Fogbow

Ignoring the board because binge watching a 70 episode Chinese melodrama — All Out of Love. (I have a crush on Wallace Chung.)

English subtitles, Chinese language. Completely weird when the actors speak in badly accented English, usually in business meetings with foreigners.

I miss my Fogbow friends. My work has turned into somewhat of a bummer, and I'm having a hard time finding time for myself right now. I'm OK, just a little unhappy about work and trying to get some balance again.

I hope everyone else is doing well and also hoping things will settle down a bit so I can get back online and see what you "guys" are up to. Miss you terribly!

RVInit wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:37 pm I miss my Fogbow friends. My work has turned into somewhat of a bummer, and I'm having a hard time finding time for myself right now. I'm OK, just a little unhappy about work and trying to get some balance again.

I hope everyone else is doing well and also hoping things will settle down a bit so I can get back online and see what you "guys" are up to. Miss you terribly!

It seems you had a baby while we were offline! (Your new avatar is darling.). That "searching" mode can be grueling, but the other side is wonderful! Hang in there! You got through the Bundys and he who shall not be named. You can do this. :BigHug:

RVInit wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:37 pm I miss my Fogbow friends. My work has turned into somewhat of a bummer, and I'm having a hard time finding time for myself right now. I'm OK, just a little unhappy about work and trying to get some balance again.

I hope everyone else is doing well and also hoping things will settle down a bit so I can get back online and see what you "guys" are up to. Miss you terribly!

I miss your brexit articles and insights. Didn’t generally comment, but definitely read every one. So thanks for that. I hope you can find your balance, that is often a difficult task. Sending good vibes!

I'll be AFK most of the day, on our way to national embarrassment Kiawah Resort (worst PGA Tour event evar, but it's South Carolina, what'd you expect).

Heading out West on Amtrak tomorrow evening. Going into the extreme heat wave of Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Do I have to mention I loathe hot weather?

We will take two days to get to Flagstaff on the Southwest Chief; wind our way through about 6-8 national parks in those three states; end up in Grand Junction, Colorado, and take the California Zephyr back from there. We will be gone until July 9. We have done most of these national parks before (Grand Canyon, North and South Rims; Zion; Bryce, Staircase Escalante; Canyonlands [two different areas]; Arches; Mesa Verde; Colorado National Monument).

There are four of us going, hubby and I, our son, and our granddaughter. We have private rooms on the train. It sounds like a lot to pack in, but the parks are not far apart, and we will be putting about 1,000 miles on a rental in about three weeks of driving. It feels pretty safe, although I checked out the vax rates for Arizona and Utah, and they are not great. But we are mostly driving or outside. When we can, we will probably do picnic eating and take-out. The three adults are vaccinated, but my 11-year-old granddaughter is not eligible for the jab until August. We are well armed with masks and disinfectant!

I may pop in tomorrow yet, but after that, not likely. Keep up the good work!

No, no, no! That's not how it works. You have post during your trip, preferably with photos.

We made it there and back! Got in Friday morning, and I'm still recovering. I have my stuff washed and put away, but there's still a lot to do.

We went out on the Amtrak Southwest Chief to Flagstaff, Arizona. After a few days there, we headed north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and then on to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, staying in one of the park cabins. Then we headed into Utah, going to Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase Escalante, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands Island in the Sky, and Arches. We "chilled" out for four days in Moab before heading into Cortez, Colorado, to Mesa Verde. The two of us had been everywhere else before, but it was our first trip to Mesa Verde. From there we went up to Gateway Canyons Resort in Gateway, Colorado, for the Independence Day Weekend, which was awesome. It's set at the only place in the world where five canyons merge. The five-hour drive from Cortez (we were told 2-2 1/2 hours, NOT) was ever changing and spectacular. We spent two days at the resort. The second day it was 103 degrees, so after a few hours outside, we headed back to our room, and ventured out for a while later when it cooled a little. From there we headed up to Grand Junction, where we went on the way to Colorado National Monument. I really only first heard of this park when I was planning the trip a year ago. It's an amazing park, full of spectacular canyons, including a canyon within a canyon. We spent a few days in Grand Junction before heading back on the Amtrak California Zephyr.

Covid rules and regulations varied wildly from place to place, even in the national parks. The most strict places were on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We were mostly outside, though, so most places felt safe. We found out as we were at the train station in Grand Junction that it's a Delta hot spot and the CDC was on the way to check it out. On the train, we were told that passengers had been forbidden to get off the train at that stop because of the level of the variant. We all wore masks as it felt necessary and since our granddaughter is almost 12, so no vaccination until next month, she always wore a mask.

I would have posted a few photos, but I haven't been able to get on here on my iPhone. I think I need to change my password to do that. It keeps telling me I've tried too many times.

Anyway, it was a great trip. The weather was not as bad as expected; we seem to have squeezed in between two really hot spells. It was hotter than I like, but mostly not too bad, temps in the low 90s and downright pleasant at a few places, although we had a few days close to or above 100 degrees.

Now, to catch up here. We kept up on news with MSNBC, but there was also a lot of HGTV for the granddaughter.

Sounds like a lovely trip!

What a trip! You hit all the national parks on your bingo card.

Here it is, it didn't disappear.

Foggy wrote: ↑Mon Dec 27, 2021 3:03 pm Here it is, it didn't disappear.

The thread was just traveling.

Yeah but it didn't make me worry, I knew I could find it when I needed it.

I haven't disappeared, I'm in suburban Maryland.

Either I’m bad at searching or our search function is useless.

I found it by searching. We always included the word disappeared, so I searched for that, limited to thread titles only on advanced search. Our search function is working perfectly, thankyouverymuch.

It's that time again: Amtrak out West. We leave tomorrow on the train to Chicago. Sunday, we head off on the Empire Builder to Glacier National Park in Montana. After a few days there, back on the train to continue west to Seattle. In Washington, we have plans to spend time in Seattle, then take the ferry to Bremerton to pick up a car and spend a few days in Olympic National Park. After the park, we have reservations for the Coho ferry to Victoria, Canada. After a few days there, we go back to Seattle. Our route back is on the Coast Starlight to Sacramento, change trains there to California Zephyr to Denver, and get off there. Rather than spending four nights on a train (have done that; too long), we're stopping in Denver to break up the trip, before heading back to Chicago and on to home.

We're taking our granddaughter again, and this is her last train trip out West with us. We have to travel in the middle of the summer for her, which we don't like, but her younger brother (8) has taken notice of big sister's trips without him. Sis is a great traveler; he is not. He has ADHD. Although he seems to be doing better lately, we know he wouldn't be able to handle this kind of trip. We've promised him an Amtrak trip overnight to Chicago next year. He has been from Pittsburgh to New York City, but has not been on an overnight trip yet. He should handle that well, and he's looking forward to it. They both are. It's not that we won't travel with them (they are both angling for an Alaska cruise), just that we'll be done with the long-distance trains for them.

This was a hard trip to pack for. I'm trying to travel really light as I'll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting after hubby's knee surgery, but we're about seven days on a train, seven days in national parks, and seven days in cities, with varying weather.

Like last year, maybe I'll pop in tomorrow. The Capitol Limited leaves Pittsburgh at 11:59, so I have all day. But I have a lot to do yet.

I was hoping not to have to wear masks for this trip, but I have packed lots of KN95 and N95s. I also am taking tests. Amtrak can't require masks, but they are kindly asking people to wear them. I know fewer people are wearing them. I also know the current version of the plague is the most transmissible.

Maybe I'll try to post some photos this year while we're gone. I think I was having some sort of sign-in issue last year.

I won't miss any hearings!

It sounds like a really nice trip - I hope you have a lot of fun!!

I've only traveled by train for one trip, going both ways. It was about 30-35 years ago (Gods, has it really been that long?) when I lived in Seattle. I was coming back to Kansas to have knee surgery, and brought my boyfriend of 2 years to meet my parents. (They liked him well enough, but we broke up about 6 months later.)

We went from Seattle down to LA, through the Southwest and back up to Kansas on the way here, and then from Kansas, we went through Chicago and traveled through the Northern states back to Seattle. I really enjoyed the trip a lot. The train wasn't the most comfortable way I've gotten somewhere, but it beat the Hel out of airplanes! I'd had enough of those after my trip to Nome. I remember the food was a lot better than I anticipated, and Ioved getting to see so much of the country.

I hope you can send us some piccys from your trip. Enjoy having your granddaughter around and take care!

Bon voyage Andy! That sounds like a great trip.

Yes, enjoy your trip!

I'm so jealous.

Looking forward to the photos!

Have a great trip, Andy!

Have a good trip! It's going to be warmish in Seattle this week, in the +90s. Most of you will think that is cool compared to where you are, but it's hot for us here. Not as bad as last year's heatdome, though.

If you are with a vehicle and head to Mt Rainier, you should stop by the farm and say hello to the horses LOL.