
Alaska trip with my sister 2016
We drove from Columbus this afternoon and pulled into Pittsburgh and went straight to the Phipps Conservatory Botanical Garden to see the train exhibit before they change exhibits after Sunday.
Do you ever throw a coin in a wishing well or a fountain and make a wish?
Here is Michael making his coin splash, thinking about his wish.
He told me to wait to take the picture as he was thinking about his wishes carefully. I was scrounging around in the bottom of my purse pockets for coins.
Charlie made a splash, too.
I was trying to get the moment of impact on the water.
Here are the trains.
Three short videos from the heartland.
Driving by cornfields on the way to Fremont, Nebraska. That’s Maura’s voice on the WAZE app, she recorded all the commands/ directives when visiting.
Waiting at the railroad crossing for the soybeans train cars to cross. Patiently.
The soybeans processing plant in Fremont
Driving down the middle of Main Street, Fremont Nebraska
An Eagle Scout Project. St. Joseph Rosary Garden. Fremont Nebraska.
Little boys love trains. It was fun going to experience the model trains through Charlie’s eyes.
“There are five miniature trains running on 280 feet of track.”
Monday morning, Laura and Charlie and I went to the Columbus Main Library downtown to see the Huntington Holiday Train Display.
The train display is a tradition since 1992 built by Paul Busse. He created all the buildings with moss, seeds, pine cones, bark and natural plant materials
The setting is Bavaria in Germany, buildings patterned after Rothenburg and Bernkastel- the Frauenkirche Cathedral is one in Dresden- Columbus Sister City. You might recognize Mad Ludwig’s castle.
in the Children’s Library there is a wonderful aquarium.
http://www.columbuslibrary.org/come-see-huntington-holiday-train-main-library
Meet Will H. Our conductor on the train ride from Denali to Anchorage. Army veteran. They even slowed the train so we could photograph Denali and two other mountain ranges which were all completely visible on a beautiful clear day.
Although we are back in NYC and I like to keep the blog in RT, now that computer access/internet is available, I want to post some photos I had in my real camera not iPhone.
Today’s iPhone shots taken on the train today
weekly photo challenge:edge of mountain touches sky
Will upload regular camera soon
Mary and I got a cab to the Anchorage Railroad Depot, checked in our tagged bags, drank a delicious coffee and waited to board the glass roofed train to Denali.
At the start of the train ride there were just nine of us and then 58 joined us at Talkeetna. It’s now the end of the season that started in May.
We decided to get breakfast after an early start
Mary ordered the reindeer/ egg scrambler skillet.
Chef Malachi cooked our breakfasts to perfection! Delicious.
Jerrica tended the bar at the front of the car
Our conductor A.J. He has to get off the train to manually switch the tracks so we could wait on the side as another train passed, going south.
Matthew our excellent server on the left and Crystal our knowledgeable tour guide.
Both of them made it a fun and memorable adventure. The train ride is about eight hours. We didn’t knit or nap, didn’t want to miss a single second.
(Good sports to let me photograph them, thanks!)
We saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans who mate for life.
Their young ones were swimming on their own
After the lunch crowd left the dining car and went back upstairs, I enjoyed a Forest pie with rhubarb, apple, blackberry and strawberries topped with vanilla ice cream. Matt asked if I wanted a lot of whipped cream or a little. 🙂
Everyone was so nice, the scenery so incredible. Andy took a photo of us at the table too, which was great for the memory book, but unfortunately I did not take his pic.
We highly recommend the train tour.