photos
The time did change overnight, but the clocks in our cabins still have not changed time. It will be a miracle if this doesn't cause a problem. Today we docked in Yorktown, VA during breakfast after 7am. There was never any of the usual instructions about how to check on and off the ship. There was never any announcement, notice written or verbal about all aboard time. How would anyone know who was on or not? We still don't know but we haven't sailed yet. Clay asked the CD what time to be back aboard at breakfast and she didn't know. I think she finally came back and told him 6pm, but today's Ship to Shore says we are departing at 5:30pm. So, we'll see.
Today they offered 2 4-hour tours morning & afternoon to Colonial Williamsburg for $55 each or transportation only with the tour groups for $15 each. I couldn't see visiting again for such a short visit so we didn't do that. Complimentary were a guided walking tour by Harold or onboard lecturer and a trolley-type HOHO shuttle around Yorktown. We did that and had a full and interesting day. We'd never been to Yorktown. It was the final battle of the American Revolution. We took the first shuttle loop at 9am as it was narrated. Then we took the walking tour with Harold and a bigger crowd than what Annie had implied did not sign up for Williamsburg. It ended at the NPS Visitor Center for Yorktown Battlefield. Clay had his senior lifetime pass so we got in free. We didn't have much time before we had to back onboard for the single seating noon lunch.
Breakfast onboard is usually served open from 7:30 to I think 9:30. There is an early risers coffee, juice, fruit and pastry in the lounge. Today breakfast and lunch were a half hour early to accomodate tours. There is a buffet table at breakfast followed by ordering hot food at the table from a menu. It being Sunday, I had Eggs Benedict. At breakfast, you fill out your order form for lunch and dinner. That is why we had to be back onboard. We'd ordered. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. So far 2 days of lunch soup have been the texture and density of baby food!
After lunch we caught another of the 2 continuously circling trolleys for the American Revolution Museum. It cost $28.50 for both of us. It was so extensive that we had to skip sections and did not have time to visit the Watermens Museum as planned.With better planning, we'd have skipped lunch onboard and taken the segway tour they have here.
Anyway, it was brightly sunny, very windy and a high of about 60F today. Gossip is that for some reason the ship is planning to sail open ocean after Norfolk. No explanation, so we'll see. The title of the cruise is East Coast Inland Passage and the map they mailed reflect that route. Of course they can and will sail where they want so we'll keep our fingers crossed.
At 5:45pm Harold told us to make sure we were in the lounge, if not for cocktails for a couple of members of the Yorktown Fife & Drum Corp. We'll be there so I should go now. I'll post this after dinner. Well, disappointment. The Fife & Drum were canceled.
Sailing got rough during dinner. We both struggled to get up 2 levels of stairs. I gave up. Clay went for the 8pm port overview on Norfolk. According to the bulletin board Harold has added a complimentary walk at 9:30am tomorrow. There is live music and snacks at 8:15pm. I am going to bed and pray conditions calm down. Good news is we are supposed to dock in Norfolk by 10pm. I hope!
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Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Boarding ACL's Independence
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We slept in til about 7am. Forget everything I said about that Fairfield Inn room. The bed was too hard, I heard loud sirens all night and there was a flashing green light on the smoke alarm on the wall above the bed that looked like a strobe in the dark room. We were tired but it wasn't a great sleep.
Complimentary breakfast was good with a wide variety from fruit, yogurt, breads, eggs, waffles, etc. We ate and were ready for a walk by 8:30am or so. Our documents said we could board Independence by the National Aquarium at 501 E. Pratt St. between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm but our stateroom wouldn't be ready before 11:30am. No rush then. We walked around and saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Shot Tower, and the Carroll Mansion. Yesterday and today we saw loads of brass sidewalk markers for a Heritage Walk but not knowing about it before hand, we didn't try to follow it.
We went back to the Fairfield and got our luggage and checked out. A cold front came through overnight with that rain. It was in the mid-70s F when we arrived in Baltimore and in the 40s and 50s today. The wind was stiff and the the sun was shining with nothing but blue skies. By 10 am or so, I think all last night's puddles had dried up. So we walked to the ship. We had seen it from our walk to the Holocaust Memorial. It was only about 4 blocks and all level so an easy walk with rolling bags.
We presented our boarding passes and were informed that we'd been upgraded to deck 3 and the owner's suite. This was a gross exaggeration since there is no owner's suite and all the deck 3 cabins are the same as deck except for HC cabins. Anyway, we had debated booking a balcony cabin and rejected the extra $2K for the balcony. On a ship this small you can always get to the view you want quickly anyway and it wasn't worth it. The other reason is that on any ship, I want to be low to avoid excessive motion. So, I kind of balked because we had reasons for picking deck 1. She asked us to try it and if we wanted our original cabin we could move because deck 1 was empty. It turns out that there are only 43 passengers onboard. Capacity is 100 passenger.
We are in cabin 309 on the port side. It is a nice cabin with a narrow balcony and a waist high window with a solid door. Unless you are out on the balcony, the view is probably no better than cabin 109's would have been. I forgot to bring my little stack of magnets to put each day's handouts on the metal walls. We'll be missing them! The other thing we should have brought was a power strip for the desk. The only outlet is behind the desk and we had to move it to get to it. There are plenty of drawers but the closet is a very small open cubby. There was an ice bucket on the top shelf. There is a self-service 24/7 ice machine in the lounge on deck 2 along with drinks and coffee machine (all included). There are 2 upholstered chairs and a desk chair. Two bed side tables and a TV table. There are 2 chairs out on the balcony with a small table between them. The bathroom holds a shower stall, toilet, 1 sink and 2 drawers. There is a full size hair dryer in a drawer. There is a 2 plug outlet there.
There is one trash can in the cabin and it is beside the TV outside the bathroom. There are no washers and dryers on this ship that I can find. If that changes, I'll make a note. Also, unlike Mississippi which was our past ACL experience, excursions are not included. Though according to the website, after this cruise we are entitled to free excursions as a repeat customer perk.We had to fill out and turn in our week 1 tour request after lunch.
Sailing had been scheduled for 1:30pm. We were told when we checked in between 10:30 and 11 am,, that she expected us to sail by 11:30am if we were all aboard. There went our waterfront plans. We took a quick walk around the 2 piers holding the National Aquarium and were back aboard before 11:30am. At noon they held the mandatory safety briefing in the lounge. We learned that we had delayed sailing until 2:45pm due to the strong winds. Lunch was served at 12:30pm. We filled in order cards for dinner at lunch. It looks like they took all the small tables out of the dining room because all the 8-tops that are there are separated by 4-6 feet of space. The Mississippi ship was much tighter and had no 2-tops but plenty of 4 and 6 top tables. This time it is 8 or nothing. A 2 + hour lunch ensued. I can't imagine we'll be able to have any meals onboard this ship/sailing in less than 2 hours. Since they are at less than half capacity, it appears that the service staff was halved as well. You may remember that ACL's service employment policy of 90 day terms was the reason we had not returned so you may imagine we are not pleased. It is only 2 weeks but still. Anyway. At 2pm there was a briefing with the CD, hotel managers and our onboard lecturer about our choices of excursions for the 1st week. Our order forms had to be turned in by 4:30pm.
5:30pm is cocktail hour. 6:30pm is dinner. Beer and wine are complimentary at lunch and dinner and cocktail hour. We've already seen one person be overserved. It should be an interesting trip. Since I gave up wine with dinner at home over 6 months ago, I've found my alcohol tolerance has become more limited. I had a glass at Angus Barn for Clays' birthday and last night. In both cases, I drank too much wine waiting for food and regretted it. So, I am planning to avoid cocktail hour.. We'll see.
There is an 8pm port preview introduction about tomorrow's event scheduled. I doubt dinner will be over! At 8:15pm they have entertainment and snacks so blink and you'll miss it anyway.
WiFi is included throughout the ship and seems adequate so far. Another change since Mississippi is that they say gratuities are included and onboard tipping is not allowed.
Back from dinner with some happy news. They reconfigured the dining room and all the 8-tops became 6 tops plus an added 2-top set up for 1 woman who dines alone. We sat at the same table as lunch time with one couple from lunch and one couple who had joined us at cocktail hour. We had a different server and we were out of dinner within 1 hour! If that happens every meal, we'll be thrilled. As to our 41 fellow passengers, it is a very white group and so far we have met a very intolerant few.
The time changes tonight. The ship has made no written notification or reminder of this. When asked tonight, the CD shrugged and said the bedside clocks should change automatically and your smartphones should too, why would we mention it. Uh... Anyway. An extra hour is good because we have an early start tomorrow morning in Yorktown. I'll write about that tomorrow!
photos
We slept in til about 7am. Forget everything I said about that Fairfield Inn room. The bed was too hard, I heard loud sirens all night and there was a flashing green light on the smoke alarm on the wall above the bed that looked like a strobe in the dark room. We were tired but it wasn't a great sleep.
Complimentary breakfast was good with a wide variety from fruit, yogurt, breads, eggs, waffles, etc. We ate and were ready for a walk by 8:30am or so. Our documents said we could board Independence by the National Aquarium at 501 E. Pratt St. between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm but our stateroom wouldn't be ready before 11:30am. No rush then. We walked around and saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Shot Tower, and the Carroll Mansion. Yesterday and today we saw loads of brass sidewalk markers for a Heritage Walk but not knowing about it before hand, we didn't try to follow it.
We went back to the Fairfield and got our luggage and checked out. A cold front came through overnight with that rain. It was in the mid-70s F when we arrived in Baltimore and in the 40s and 50s today. The wind was stiff and the the sun was shining with nothing but blue skies. By 10 am or so, I think all last night's puddles had dried up. So we walked to the ship. We had seen it from our walk to the Holocaust Memorial. It was only about 4 blocks and all level so an easy walk with rolling bags.
We presented our boarding passes and were informed that we'd been upgraded to deck 3 and the owner's suite. This was a gross exaggeration since there is no owner's suite and all the deck 3 cabins are the same as deck except for HC cabins. Anyway, we had debated booking a balcony cabin and rejected the extra $2K for the balcony. On a ship this small you can always get to the view you want quickly anyway and it wasn't worth it. The other reason is that on any ship, I want to be low to avoid excessive motion. So, I kind of balked because we had reasons for picking deck 1. She asked us to try it and if we wanted our original cabin we could move because deck 1 was empty. It turns out that there are only 43 passengers onboard. Capacity is 100 passenger.
We are in cabin 309 on the port side. It is a nice cabin with a narrow balcony and a waist high window with a solid door. Unless you are out on the balcony, the view is probably no better than cabin 109's would have been. I forgot to bring my little stack of magnets to put each day's handouts on the metal walls. We'll be missing them! The other thing we should have brought was a power strip for the desk. The only outlet is behind the desk and we had to move it to get to it. There are plenty of drawers but the closet is a very small open cubby. There was an ice bucket on the top shelf. There is a self-service 24/7 ice machine in the lounge on deck 2 along with drinks and coffee machine (all included). There are 2 upholstered chairs and a desk chair. Two bed side tables and a TV table. There are 2 chairs out on the balcony with a small table between them. The bathroom holds a shower stall, toilet, 1 sink and 2 drawers. There is a full size hair dryer in a drawer. There is a 2 plug outlet there.
There is one trash can in the cabin and it is beside the TV outside the bathroom. There are no washers and dryers on this ship that I can find. If that changes, I'll make a note. Also, unlike Mississippi which was our past ACL experience, excursions are not included. Though according to the website, after this cruise we are entitled to free excursions as a repeat customer perk.We had to fill out and turn in our week 1 tour request after lunch.
Sailing had been scheduled for 1:30pm. We were told when we checked in between 10:30 and 11 am,, that she expected us to sail by 11:30am if we were all aboard. There went our waterfront plans. We took a quick walk around the 2 piers holding the National Aquarium and were back aboard before 11:30am. At noon they held the mandatory safety briefing in the lounge. We learned that we had delayed sailing until 2:45pm due to the strong winds. Lunch was served at 12:30pm. We filled in order cards for dinner at lunch. It looks like they took all the small tables out of the dining room because all the 8-tops that are there are separated by 4-6 feet of space. The Mississippi ship was much tighter and had no 2-tops but plenty of 4 and 6 top tables. This time it is 8 or nothing. A 2 + hour lunch ensued. I can't imagine we'll be able to have any meals onboard this ship/sailing in less than 2 hours. Since they are at less than half capacity, it appears that the service staff was halved as well. You may remember that ACL's service employment policy of 90 day terms was the reason we had not returned so you may imagine we are not pleased. It is only 2 weeks but still. Anyway. At 2pm there was a briefing with the CD, hotel managers and our onboard lecturer about our choices of excursions for the 1st week. Our order forms had to be turned in by 4:30pm.
5:30pm is cocktail hour. 6:30pm is dinner. Beer and wine are complimentary at lunch and dinner and cocktail hour. We've already seen one person be overserved. It should be an interesting trip. Since I gave up wine with dinner at home over 6 months ago, I've found my alcohol tolerance has become more limited. I had a glass at Angus Barn for Clays' birthday and last night. In both cases, I drank too much wine waiting for food and regretted it. So, I am planning to avoid cocktail hour.. We'll see.
There is an 8pm port preview introduction about tomorrow's event scheduled. I doubt dinner will be over! At 8:15pm they have entertainment and snacks so blink and you'll miss it anyway.
WiFi is included throughout the ship and seems adequate so far. Another change since Mississippi is that they say gratuities are included and onboard tipping is not allowed.
Back from dinner with some happy news. They reconfigured the dining room and all the 8-tops became 6 tops plus an added 2-top set up for 1 woman who dines alone. We sat at the same table as lunch time with one couple from lunch and one couple who had joined us at cocktail hour. We had a different server and we were out of dinner within 1 hour! If that happens every meal, we'll be thrilled. As to our 41 fellow passengers, it is a very white group and so far we have met a very intolerant few.
The time changes tonight. The ship has made no written notification or reminder of this. When asked tonight, the CD shrugged and said the bedside clocks should change automatically and your smartphones should too, why would we mention it. Uh... Anyway. An extra hour is good because we have an early start tomorrow morning in Yorktown. I'll write about that tomorrow!
photos
Friday, November 2, 2018
Knock Knock
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Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad you took the train back north today? Yes, yes I am. Orange was the color of the day today. Unlike our trip up here 2 Fridays ago, today the leaves had turned orange. Not much red or yellow but loads of different shades of orange. Not photos for sure as the windows were dirty.
We had a good start for the trip. It was dry until we got off the train in Baltimore. It was warm. Today was first Friday. We shared a half dozen chocolate glazed Krispy Kremes this morning. Amtrak's Silver Star was on time leaving Raleigh but an hour late arriving in Baltimore. Silver Star is a much nicer train than last time's Carolinian. Clay thinks the train cars are bigger. Maybe. The seats are. They also have leg rests and foot rests unlike the Carolinian. According to Amtrak, Silver Star is the only overnight train without a dining car. It was probably more pleasant than flying. It was definitely cheaper. We paid $116 for both us in reserved coach seats. We checked one large bag each with no problems. We dropped them off in Raleigh with no wait and waited less than a few minutes to get them back again in Baltimore. Good news.
We had missteps with Uber both in Raleigh and Baltimore. Raleigh's driver tried repeatedly to follow his GPS directions to the now demolished old Amtrak station. Baltimore's drove for a half hour in end of work day Friday gridlocked traffic after we pointed out he'd just drive by the Fairfield Inn Inner Harbor at 101 S. President St. Bonus was we saw where we need to find the Independence tomorrow morning on the waterfront by the National Aquarium. The Fairfield Inn should be about 4-6 blocks away from the pier. Hard to say as we were circling in heavy traffic and rain. Tomorrow we'll see if we walk there or not depending on weather. We can board between 10:30am and 12:30pm for 1:30pm sailing. Our prepaid rate here is $146.69. We are in the back tower building so it is quiet. We are on the 5th and top floor. The room is adequate with a queen bed, a coffee maker and an ice bucket. No fridge. It is not a big room or bathroom. Single sink, shower over tub. It is clean and new looking. The location is the best feature probably. We are right on the edge of Baltimore's Little Italy. So, Italian food tonight. We looked through several menus of places in walking distance that we found on Google Maps. There were many more here on the ground. We chose Germano's. It was good. Clay's porchetta was not as described on the menu, no sausage. We stopped at Vaccaro's for dessert. Clay got Baci gelato and liked it. We bought 2 cookies at $1.80 each that were a huge disappointment. Bonus was finding ourselves outside the Star Spangled Banner House on our way! Who knew?
That's it for today. If Clay has any photos to share, he'll post a link here.
photos
Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad you took the train back north today? Yes, yes I am. Orange was the color of the day today. Unlike our trip up here 2 Fridays ago, today the leaves had turned orange. Not much red or yellow but loads of different shades of orange. Not photos for sure as the windows were dirty.
We had a good start for the trip. It was dry until we got off the train in Baltimore. It was warm. Today was first Friday. We shared a half dozen chocolate glazed Krispy Kremes this morning. Amtrak's Silver Star was on time leaving Raleigh but an hour late arriving in Baltimore. Silver Star is a much nicer train than last time's Carolinian. Clay thinks the train cars are bigger. Maybe. The seats are. They also have leg rests and foot rests unlike the Carolinian. According to Amtrak, Silver Star is the only overnight train without a dining car. It was probably more pleasant than flying. It was definitely cheaper. We paid $116 for both us in reserved coach seats. We checked one large bag each with no problems. We dropped them off in Raleigh with no wait and waited less than a few minutes to get them back again in Baltimore. Good news.
We had missteps with Uber both in Raleigh and Baltimore. Raleigh's driver tried repeatedly to follow his GPS directions to the now demolished old Amtrak station. Baltimore's drove for a half hour in end of work day Friday gridlocked traffic after we pointed out he'd just drive by the Fairfield Inn Inner Harbor at 101 S. President St. Bonus was we saw where we need to find the Independence tomorrow morning on the waterfront by the National Aquarium. The Fairfield Inn should be about 4-6 blocks away from the pier. Hard to say as we were circling in heavy traffic and rain. Tomorrow we'll see if we walk there or not depending on weather. We can board between 10:30am and 12:30pm for 1:30pm sailing. Our prepaid rate here is $146.69. We are in the back tower building so it is quiet. We are on the 5th and top floor. The room is adequate with a queen bed, a coffee maker and an ice bucket. No fridge. It is not a big room or bathroom. Single sink, shower over tub. It is clean and new looking. The location is the best feature probably. We are right on the edge of Baltimore's Little Italy. So, Italian food tonight. We looked through several menus of places in walking distance that we found on Google Maps. There were many more here on the ground. We chose Germano's. It was good. Clay's porchetta was not as described on the menu, no sausage. We stopped at Vaccaro's for dessert. Clay got Baci gelato and liked it. We bought 2 cookies at $1.80 each that were a huge disappointment. Bonus was finding ourselves outside the Star Spangled Banner House on our way! Who knew?
That's it for today. If Clay has any photos to share, he'll post a link here.
photos
Monday, October 29, 2018
East Coast Inland Passage Cruise on American Cruise Lines' Independence
We'll be off again by week's end. I posted a map of this trip from ACL's website previously. I noticed that both the online itinerary and map are different from what they mailed us. So here is the latest information scanned in and pasted below. Of course, we know what we actually experience could be different yet. That's OK, we're going where they're going.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
A Happy 70th Birthday
Photos
Clay had a good day for his actual 70th, yesterday. Of course, as usual, we've been celebrating it for at least a month now. But today was the day. He got calls from his siblings, from an aunt and a b-day card with a check from his mother-in-law. For dinner, he'd chosen to go to Angus Barn. It is a local institution and very popular. It is a big meal though and a big expense and inconvenient to get to being out by the airport, so we only go about once a decade. That said there had been some changes though much remained the same. The biggest change we noticed was the Wild Turkey Lounge has moved upstairs and been enlarged. That was good for us as viewing the menus online, we'd decided that on a Tuesday night we'd take our chances there without a reservation. We realized that the difference between the 2 menus after 5:30pm was that the lounge would not include a salad and that was fine. What we didn't know is that the cheese, cracker and relish dish the restaurant includes up front at the table was also included at the lounge by way of a self-serve buffet. Bonus. The biggest change Clay noticed is that his much anticipated beef ribs had changed. He knew they served 5 last time we went and now it was 4 but what he didn't know until they were served was the cut had changed. You can ask him about rib meat cuts and he'll give you his treatise. Suffice to say he's had his last beef ribs at Angus Barn. Too bad. Lastly, we've always picked up a chocolate chess pie at the gift shop on our way out. The price has increase dramatically to $18 since our last visit. That is still close to the price for 2 servings for a whole pie, but not the great deal it used to be. Still a good dinner. They still have a barrel of red apples to pick one from on your way out.
In other disappointing news, you may have noticed the January temps arrived overnight this week. Clay has finally found a chink in the armor of his Kia Niro PHEV. It seems that the battery capacity or charge time is seriously reduced by the cold temperatures. Not surprising, but he is pretty stressed right now. Thank God we already put in the Level 2 charger for his birthday!
Clay had a good day for his actual 70th, yesterday. Of course, as usual, we've been celebrating it for at least a month now. But today was the day. He got calls from his siblings, from an aunt and a b-day card with a check from his mother-in-law. For dinner, he'd chosen to go to Angus Barn. It is a local institution and very popular. It is a big meal though and a big expense and inconvenient to get to being out by the airport, so we only go about once a decade. That said there had been some changes though much remained the same. The biggest change we noticed was the Wild Turkey Lounge has moved upstairs and been enlarged. That was good for us as viewing the menus online, we'd decided that on a Tuesday night we'd take our chances there without a reservation. We realized that the difference between the 2 menus after 5:30pm was that the lounge would not include a salad and that was fine. What we didn't know is that the cheese, cracker and relish dish the restaurant includes up front at the table was also included at the lounge by way of a self-serve buffet. Bonus. The biggest change Clay noticed is that his much anticipated beef ribs had changed. He knew they served 5 last time we went and now it was 4 but what he didn't know until they were served was the cut had changed. You can ask him about rib meat cuts and he'll give you his treatise. Suffice to say he's had his last beef ribs at Angus Barn. Too bad. Lastly, we've always picked up a chocolate chess pie at the gift shop on our way out. The price has increase dramatically to $18 since our last visit. That is still close to the price for 2 servings for a whole pie, but not the great deal it used to be. Still a good dinner. They still have a barrel of red apples to pick one from on your way out.
In other disappointing news, you may have noticed the January temps arrived overnight this week. Clay has finally found a chink in the armor of his Kia Niro PHEV. It seems that the battery capacity or charge time is seriously reduced by the cold temperatures. Not surprising, but he is pretty stressed right now. Thank God we already put in the Level 2 charger for his birthday!
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Leaving Richmond
Photos
Here is today's itinerary while I have free time. I may come back later and flesh this out. Hopefully Clay will add his photos.
We were up early again. Today because I woke up hollering with a nightmare at 5:30am. Breakfast didn't start until 7am. It was good but a bit different today. We both made waffles.
8:45am checkout and load bus
9am bus departs for Valentine Museum to pick up local guide
9:30am bus tour of Richmond, Hollywood Cemetery, Main St. Station and railroad triple cross
11:30am return to Valentine Museum to drop off local guide and return to Staples Mill Rd. area for lunch (we dropped at both McDonalds and Wendys from 11:45am to 12:45pm)
1pm Arrive Amtrak Station at Staples Mill Road
1:34pm board Amtrak #79 for return trip
5:30pm or so disembark train in Cary
We're home safe and tired! So, some updates and variations to the scheduled itinerary. First, the big bus we'd be on for 2 days did not appear. A small bus showed up! Not enough room for us all + our luggage. We left the luggage at the motel and it rejoined us later at the train station. It worked out but caused some stress. We had not packed to have our luggage left behind and handled. Next we completely dropped Hollywood Cemetery from the tour without explanation or comment. We didn't really see the Main St. Station though we drove past it. We walked a bit along the canal from last night to check out the railroad triple cross and the flood wall as well as the sculpture of the Box that a slave had himself shipped out of Richmond. We'd seen all that from the canal cruise yesterday and it was a closer look. Today we also learned that the ground level train tracks of the triple cross have not been used since some time in the 1950s! Technically, it seems like that makes it a double cross to me...
We had normal seats today on the Amtrak Carolinian and enjoyed the ride back. What a difference! We had about 14 inches of leg room each today vs. the 10.5 inches that we shared with the passenger facing us on the ride to Richmond. Also, it helped that today's train was on time!
It was a jam packed trip but we enjoyed it. We still enjoyed the old NCTM trips when they used vintage cars instead of just traveling in Amtrak coach. Oh well.
Here is today's itinerary while I have free time. I may come back later and flesh this out. Hopefully Clay will add his photos.
We were up early again. Today because I woke up hollering with a nightmare at 5:30am. Breakfast didn't start until 7am. It was good but a bit different today. We both made waffles.
8:45am checkout and load bus
9am bus departs for Valentine Museum to pick up local guide
9:30am bus tour of Richmond, Hollywood Cemetery, Main St. Station and railroad triple cross
11:30am return to Valentine Museum to drop off local guide and return to Staples Mill Rd. area for lunch (we dropped at both McDonalds and Wendys from 11:45am to 12:45pm)
1pm Arrive Amtrak Station at Staples Mill Road
1:34pm board Amtrak #79 for return trip
5:30pm or so disembark train in Cary
We're home safe and tired! So, some updates and variations to the scheduled itinerary. First, the big bus we'd be on for 2 days did not appear. A small bus showed up! Not enough room for us all + our luggage. We left the luggage at the motel and it rejoined us later at the train station. It worked out but caused some stress. We had not packed to have our luggage left behind and handled. Next we completely dropped Hollywood Cemetery from the tour without explanation or comment. We didn't really see the Main St. Station though we drove past it. We walked a bit along the canal from last night to check out the railroad triple cross and the flood wall as well as the sculpture of the Box that a slave had himself shipped out of Richmond. We'd seen all that from the canal cruise yesterday and it was a closer look. Today we also learned that the ground level train tracks of the triple cross have not been used since some time in the 1950s! Technically, it seems like that makes it a double cross to me...
We had normal seats today on the Amtrak Carolinian and enjoyed the ride back. What a difference! We had about 14 inches of leg room each today vs. the 10.5 inches that we shared with the passenger facing us on the ride to Richmond. Also, it helped that today's train was on time!
It was a jam packed trip but we enjoyed it. We still enjoyed the old NCTM trips when they used vintage cars instead of just traveling in Amtrak coach. Oh well.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Richmond
photos
Clay woke me at triple nickels this morning. I had to try to figure out what the hell he was talking about since I asked him to wake me at 6:30am. After I asked, he told me it was 5:55am. He was so pleased with himself I just shut up and rolled with it. Better an early start than a late one.
The Comfort Suites room is huge. There is a living room entrance with a coffee/microwave/fridge area across from a big single sink bathroom. It has a shower over tub. Through a door is a large bedroom with 2 double beds, a chest of drawers, a bedside table, TV, desk and chair and 2 lamps. There is a window over a parking lot. It includes a complete complimentary breakfast buffet. No complaints whatsoever except for it being 15 miles north of Richmond with nothing in walking distance.
Here is today's proposed itinerary as I have time now and later I may be exhausted.
6 to 8:15am breakfast
8:30am bus departs for VA State Capitol and Capitol Square
9am arrive
10:45am City Hall Observation deck for views
11:30am bus departs for American Civil War Museum
noon Box lunch from Garnett's at picnic area of National Park Service
12:45pm divide into 2 groups at ACWM for guided tour of museum and NPS visitor center of Historic Tredegar
2:30pm bus to VA Museum of History & Culture and VA Museum of Fine Arts. They are in the same block and we are free to visit either or both untill 5pm. The art museum we are told has the largest Faberge collection outside Russia.
5pm bus to Riverfront Historic Canal Cruise
5:30pm cruise
7pm Explore Shockhoe Slip area and dinner on our own
9pm bus back to Comfort Suites in Glen Allen
Sounds like a full day! I'll post this and come back and edit it if needed. As before I'll hope Clay will attach photo slideshows.
I'm back after 9pm. I have some updates. We were expected at the VA State Capitol and had a private guided tour. It was fabulous. VA has a new underground visitors center to enter the Capitol and NC should take a lesson! Even more impressive was that Vice-President Mike Pence was visiting Richmond today campaigning and even though all the streets around the Capitol had barricades and police and Secret Service, the folks at the Capitol had let them know we were expected and on the 2nd pass when we pulled up and asked a police man, he told us where to go and they'd lower the barricade to admit us and they did!
City Hall Observation Deck was closed today. There were 2 cranes working at the top of the building so we don't know it was closed for work or because of Pence and the attendant security. In any event,, we wound up instead at the Richmond Railroad Museum instead. They had opened early today expecting a scheduled group who did not arrive and were happy to welcome us instead. They gave us guided tours again here!
We also were honored by a special treatment at the VA Museum of History where we got guided highlights tours and a special presentation. They took some special NC related artifacts out of the vault to share with us only. They had a George Washington journal/diary that they opened to his entry about visiting NC. It was a special touch.
We had a so-so dinner at Sine Irish Pub. It was a convenient walk from the bus drop/pickup.
The rest of the day went as scheduled except that we ended at loading the bus back to the motel at 8:30pm for 9pm arrival back. It was a long day.
photos
Clay woke me at triple nickels this morning. I had to try to figure out what the hell he was talking about since I asked him to wake me at 6:30am. After I asked, he told me it was 5:55am. He was so pleased with himself I just shut up and rolled with it. Better an early start than a late one.
The Comfort Suites room is huge. There is a living room entrance with a coffee/microwave/fridge area across from a big single sink bathroom. It has a shower over tub. Through a door is a large bedroom with 2 double beds, a chest of drawers, a bedside table, TV, desk and chair and 2 lamps. There is a window over a parking lot. It includes a complete complimentary breakfast buffet. No complaints whatsoever except for it being 15 miles north of Richmond with nothing in walking distance.
Here is today's proposed itinerary as I have time now and later I may be exhausted.
6 to 8:15am breakfast
8:30am bus departs for VA State Capitol and Capitol Square
9am arrive
10:45am City Hall Observation deck for views
11:30am bus departs for American Civil War Museum
noon Box lunch from Garnett's at picnic area of National Park Service
12:45pm divide into 2 groups at ACWM for guided tour of museum and NPS visitor center of Historic Tredegar
2:30pm bus to VA Museum of History & Culture and VA Museum of Fine Arts. They are in the same block and we are free to visit either or both untill 5pm. The art museum we are told has the largest Faberge collection outside Russia.
5pm bus to Riverfront Historic Canal Cruise
5:30pm cruise
7pm Explore Shockhoe Slip area and dinner on our own
9pm bus back to Comfort Suites in Glen Allen
Sounds like a full day! I'll post this and come back and edit it if needed. As before I'll hope Clay will attach photo slideshows.
I'm back after 9pm. I have some updates. We were expected at the VA State Capitol and had a private guided tour. It was fabulous. VA has a new underground visitors center to enter the Capitol and NC should take a lesson! Even more impressive was that Vice-President Mike Pence was visiting Richmond today campaigning and even though all the streets around the Capitol had barricades and police and Secret Service, the folks at the Capitol had let them know we were expected and on the 2nd pass when we pulled up and asked a police man, he told us where to go and they'd lower the barricade to admit us and they did!
City Hall Observation Deck was closed today. There were 2 cranes working at the top of the building so we don't know it was closed for work or because of Pence and the attendant security. In any event,, we wound up instead at the Richmond Railroad Museum instead. They had opened early today expecting a scheduled group who did not arrive and were happy to welcome us instead. They gave us guided tours again here!
We also were honored by a special treatment at the VA Museum of History where we got guided highlights tours and a special presentation. They took some special NC related artifacts out of the vault to share with us only. They had a George Washington journal/diary that they opened to his entry about visiting NC. It was a special touch.
We had a so-so dinner at Sine Irish Pub. It was a convenient walk from the bus drop/pickup.
The rest of the day went as scheduled except that we ended at loading the bus back to the motel at 8:30pm for 9pm arrival back. It was a long day.
photos
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