Year 3 Day 7 – “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 5/09/2023. Day 3 on the Amtrak Sunset Limited 2 from Los Angeles. California to Houston, Texas. At dinner time last night, we are passing through a small town, Marfa. Texas. People were smoking Marijuana on board the train. They threatened to throw them off. The announcement was really funny. They were saying how we can smell you and we also can smell it on your hair and clothing after you have smoked. It has a distinct odor and hangs on you. Texas is miles and miles and miles of wilderness. I am going stir crazy and starting to look for the wagon trains. Nice views that we would never see otherwise, but I am over it. Ready to be home. Home, home on the range where the deer and the antelope play.
While the miles and miles of desolate land flies by I walked around and did a little video for you of what the train cars look like enjoy!!
While we are away adventuring, we missed our youngest Grandson Joshua’s First Holy Communion. So happy for him. Doesn’t he look like an angel.
Then our son’s youngest daughter Koral went to the prom with a few friends. She is certainly a beauty. Last year I took pictures with her at prom time. This year I missed it. There are always lots of events and celebrations happening that we are sad to miss.
It is amazing have much wilderness we have traveled through. I didn’t expect that when I booked this train trip. Just miles and miles and miles of nothing. Then a tiny little town. So, unlike the NY, NJ, PA area we are used to.
At 2:42am we pulled into San Antonio, Texas and parked there until 6:30am. The last two cars were disconnected from our train and connected to the Texas Eagle train which will be leaving for Chicago at 7:39 am. A few passengers from rooms in our car 230 disembarked along with a lot of Coach passengers. From our roomette we could see the Tower of the Americas which is located in downtown San Antonio. It is a 750-foot-tall Tower providing guests a spectacular view of the Alamo City. The tower was built in 1968 for the Hemisfair World’s Fair. The fair celebrated San Antonio’s 250th anniversary. Construction of the tower began in 1966 and was completed in 18 months. The Tower is the tallest observation tower in Texas and was the tallest in the U.S. the Stratosphere Tower was erected in 1996 in Las Vegas. The Tower has a revolving Restaurant, an indoor and outdoor observation deck, a cafe, a gift shop and a 4D theatre show titled, “Skies Over Texas.” The tower weighs 80 million pounds and has 952 steps to get to the top. It has three elevators that can carry 1,950 passengers per hour. The elevators travel at 800 feet-per-minute, it takes only 43 seconds for the elevators to climb to the top. The round revolving structure at the top of the tower is 76 feet tall and is so well-balanced that it takes just a 1 horsepower motor to rotate the structure. The external observation deck can accommodate a maximum of 340 people, while the internal deck can accommodate 500 people. Steve never saw this stop at all. He slept right through it all. I shared the lower bunk with Steve, but I sat up and watched all the action. I was wishing I could get off the train and wander around and see things, but it wasn’t a good idea at 2:30am.
We traveled through a lot of rainstorms last night and it is a dreary rainy day on the train today.
After breakfast we sat in the lounge car for a while and looked at the homes as we approached Houston, Texas.
We arrived in Houston a little early at 10:45am. After this stop the train will proceed on to it’s final destination Of New Orleans.
Our bus to Galveston was not scheduled to arrive until 1:15pm. We took an uber from Houston to Galveston instead of waiting for the bus. We were in our car driving home before the bus even got to the Houston Amtrak station for pick up. We cancelled our night in Galveston and are heading home. We will be staying in Marshall, Texas tonight. Last night Steve and I shared the lower bunk on the train. It will be nice to stretch out in a king size bed tonight. Taking Amtrak from Los Angeles to Houston was an experience. We saw scenery we never would have seen if we didn’t do it. It was a long rainy driving afternoon.
Today’s product recommendations are for keeping your skin looking its best at sea and in the sun. My favorite skin care products are made by Elemis. Although I do sometimes try a new product here and there. I actually find myself going back to Elemis. 1) I start my morning in the shower with a face wash. Currently I am using ELEMIS Dynamic Resurfacing Facial Wash https://amzn.to/3qZkwqC 2) After showering I am currently using ELEMIS Superfood Facial Oil https://amzn.to/3XvfUVu 3) Then the Elemis Pro-Collagen Maine Cream with spf30 gets applied. It is the best. It costs a little more than the drug store creams but wow it works. Whenever I decide I want to buy another less expensive brand I am sorry and head right back to this cream. https://amzn.to/46sJZsH 4) Steve also uses an Elemis product. He tends to break out when he uses sunscreen often. He finds the ELEMIS Dynamic Resurfacing Facial Pads excellent to use. It cleans that sunscreen out of his pores. When he uses these pads to cleanse his face he does not break out. https://amzn.to/3px1oQn
To see more about Amtrak Trains, click here: https://deestimes.com/train-travel/
To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count