Cross Country Amtrak Trip
Trinity 18 Jul 2022

I am not sure why but I have a strong desire to hop on a train and see the country. With the world being in a state of… 

What should I even say the world is in a state of? Mess, confusion, disaster? Whatever words are used, it’s messy. I believe hopping on a train and seeing the country from the comfort and safety of our room would be amazing. 

I would also like to say that we are traveling as a handicapped couple. We were in a motorcycle accident that could have ended our lives. Fortunately, the only thing we have lingering is having a hard time walking so my fiance will be traveling with his scooter and a walker. Amtrak has plans for this and that is one of the reasons that I want to travel with them. ***After watching a couple of YouTube channels, especially Grounded Life Travel I have seen that there isn’t room on the trains for the scooter so that is an issue for us. It looks like we will have to wait for train travel till he is peddling with two feet.***

The trip I am planning will have several segments and we will be spending several days to a week in cities that I want to explore a little. I am planning this trip for the entire month of September so hopefully, we will be able to see some leaves changing around the country. 

Here are the legs of the trip 

Indianapolis, IN-New Orleans, LA – Spending several days in New Orleans

New Orleans, LA-Tucson, AZ – Spending a couple of days out of necessity, No trains

Tucson, AZ-Santa Barbara, CA – One night in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA-Seattle, WA – Several nights in Settle. I LOVE Seattle

Seattle, WA-St. Paul, MN – One night in St. Paul

St. Paul, MN-Indianapolis, IN 

I will break each of these segments down and put prices and where I have looked into staying. I have priced out the train segments as well as the hotels. Anything that we do or eat other than what is provided on the train will be extra as well as souvenirs we happen to pick up along the way. 

I feel that since we are traveling with the scooter and walker as well as luggage we would be more comfortable in a sleeper. This would be much more comfortable than sitting and trying to be comfortable in coach. It is a lot more expensive but I believe the privacy and comfort will be worth it. 

Indianapolis-New Orleans

We will be leaving from Indy on the Cardinal Line and heading to New Orleans on September 7th. The train pulls out at 12:15 AM. Thank goodness for sleeper cars! I planned it to not be a straight shot and there is a transfer in Charlottesville, VA. We have 5 hours to kill for this transfer. 

We should be departing Charlottesville on the Crescent Line at 8:52 PM on September 7th. Of course, being a train there are a ton of stops between any two destinations. Since we don’t have any major destination in sight I’m not worried about it. I do hope we manage to sleep with the train starting and stopping constantly.

I am kind of worried about missing our next train if something happens in-route. I know the airline will make sure to get you on another plane if you are late due to late arrivals. I have no idea how the rail system works. That will be a question for another time though. I have at least a day and in some cases several days between connections so it really shouldn’t be a problem. 

We should enter the New Orleans station at 9:02 PM on September 8th. Since I have never been to New Orleans I want to stay a few days there and check it out. Plus I would probably die if I missed out on fresh seafood while I had the chance. 

I have decided that Lafayette Hotel in New Orleans is where we will be staying while we are there. I’m sure we will be needing our feet on solid ground for a while. It is a 12-minute walk (.6 miles) from the train station. Of course, I don’t know the area so I’m not sure how safe it is but we’ll have to see. The pictures of the hotel look like it is in a nice neighborhood so there’s that. 

There are several things that I want to do and see in New Orleans. I am not putting any of those in this post. You’ll have to check back after the actual trip. I will post about each destination after it happens. I can guarantee you that if something is free, that is what we will be doing. 

New Orleans, LA-Tucson, AZ 

The next leg of the trip will be taking us to Tucson, AZ. I  didn’t have any need or desire to go here. It is just a stop that I had to make because that is the only way I could get to where I wanted to go without backtracking. We will have to spend a couple of days here. They only have trains that come through here on certain days of the week and we hit in the middle of them. 

We will board our train in New Orleans at 9:00 AM on September 14. From what I can find, this is the Sunset Limited ad it goes all the way to California. We will have a transfer in San Antonio that will be about 3 hours. Not too bad. 

We then head out for the rest of our journey. We should arrive in Tucson around 7:00 PM. This part is 36 hours. The hotel isn’t very close to this one so I may try to get an Uber depending on if they can get a scooter in the vehicle. It is a 25-minute walk (1.2 miles). That’s not terrible. We will be staying at Ramada by Wyndham Tucson.  

I have no plans for this destination. I’m sure we will find something to do while we are here. We can’t leave till the 18th. We may just rest in a non-moving bed while we can. 

Tucson, AZ-Santa Barbara, CA 

On September 18th we will board our train bound for Santa Barbara at 7:35 PM. This will be a 17-hour trip with a transfer when we get to Los Angeles. We will have a little over a 4-hour transfer when we get to LA. We are scheduled to leave at 9:51 AM for Santa Barbara where we will stay for one night before catching the next train and rolling out. 

We should be pulling into the station at 12:20 PM and we will be staying at Ala Mar by the Sea which is a 5-minute (.3 mile) walk from the train station. It looks like it is an amazingly adorable hotel right on the beach! Hopefully, we will have time to check it out. 

I don’t have anything planned here. It is just a stop I felt we needed to make on our trip. I’m sure we will be doing some sightseeing while we are there. 

Santa Barbara, CA-Seattle, WA – I LOVE Seattle

We are off to the next stop! We board the train at 11:55 AM on September 20th and head for Seattle. This is a 32-hour trip. I could have chosen the one with several transfers but I’m going with the direct. I don’t even care if it is more money. Not having to deal with the anxiety of getting from train to train in just a few minutes is worth it to me. 

The train should pull into Seattle around 7:51 PM. We will not be leaving till September 28th so we have plenty of time to see what we can get into. 

We will spend several days in Seattle. I love Seattle! We will be staying at Courtyard Seattle Downtown Pioneer Square. Most of the hotels that I will be booking are through Amtrak. This one is not. As long as we are staying I wanted to go cheaper so I’m going with Courtyard. 

Seattle, WA-St. Paul, MN

We are down to our last two. I’m sure I will be looking forward to getting home by now. We board the train in Seattle on September 28th at 4:40 PM for our 37-hour ride to St. Paul Minnesota. 

We will spend one night there at the InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront, an IHG Hotel. It is a 10-minute walk from the station but we should be ready to go at 7:43 AM when we get there. 

There are not any plans for this location but we have an entire day so I’m sure we will find something to do. The hotel looks huge! We may find plenty to do there. 

St. Paul, MN-Indianapolis, IN 

Heading home!! I’m sure that by now I will be more than ready to go home. We board the train at 8:00 AM on October 1st and we have a 2-hour transfer in Chicago. The train should pull into the Indy station at 11:49 PM and we will be on our way home from there. 

Cost breakdown

Here is where the fun part comes in. This trip will cost $15,231 as it is. I know this sounds like a lot but it was also a month long. I have seen trips similar to this with 14-15 days that are the same amount of money that is planned by Amtrak. You could always go that route if you want to. 

It would also have been way less if I wanted to do some of the segments in coach. Since we are going to be on a train for a month I figured we would go all out and have a sleeper cabin. 

Indianapolis, IN – New Orleans, LA September 7-8- $2157 

Lafayette Hotel September 8-14 – $1074 

New Orleans, LA-Tucson, AZ September 14-15 – $1473

Ramada by Wyndham Tucson September 15-18 – $300

Tucson, AZ-Santa Barbara, CA September 18-19 – $1359

Ala Mar by the Sea September 19 – $272

Santa Barbara, CA-Seattle, WA September 20-21 – $2281

Courtyard Seattle Downtown Pioneer Square September 12-28 – $1592 

Seattle, WA-St. Paul, MN September 28-30 – $3060

InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront, an IHG Hotel September 30 – $180

St. Paul, MN-Indianapolis, IN October 1 – $1483

TOTAL $15,231

Make sure to sign up for the Amtrak rewards so you are earning from the start. Who knows, after this, you may have our next trip paid for. 

Final Thoughts

That is a lot! Especially at one time. Since we are close to Indianapolis and a train station I feel we will have to break this out into several smaller trips. I  don’t think I could actually spend a month on a train. That would be insane! My son wants to vacation on a dude ranch and he thinks that riding a train to get there would be epic so I’ll be planning that one for sure. I also love going to D.C. so that will definitely be a trip for me to plan.

I can’t wait to get out there and start enjoying things again. What about you? Do you have experience with Amtrak? Where would you like to go?

Traveling on Amtrak series
Trinity 8 Mar 2022

I am obsessed with thoughts of traveling and seeing the country via train. I feel this would be a great way to do it. You get to see the entire country and not really do much. You can just sit back and enjoy. 

I will be setting these up as handicapped trips since my fiancee is still not walking well since the accident.

Amtrak has a section where you can say what kind of mobility device you use and they show trains that you can go on. I think that’s fabulous! There are not many ways of travel that will accommodate a scooter but Amtrak does. 

While it says you get a discount (10%) for being a passenger with disabilities and a discount (10%) for being a companion to the disabled person I tried it both ways and the cost is higher. I did put that we needed help with luggage so that could easily be the extra cost. 

The hotels that Amtrak show as partnered with are very close to the train stations so that won’t be bad. Since we are hopping off at bigger cities I am hoping Uber would be in the area in case we need car service. Of course, that would totally depend on if they can haul the scooter. I have made sure to get as close to the station as possible. Even if we had to walk a couple of blocks it wouldn’t be that bad. Hopefully, we could be charging the scooter on the train. 

So far I have two trips planned out so be watching for them shortly.  

Anyplace you have thought about going? Planning to do it on a train? Hit me up and let me know. I may do a post on that.

The Wreck That Could Have Ended it All
Trinity 12 Nov 2020

What happened

Two months from tomorrow my boyfriend and I were in a motorcycle accident with a car. It pulled out in front of us and there was no place for us to go. I was knocked unconscious and could have very easily not woken up. 

Thankfully I did and we are both in the process of healing. It was bad, really bad, I am not even sure about all of my injuries bad. I am not adding pictures to this post because they were pretty bad.  

Injuries

I will start at the top and go down and list the injuries that I am aware of. 

MINE: (All are on the right side of my body) (That is the side that hit the car)

  • Fractured skull in at least two places.
  • Broke the bone in my nose that houses my sinuses.
  • Fractured my cheekbone.
  • Fractured the bone at the top of my eye. 
  • Fractured my wrist.
  • Fractured all of my fingers.
  • I had pins in my thumb but I’m still not sure what they actually did.
  • I broke both of the bones in my lower leg. They snapped off from my knee. I have a plate in there now. 
  • I broke my ankle.

This is what I have been able to piece together. I was pretty out of it for a while after the wreck.
BOYFRIEND: (All right side)

  • He smashed his entire leg. Top to bottom. 
  • His ankle is broken.
  • His heel was torn off.

Let’s just say he went for quality and I went for quantity. His is by far worse than mine. Needless to say, neither one of us can put weight on our right feet or legs. I am just now allowed to use my right hand. 

He has a couple more surgeries to go through. As far as I know, I am done with mine. It is a process. I’m not going to lie, it’s been tough. We have good days and not so good days. 

Getting through it

Thankfully I have been meditating and going through a breathing practice that has helped me get through this. I remember breathing through a lot of the pain before they got my medication worked out. I have also been thanking God for seeing me through it so far. I am positive that there are much bigger plans for me in play that I know nothing about. 

I’m not going to lie. It was the most terrifying thing I have ever been through. I hope to never go through something like that again. All I can really say is for ya’ll to be careful out there. Don’t just blindly pull out in traffic if you can’t see what’s coming at you.

 

 

Weekend Trip to Lexington, KY Labor Day Weekend 2019
Trinity 17 Sep 2019

This was a good trip and it would have been a lot better if my boyfriend hadn’t been sick (man flu/head cold). I have taken a ridiculous amount of time to post this. He still has a horrible cough. We would have been able to get out more and see more things. As it is we had an excellent dinner and we got to see some interesting architecture.

  • Forgive the shadows from the glass. Some of the pictures were taken from the car.

All in all, it was a good trip and there will be more in our future. Lexington is halfway between him and me so I’ll definitely be burning Hilton points there over time.

Hotel

We met at the hotel around noon. Check-in is actually 4:00 but I actually checked-in the night before on my Hilton app and I opted in for a digital key. It was delivered to my phone right before we got there so we got to go right on up. With all of the traveling that I do for my day job, I have quite a few points racked up. It is nice to be able to stay free when I use my points.

We stayed at the Sire Hotel in downtown Lexington. I’ve got to say that it was a very nice hotel. We will be back there. It was a very good experience. There is a restaurant in the hotel which adds to the convenience of the whole experience. The complimentary continental breakfast is also served in the restaurant.

I couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay.

There was a really nice seating area that I managed to get a decent picture of. It has a couple of swings as well as some comfortable chairs to sit around a huge gas firepit. The whole thing is really nice and homey.

The room that we were in was kind of small but it was amazing. The bed was so comfortable! It was by far one of the best beds I have slept on in a while when it comes to a hotel bed. The showers have rainfall showerheads. I’ve got to say that the showers are amazing.

Dinner

We ate at Columbia Steak House at 201 Limestone. The steaks were fabulous and the sides were delicious. I wasn’t really impressed with the rolls but the dinner itself was great.

They have a pretty good selection of items on the menu so there should be something for everyone. I highly recommend the steaks though. I got the ribeye and Greg got the New York strip. We were practically miserable when we left because of the huge portions and how good it was. It’s hard to stop eating when it is that good!

We had dessert at Gigi’s Cupcakes. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of cakes but I love this place. There is such a delicious cake to icing ratio. The cake is so moist and the icing is, well, icing. Does there really need to be any explanation for icing?

Area

I have always driven through and around Lexington on my way between Tennessee and Indiana. I’ve never actually stopped and looked around so this was an eye-opening experience for me. We got to see some pretty amazing architecture downtown as well as outside the city. I will totally get more pictures when we go back.

While driving around I started seeing walls/fences made out of huge rocks. A quick Google search told me that these walls were made by Irish stonemasons in the mid-1800s. They are made out of limestone which is wildly abundant in central Kentucky.

They are quite impressive. Some of these walls/fences are tall and are made out of huge rocks. I am amazed at the fact that they are still standing. Then I was overcome with sadness when I realized that there is no one to fix them when they fall. Apparently there were many more than there are now but they are collapsing and no one is fixing them.

More to Explore

There is a lot more for us to find in Lexington and I am totally up to the challenge. Unfortunately, Greg was sick the whole time with a really bad head cold so we didn’t get to look around as much as we would like. That will have to be saved for the next time.

Ideas

If anyone has ideas for things we should explore in Lexington or anywhere else just drop a line below and let me know. I would be more than happy to check it out. I’ll even be happy to give you a shout out when I do.

Enjoy and have a great day!

Washington State
Trinity 6 Jun 2019

I travel a lot with my day job. There are places I have been that I really wouldn’t have a desire to go again and there are places that I really like. Washington state is one of them that I like. That is by far, in my opinion, the most beautiful place I have been in a long time.

Granted, there are parts of it that really don’t impress me but I managed to get some fabulous pictures on the way from point A to point B. We’ll just focus on them for this post. This is just a small portion of the trip but I feel you should experience these mountains if you get the chance.

We had to travel through the Cascade Mountain range to get from Seattle to Spokane. Even though I live in the Smoky Mountains and I love them, I will have to say that this mountain range is absolutely beautiful. I will just let the pictures do the talking for the rest of this post. You’ll see what I mean.

Amazing
Amazing
Can you see it?
Peek-a-boo
There you are!
I am in total shock at how huge these mountains are!
Yes. That is still snow.
A sign on the highway.
Lunch time. Stella’s in Cle Elum is a great place to stop.
I took a picture of the cloud just because it looked angry.
The Columbia River.
The best picture I could get of the gorge as we were driving by.
Even the views from the rest stops are fabulous!
A New Section
Trinity 22 May 2019

I have decided to add travel into the mix. This blog is called Trinity’s Randomness for a reason. You never know what kind of random things you will encounter when you visit here.

The view from my plane window.

This is the view out my window from my last business trip. I absolutely love to take pictures out of my plane windows. The fact that I live in East Tennessee with Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg practically in my back yard makes this a no brainer. I feel that everyone should experience the beauty of the mountains and all of the things we have to offer.

I also travel a lot for business which is where the pictures in this post come from. I will post about the places I have been when I get the chance to experience the location. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places that I go where all I have time for is work and sleep. I will definitely work on fitting more into the schedule.

Thank you for reading. Where would you like for me to write about here in East Tennessee? Please drop me a line and let me know. I will work hard to get it in a post soon.