Scattered Thoughts . . .

A few evenings ago, we visited the Waterbury train station with Lukey and Kenzie.  It was a day when I was not feeling all that well so I kept things simple in the hopes of an uneventful quick trip downtown.  I didn't bring a heavy camera bag.  I put some emergency medications in my pockets, I grabbed one camera body with one lens, and I grabbed a scanner so we could listen to the chatter on the radio as the Amtrak train approached and departed the station. Both Lukey and Kenzie were happy to be at the train station waiting for the train.  I think we all preferred to be getting on the train to head out-of-town but watching the train arrive and depart would be enough to create some smiling faces and some nice photos... The Amtrak Vermonter from Penn Station in Manhattan was running a little late this night so we had some down time.  There is a park across the street from the train station so the kids wanted to go over to the swings while we waited for the delaye...

For many years, Sheila and I have been talking about and dreaming about one day taking a journey across the country by rail. It has always been one of those things we've wanted to do someday when the opportunity presented itself. There is something about train travel... it has a romantic air about it... it is classic... it is relaxed by comparison to other modes of transportation... and it provides spectacular vistas as we wind our way across the country. This was one of those trips that we always figured would have to wait until after Sheila retires since we knew it would be a time consuming trip but Adam recently moved to California so that has prompted us to take a closer look at transportation options. One way or another, we were headed to California to visit Adam. We figured why not do it in style and the way we want? Originally, whenever we talked about a cross country rail journey, we talked about stopping at various cities along the way. We'd spend a night or two ...

I put together another short video of our train trip this past weekend. I had previously shared a short video of all of us waiting for the train to arrive in Waterbury so now it is time for a short video shot on board our train.  I'm glad I have these clips but, to be honest, these are not my best work and even I find this particular video a bit boring. The problem is that I didn't really have a plan... I just turned the camera on and recorded video hoping that something interesting would happen. There are a few decent memorable moments but nothing riveting... so don't expect anything exciting... it is short though and there are a few memorable moments that I'm glad we had recorded.  At one point, you can see Conductor Adam giving the kids tickets... He had previously come over to us to let us know we would be crossing a river over a bridge soon and that we should look out for it. He explained to Lukey and Kenzie that the bridge was home to a well-known troll. He sa...

Here is a short video of us waiting  for Amtrak's Vermonter  at the Waterbury train station before boarding for Lukey and Kenzie's first train trip... I will share another video and more photos soon...