlight train.  but we were excited at the idea of doing something new and revisiting a place we’d only been once before - in the very early days of our relationship, and even then we were only there for about 24 hours.

to make it even more interesting, we decided to take the metro gold line from the station just a few minutes from home to union station.  this way, we’d avoid any morning rush hour traffic and not have to deal with paying to park the car for the weekend. and because our private sleeping room also got us access to a pre-boarding lounge, we wanted to get there at least an hour before departure so we’d have time to check it out.

we got to the gold line station bright and early that thursday morning.

it was an easy and uneventful ride that took about an hour, and then we found ourselves at the door to the lounge.  we checked in with the front desk and then found a table to sit down and relax while we waited to board the train.

the staffer who’d checked us in also escorted us up to the platform.

our room was on the far end of the train, right next to the employee lounge.  here’s where we got to spend the next 36 hours - on one side, bench seats that faced each other (and eventually folded out to a single bed) and an upper bunk that pulled down for the second person:

this was the other side, with a heavy curtain that divided the room for privacy.

of course, we took it very seriously.

a couple more commemorative photos and then we were off on our adventure!

we sat in our room for a bit, watching the scenery as we sped through.  and then we decided to head upstairs and check out the dining car and observation deck.

at one of the stops, the hub got tired of staring out of our dingy window and went out there to clean it off.

…and as soon as we started moving again, he fell asleep.

we both dozed off a bit, and then when we woke up we caught one of the guys coming out of the employee lounge to ask about lunch.  service in the dining room was by reservation, and we’d been told that someone would have been by to schedule one for us but no one ever showed up.  i think that because we were so tucked away from the rest of the passengers, hidden by the break room, we were the forgotten stepchild.  anyway, he was super apologetic and got us a table right away.  

we were pleasantly surprised to find that the food and service in the dining room was really good.  i hadn’t realized that they would have us sit side by side in the booth so that they could seat other parties with us - i guess that’s part of the train experience?  i don’t know.  in any case, we ended up sharing our booth with a single man who sat down, refused to make eye contact, opened his target bag and took out a magazine that he paged through without a word to us.  heh.

did i mention that there was no wi-fi on the train?  yeaaaaah.  and we were riding through areas where cell service was spotty to non-existent.  i will say, though, that this was not at at all a bad thing because we spent our time chatting, laughing, napping…just spending time together.  it was really nice, and a lovely, low-key way to celebrate our milestone anniversary.  when we’d get service we’d turn on a movie or watch an episode of a random netflix show we’d stumble upon, and the time just flew by.

we’d again been forgotten for a dinner reservation, but we still managed to make it up there for service anyway.

when we got back to our room, the hub took down the bunk bed for me.  it was comically close to the ceiling, and i knew he would have been miserable up there.  besides, i didn’t mind taking the bunk and thought it was actually pretty comfy.  and there was a strap to attach to the ceiling that would keep me from falling off, which was funny.

we ended up sleeping right through breakfast, but we were perfectly happy hanging out in there and watching the scenery through the window.

and then finally, right at 8pm as scheduled, we arrived in seattle.

we caught an uber outside of the train station and got to the palihotel pretty quickly.

our room was small, but cute and comfy.

it was after 9pm, but we were craving some fresh air and some movement so we headed out on foot and crossed the street to one of the most familiar seattle sights - the public market.

most of it was closed for the night, but we managed to find a bar that was still open.

it was really nice to stretch out and breathe in the cool air.  the train had been a lot of fun, and i’m glad we did it.  although we’re both in agreement that it was a one-and-done kind of experience for us, in the u.s., anyway. if we do any international travel…who knows?

kicking off the holidays

the rest of our november went by pretty fast, and we packed a lot of fun in there.

we kicked it off with the annual family photo shoot, which i’d booked at griffith park thinking that it would be really cool.  and while it was indeed cool, i hadn’t thought ahead to the fact that it would also be incredibly busy on a beautiful, sunny saturday afternoon.  we struggled a little with finding parking but somehow managed to meet up with our photographer in time.  phew.

adding this because this week’s boot camp breakfast featured a special guest - weezermonkey, who is not part of the crazy early morning workout gang but joins us for breakfast whenever possible.

the hub and the little miss spent a little time bonding one morning.

it finally got cool enough for me to wear my souvenir from this year’s trip to graceland:

the bean and i headed out to universal city to check out the japanese food expo, where we got to try lots of snacks, sweets, drinks and watched a sushi demo.

i was pretty mesmerized by this machine that spit out perfect little mounds of rice for making nigiri.

and afterwards, we headed out in the rain to stroll through citiwalk, just across the street.

one day while everyone was at work (and school), the old lady took me and the little miss to her place of business where we indulged in this surprisingly tasty filipino feast burrito.  pancit, lumpia, pork belly and garlic fried rice all wrapped in a giant tortilla and served with a sweet chili sauce.  so good, we bought an extra one to take home for the bean.

and then i made the old lady stop for these photo ops advertising the new jonas brothers christmas movie on disney+.

at the bean’s school, the student body meets up at the chapel around once a week to listen to a speaker - sometimes it’s a member of faculty or administration, or a special guest that’s invited to speak, and as often as possible, it’s a member of the senior class.  they get to deliver a personal speech about their time at school, or something that they’ve overcome, or whatever they feel moved to share with their peers.  the bean took a turn the week before thanksgiving break and got special permission to use the school’s theater instead of the chapel because it was a meaningful part of their speech.  the hub, the old lady, the little miss and i were in the audience and we were so proud as we listened to one of the bean’s teachers introduce them before they took the stage and shared how discovering their love for theater tech helped them learn more about the person they want to be.  it was a delightful speech, with the bean’s signature self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout.

i got to make some los angeles kings-themed cookies.  i was kind of nervous about them, but i think they turned out well, and my friend was really happy with them so yay!

i crocheted this funny little beanie for the little miss to wear at disneyland.

lilcee, dailygluttony and i hit up seafood city in eagle rock for one of their late night sessions.  seafood city is a filipino supermarket, and these events started this past summer and were originally meant for promoting new products.  it quickly went viral with lots of attendees sharing it on social media, and expanded into a free, family friendly nighttime dance party with rotating DJs, food and prizes.  it was a blast, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to go to another one.

the bean and i headed out to staples center (yeah yeah, it’s the crypto arena now but it’ll always be staples to me) for one of sabrina carpenter’s shows on her “short & sweet” tour.  she’s really talented, and we had a great time.

this is where she “arrested” maya rudolph for being too sexy.  

and this is also where we discovered the beauty of valet parking at this venue.  we exited the arena, headed through the crowds to this gate where we flashed our ticket stub and were ushered right in.  they brought the car to us in mere minutes and we were outta there and on the freeway less than half an hour after sabrina had run offstage for the last time.

for the little miss’ first thanksgiving, she wore a turkey on her butt.

while the hub went to the lounge to deep fry a turkey and feed his regulars who didn’t have anywhere else to go and the little family spent time with the old man’s mom and sisters, the bean and i headed off to kura sushi for some lunch.

not to worry, though.  we all came together later that evening to share thanksgiving dinner together.

and a couple of days later, we continued our friendsgiving tradition with all of our besties.  i know i wasn’t the only one who was thinking about what this might look like next year, with our kids off to college.

and with that, holiday season 2025 was in full swing.  yee-haw!