The California Zephyr

The California Zephyr arrives at Emeryville

In my quest to see as much of the country as possible, within a relatively short timeframe, I caught the Amtrak train known as the California Zephyr from San Francisco to Chicago.

Crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains

My roomette for the next 50 odd hours

The two and a half day trip covered 2,438 miles (3,924km) across some of the most impressive landscapes in North America. The train trundled along at a relaxed pace giving me plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, eat my supply of Ghirardelli chocolate, talk with my fellow travellers, read, write and sleep.

Converted into a bed for the evenings

We left San Francisco by bus to Emeryville Saturday morning and got onto the Zephyr at 9am. I had booked a roomette; a compact room with two seats that folded down into a bed for the evenings.

Menu in the Dining Car

Lunch: crab cake sandwich and an iced tea

That first day, we travelled through the states of California and Nevada, stopping at towns and cities along the way for passengers to get on and off the train. We stopped at Sacramento, the capital city of California and then on through the Sierra Nevada fir-covered mountain range to Reno – “the Biggest Little City in the World”.

Founded in 1868, Reno really took off in the 1930s with legalised gambling and the country’s most liberal divorce laws. The Bank Club in Reno became the world’s largest casino during the 30s and 40s and saying, “I’m going to Reno.” was another way of saying, “I’m getting a divorce.”

Well-known American columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning World War II war correspondent, Ernie Pyle once wrote in one of his columns, "All the people you saw on the streets in Reno were obviously there to get divorces." (I sure that’s not the case today.)

Waking up in Utah

The second day, I woke up around 6am and looked out my window, onto the imposing desert landscape of Utah – true cowboy and Indian country. I felt as though I was on the set of the old Western movies, rerun during my 1970s childhood and that any minute Gary Cooper would ride past in pursuit of the Miller’s Gang or John Wayne would be in a gunfight with the Comancheros whilst simultaneously warding off an attack by Comanche Indians.

By 9.30am we had crossed into Colorado. The day was filled with spectacular scenery as we followed the Colorado River up through the Rocky Mountain range through numerous canyons and gorges. I kept my eyes peeled, hoping to spot a bear or two but no such luck, although I did manage to see a few moose and deer along the way.

The Colorado River is a favourite for white water rafting and kayaking with the rafters and kayakers traditionally “mooning” the California Zephyr as it makes its way past.

"Mooning" rafters

Rocky Mountains, Colorado

Short stop at Glenwood Springs, Colorado

I took the opportunity to stretch my legs on the platform at picturesque, Glenwood Springs, high up in the Rockies. The final resting place for Wild West legend, Doc Holliday of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral fame, Glenwood Springs is famous for its hot springs and mineral caves.

Colorado River

In between Glenwood Springs and Denver, we passed through the 6.2 mile (10km) long Moffat Tunnel and reached the highest elevation for the trip at 9,200 feet (2,800m) above sea level.

Colorado River

Leaving the Rockies behind

That night in the dining car, I was seated with a retired couple from Omaha and Elsa, an events manager from Chicago.

We made good time all the way to Denver, Colorado, where the train picked up more passengers and refuelled for our journey on to Chicago.

 

Once we hit the open plains country outside of Denver, heading towards Nebraska, the weather changed. We headed into the night with a severe weather warning slowing our progress and a spectacular light show from heavy thunderstorms lighting up my window.

East of Denver

Only a few days earlier, twin tornadoes had wrecked havoc near the small town of Pilger, Nebraska, wiping out the town's business district, obliterating its fire station and grinding 40 or 50 homes into rubble. I went to sleep hoping we wouldn’t encounter any twisters along our route that night.

Ate the last block when I still had 19 hours to go...

The next morning I woke up safe and sound although somewhat dismayed to discover I had polished off my entire supply of Ghirardelli chocolate I had bought in San Francisco.

We passed through Omaha, Nebraska, home to Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha and the world’s most famous and successful stock market investor, Mr Buffett is worth a cool US$65billion or thereabouts. Call it wishful thinking but I was hoping to channel some sort of divine investment wisdom as we passed through town… I’ll let you know how that goes at a future date.

About to cross the Mississippi River on the Burlington Rail Bridge

For my last day on the California Zephyr, we crossed the states of Nebraska, Iowa and then at Burlington, we crossed the mighty Mississippi River into the state of Illinois.

The Mighty Mississippi 

Down in the dining car for breakfast, I ordered a spinach and mushroom frittata with that quintessential side dish from the American Deep South: grits. (I just wanted to say in my best American impersonation, “I’ll have some grits with that please.”) Porridge made out of ground corn, water and seasoned with butter, grits are pretty bland and mainly eaten as a breakfast dish.

Grits, bacon, frittata and a croissant for brekkie 

There had been a lot of recent heavy rain around Omaha and further east; the farming country steadily improved and we passed acres and acres of lush, green corn crops as we travelled on towards Chicago.

Talking with other passengers, I was amazed to learn the length of the summer school holidays in the US. The summer vacation, as they call it, starts at the end of May and goes through until September. (Apparently a left over tradition from the farming days of old, when the children were expected to help out on the farms over the summer.)

We finally chugged into Chicago, two and a half hours later than expected. When it comes to seeing a country in a relatively short space of time, you can’t beat a long distance train trip. So long as you’re not overly concerned about your arrival time and are prepared to be flexible, the California Zephyr offers a great way to see large tracts of North America as well as meet fellow travellers.

If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Walking tour of San Francisco

Early Tuesday morning, I said goodbye to Ann and the City of Angels and caught the 6.55am flight to San Francisco. I was seated next to a beautiful Mexican lady named Paola; she was a journalist and former news anchor for the Spanish television network, Telemundo Media. The short flight of just over an hour passed quickly and we descended into Oakland.

One of the many helpful signs at USA Hostels San Francisco

I caught the BART train into San Francisco and made my way to the USA Hostels San Francisco; one of the top rated hostels within the US and my accommodation for the first night. An impressive hostel with clean, modern facilities; I was booked into a four-bed, female dorm with an en suite bathroom.

San Francisco Bicycle Rentals

After checking my luggage, it was time for a twenty-minute walk down to the Ferry Building to pick up a bike from San Francisco Bicycle Rentals and ride across San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge. The weather couldn’t have been better for my four-day stay in the City by the Bay; bright sunshine and cloudless, blue skies – with hardly a wisp of the infamous San Francisco fog.

The Golden Gate Bridge

It was an easy ten-mile bike ride from the Ferry Building in San Francisco, across the bridge to the picturesque town of Sausalito. I rode along the Embarcadero past Fisherman’s Wharf, along the Marina Boulevard past the Palace of Fine Arts, through Crissy Field and up onto the bridge – stopping for numerous “Kodak Moments” as I went.

About to pedal my way across

Looking up at one of the Art Deco styled bridge towers

The Golden Gate Bridge was built between 1933 and 1937 and spans the channel of water that links San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean, known as the Golden Gate Strait. For many years it was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

I wandered around the tourist town of Sausalito for an hour or so, enjoyed a late lunch of grilled cod and salad, then caught the ferry back to San Francisco, taking in close up views of the infamous former prison island, Alcatraz.

The next day, I joined a group of fellow travellers from the hostel for a walking tour of San Francisco. Brendan, our tour guide, kept us entertained with fascinating snippets of the city’s history or “bullshit facts” as he so quaintly put it. Who knew Chinese fortune cookies did not originate in China? They were allegedly the brainchild of a Japanese man, Makoto Hagiwara and originated in San Francisco.

Brendan took us through Chinatown, the largest in the US, past the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company in Ross Alley; past City Lights Bookstore and the historic bar, Vesuvio Café – famous hangout of Bob Dylan. We passed the extensive queue at Mama’s Café – famous for it’s breakfasts and the pizza shop where Francis Ford Coppola is said to have written the screenplay for The Godfather. 

We hiked up Telegraph Hill to see the Coit Tower and enjoyed the view looking out over the city. Coming back down, we passed through Levi’s Plaza, headquarters to Levi Strauss & Co, the dry goods company founded in 1853 by German Jewish immigrant, Levi Strauss. In 1873 Strauss joined forces with Russian immigrant, Jacob Davis and they began manufacturing the world’s first denim jeans.

Just as fascinating as the tour was meeting my fellow tourists; I talked with people from all over the world, including Kathleen, an urban planner from Caracas in Venezuela and Daniel, a university student from Taipei in Taiwan.

Late in the afternoon I made my way to the accommodation I had booked through Airbnb. I had a room on the 10^th floor of a brand new apartment building near the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF is widely regarded as one of the world's leading universities in health sciences).

My hostess, Trang, was a lovely Vietnamese lady who was studying dentistry at the UCSF and her adorable nine-month-old son, Tirian. Trang had grown up in Vietnam and had worked as an air traffic controller, then an airhostess in Taiwan before coming to America; her husband is an oncologist, currently working in Houston, Texas.

A bowl of clam chowder on the go

San Francisco is a food lover’s dream, famous for its seafood, sourdough bread and chocolates and only an hour’s drive from the Sonoma and Napa Valleys wine regions. Fortunately it is a very hilly city, so there are plenty of opportunities to walk off any calories consumed!

You won't regret visiting this little beauty!

Lone Sailor Memorial

Day three saw me joining a group of thirty other global travellers for an all-day luxury bus tour of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Upon crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, Keith, our driver and tour guide, pulled over at the memorial to the Lone Sailor and we enjoyed a champagne breakfast, looking back towards the bridge.

Our day included visiting the famous winery, Jacuzzi; named after its owners, an Italian family who immigrated to America in the early 1900s and developed an aircraft manufacturing company and the now famous hot tubs.

The start of the day...

The Sonoma and Napa Valleys wine region was first developed in the 1850s and is now well known internationally for the quality of the wine produced there.

The Bartolucci Family’s Madonna Estate was the setting for our picnic lunch and I, along with my new wine-touring buddies Hazel, Paul, Casey and Lisa, went shares in a rather excellent bottle of red. Jamieson Ranch Vineyards was our final stop for the day and we enjoyed a glass of classic Napa Valley Chardonnay in the late afternoon sunshine, looking out over the vineyards.

With some of my wine-touring buddies at Jamieson Ranch Vineyards

By the time Keith had the bus turning for home, we had John Denver playing at full noise over the stereo system and the bus was considerably rowdier than when we had set out that morning.

The end of the day

We arrived back into San Francisco around 5pm ish and Hazel and Paul (who were visiting from Boston, Massachusetts) invited Casey, Lisa and me, up to their room in the Westin Hotel to enjoy the views and another glass of wine.

Segway touring, San Francisco style

For my final day in San Francisco, I booked myself onto the advanced Segway tour which encompassed numerous steep streets, including twice descending the famous Lombard Street, known as “the crookedest street in the world”, with its eight tight, hairpin turns.

Looking up towards the beautifully landscaped, Lombard Street

On my last night, Trang, invited me to join her for dinner. She cooked a delicious meal of broth, packed with beef, vegetables and noodles. The meal and conversation was a lovely conclusion to my time in San Francisco.

Good food and great company makes travelling so much better

Five Days in LA

It’s a long way to the other side of the world but after thirteen and a half hours on one of Virgin Australia’s Boeing 777s, I stepped out at LAX; the Los Angeles International Airport. My 2014 Excellent Adventure in America was beginning on the 12^th June with five days in the City of Angels, Los Angeles. Founded in 1781, the city and surrounding area holds well over half the population of Australia.

Fortunately for me, my very own angel, the lovely Ann Ferreri, met me at the airport. Ann, an LA local, is a close friend of Jo and Don Hearn from Restdown Winery near Barham. I had met Ann eighteen months earlier when she had been out for her biennial trip to Australia and fortuitously ended up on my riverbank for brunch one day.

Ann took me to her lovely 1940s apartment in West Los Angeles and left me to relax for the day while she was a work. The seventeen-hour time difference between Barham and LA, made it hard for me to stay awake; it might have been 8.30 Thursday morning in LA but it was already 1.30am on Friday in Barham. I set my alarm and had a nap for an hour and a half before getting up and going for a walk for an hour or so, to get a local SIM card for my phone.

Ann arrived home from work around 5.30pm; being a Thursday, I introduced Ann to the concept of LHHH (Ladies Happy Hour and a Half) and we enjoyed a bottle of Californian red and some delicious cheeses and snacks.

Bugatti Veyron

The next day Ann worked until 1.30pm. I took myself off for a morning walk to see the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (made famous by the 1987 film, Pretty Woman) and strolled along Rodeo Drive – the place to go if you feel like picking up a trinket at Tiffany’s or decking yourself out in jewels from Van Cleef & Arpels or perhaps the latest fashion from Versace... I settled for an enjoyable hour of window-shopping. Along the way I passed a Bugatti Veyron – the fastest street-legal production car in the world. With a top speed of over 400 km/hr, you can snap one of these babies up in Australia for around $4 million, give or take.

For the afternoon, Ann took me to the Getty Center, where we enjoyed an informative tour of the grounds with our knowledgeable tour guide, Hope.

The Getty Center

An architecturally amazing museum complex, the Getty Center is mostly clad in an Italian imported limestone known as travertine. Set up in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking LA (near Bel Air) the center was designed by architect Richard Meier and cost a staggering US$1.3 billion and eight years to build; it first opened to the public in December 1997.

Well over one million people visit the Getty Center each year to marvel at the architecture, landscaped grounds and vast collections of pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs.

That night, Ann took me out to the beachfront city of Santa Monica to dine with her friends, Bob and Pamela at Chez Jay, an historical landmark well known for its great food, generous drinks and comfortable atmosphere. On Ann’s recommendation, I enjoyed a delicious shrimp curry.

The next morning we drove into downtown LA for an architectural walking tour of the city. Afterwards we stopped for lunch at Papa Cristo’s in the Byzantine-Latino quarter. Voted best Greek restaurant in LA, this bustling taverna-styled eatery and market serves an extensive array of traditional Greek and Mediterranean foods.

Buildings in Downtown LA

Vivoli Café on Sunset Boulevard was the setting for our Saturday night dinner with Ann’s friends: Lydia and Danny, Sean and Sebastian.  I enjoyed Capesante e Gamberi; an exquisite meal of pan-fried scallops and shrimps with fresh lemon, white wine, and garlic sauce followed by Mattonellina de Cioccolato; a luxurious dark chocolate terrine finished with candied orange liqueur sauce… the most magnificent chocolate dessert I’ve ever tasted... and I’ve tasted a few!

Sunday was Father’s Day in the United States and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills hosts an impressive annual car show, the Rodeo Drive Concours D’elegance. Filled with Maseratis, Ferraris, Mustangs and more  - Ann and I went down there so I could get some photographs to show Max, Sam and Henry.

Rodeo Drive Concours D'elegance

Later that afternoon, Ann drove me out to the Griffith Observatory. Set on the south-facing side of Mount Hollywood, it overlooks the sprawling city of Los Angeles. Opened in 1935, the land and funds to build the observatory were donated by Welsh-American industrialist and philanthropist, Griffith J. Griffith (1850 – 1919), who’s objective was to make astronomy accessible to the public instead of it being restricted to the scientific community.

About to visit the Griffith Observatory

From the observatory, you can also look up to the iconic Hollywood sign that is recognised the world over. Originally created in 1923 as an advertisement for a local real estate development, it sits on the side of Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills.

Looking across to the Hollywood sign

That night, I booked a flight up to San Francisco for early Tuesday morning. Ann returned to work Monday and although I had grand plans to do some more touring around LA, I ended up dedicating the day to resting and reading… an important component of my excellent adventuring schedule… 

Avoiding Regrets

“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.” – John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 – 1892 (American poet)

With these words in mind, I booked my flights back to the US to once again attend the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) annual conference… even though I am currently not a newspaper columnist nor have I done much in the way of writing (so far) this year.

Until May, I had spent a good part of 2014 devoted to expanding my highly developed procrastinatory skills and allowing myself to be seduced by the delusional mantra “Good things come to those who wait.” Good things may come to those who wait but far better things come to those who set goals and work towards achieving them.

I had given a great deal of thought to returning to the US in 2014 for another solo travel adventure and to attend the NSNC conference but the more I thought about the trip and tried to plan, the more daunted I became. (The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, didn’t help.) Too much thinking had led me into analysis paralysis; I felt completely overwhelmed by choices and unable to make a decision either way… in fact, I just wanted to take a nap…

Finally, moments before the early bird registration special for the NSNC conference lapsed, I remembered the technique I had successfully employed last year: I bought my plane ticket, registered for the conference and left worrying about the finer details for a later date.

The Nike shoe company were on the money when they trademarked the slogan, “JUST DO IT” in 1988.

With less than a week to go until I fly out, my itinerary is still looking a little vague but I’m reassuring myself that this gives me plenty of flexibility and scope for adventures. I’m flying out next Thursday morning the 12^th June and thanks to the International Date Line; I’m flying into Los Angeles the same morning.

Ten days later on Saturday 21^st June, I’m embarking on my first long-distance train trip. The California Zephyr makes a two and a half day, 3,924km journey from San Francisco on the west coast, through the Rocky Mountains to Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan.

From Chicago, I have to hastily find my way down to Baltimore and Washington DC (about 1,100km south east from Chicago) to fit in a bit of sight-seeing before the NSNC Conference. Then it’s on to Boston for four glorious days with my friend Suzette and her family, before I take to the skies once more for the long trip home.

Stay tuned, for the next instalment of “Vague Adventures ‘R’ Us”.

Beating the Heat, Barham Style...

The Mighty Murray River near Barham; running a banker (photo taken in 2013)

As the northern hemisphere’s United States shivered through a January polar vortex (a large-scale cyclone located near the arctic) with temperatures as low as -38°C, down in our southern domain, Australia sweltered through a week-long heatwave with temperatures in the mid 40s.

Beating the heat is a summer pastime for many Australians, with water being one of our favourite remedies. Coastal folk head to the iconic sandy beaches that surround our vast continent while inlanders head for their local pools, rivers, lakes, ground tanks, irrigation channels or just a sprinkler on the lawn.

Last Thursday, in the middle of a string of 44°C days, I along with my friends, Astrid, Maxwell and Trish embarked on a morning float down the Murray River on our lilos (inflatable air mattresses).

Breakfast of champions... and floaters

Armed with our lilos, hats, sunscreen and water bottles, we started our day upstream at Little Forest Produce; home of 12 Good Eggs the organic, free-range chook farm that supplies Barham and towns far and wide with magnificent nutritious eggs. Mardie, Glen, Rose and Hugo invited us to join them for a delicious breakfast on the riverbank before we descended into the silky mud and beautifully cool Murray River water.

Maxwell and Hugo heading for the river

At 2,508km the Murray is Australia’s longest river and the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and Nile. Starting high up in the Kosciusko National Park it marks the border between New South Wales and Victoria and flows all the way to the Murray Mouth in South Australia where it empties into the Southern Ocean.

The river height had dropped dramatically since Christmas and one of the first things we noticed after we had successfully clambered aboard our lilos (no mean feat for some of us…), was how much weaker the current had become. This caused Trish and I some mild concern as we both needed to be home by lunchtime to start work in the afternoon.

Hugo, Annie and Maxwell

We spent some time experimenting with the ideal lilo positioning; I found lying on my back, meandering along in the slow-moving current to be the most comfortable, with the occasional flip into the water to swim and cool down.

For those of you who have yet to enjoy the marvels of floating down a river somewhere, I can highly recommend it. Soothed by the cool water and gentle current, we drifted past the massive river red gums lining the banks and enjoyed watching and hearing the abundant birdlife. Kookaburras, ibis, kingfishers, blue wrens, Nankeen Night Herons, sulfur-crested cockatoos, darters, various breeds of ducks, Australasian Bitterns and water hens are just a small selection of birdlife that can be seen when you float along the river near Barham.

Nankeen Night Heron

Floating down the river on a weekday morning can also be recommended, as there was very little river traffic. We passed the occasional holidaying family, recreational fisherman or woman in their tinnies and just one barbie boat of friends out enjoying the morning before the intense heat set in later in the afternoon.

Astrid, Trish, Annie and Maxwell floating away down the Murray River

Nearing Koondrook and Barham, it sounded as though there was a flotilla of speedboats heading our way. Rounding a bend in the river we discovered the source of the noise was in fact the historic Arbuthnot Sawmill; working away on the edge of the river as it has done since 1889.

Trish and Maxwell had floated on ahead of Astrid and myself and waited for us at the sandbar near the beautifully kept Barham Caravan and Tourist Park. From there we floated on down, under the 1904 lift-span bridge that links Koondrook (VIC) and Barham (NSW) until we reached Willow Bend. The float had taken us about three and a half hours; getting out of the water in time for me to have a quick shower and lunch before starting work for the afternoon.

Feeling inspired? On Australia Day (next Sunday, 26^th January), at 10.30am you can register at the Koondrook Boat Ramp for the annual Great Aussie Lilo Race. Organised by our local Koondrook Barham Football Netball Club, the district’s most colourful aqua event is floated, swum and paddled (in varying degrees of competitiveness) from the Koondrook boat ramp, downstream on the Murray River to the Barham boat ramp. Although perhaps not quite as tranquil as our three and a half hour float last Thursday, the Great Aussie Lilo Race is excellent fun and a great Australia Day tradition in Barham and Koondrook for locals and visitors alike.

Floating down the Murray River... how's the serenity?!