Outdoors with Don Q: Having fun on Amtrak to Sacramento

Four, fun-loving people from this area spent last Friday, Saturday and Sunday on an Amtrak train trip to and from Sacramento, Calif. Those four individuals were Bob “Slick” and Lynda McCulloch, plus Elaine and I, all of Carson City.

The purpose of this trip was to take a leisurely train ride on Friday over Donner Summit, so we could see and photograph the deep winter snow along the way in the high country, and then have two days of fun in Sacto.
It was a fun-filled three days, and here are some highlights of our adventure:

Amtrak:
Our Amtrak train reservations were made on the Internet, several weeks before our trip; and our roundtrip ticket fares were $91.80 each for seniors.

Friday:
Our weekend itinerary was scheduled to begin on Friday morning at 8:36 a.m. when we were to board a coach car for the five-hour ride to the Amtrak station in downtown Sacramento. However, as usual, westbound Amtrak was late and we did not leave until 10:10 a.m.

Once we were on the train and on our way, Slick and I waited in the coach car to reserve our four seats, while Lynda and Elaine went up to the observation car to hold window seats for the four of us.
The plan worked to perfection: We got our coach seats reserved by the conductor and the ladies had our observation car seats waiting for us.

When we were all in the observation car, we broke out all kinds of munchies (salami, cheese, crackers, chips, honey roasted peanuts, M&M's, etc.), and assorted drinks (bottled water, Bloody Mary's, Margaritas, and Manhattans) as we enjoyed the ever changing scenery, while the train slowly began to climb toward Donner Pass on a gorgeous day of bright sunshine, crisp temperatures, no clouds and no wind.
As we slowly climbed higher and higher, the snow patches gradually merged into snowfields of deep, pure-white snow.

The scenery was spectacular, and Elaine and I took digital photographs of everything from a photo of the waiting room in the Reno Depot, to the Amtrak train arriving in Reno, to the icy-looking Truckee River, to the stores in Truckee, to an ice-free Donner Lake, to large snow fields, to the train station in Colfax, to the train station in Roseville, to homeless people camped in unbelievable litter and squalor along the track, etc.
Once we arrived in Sacramento, we checked into the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn Hotel (a short walking distance from the Sacramento train depot), walked under the freeway to experience all of the sights and sound of "Old Sacramento," had cocktails and ate dinner at Fanny Ann's (which is managed by Slick's cousin Pat), returned to the hotel and turned in early.

Saturday:
On Saturday, the four of us took a late-morning shuttle from the Holiday Inn to The Delta King Riverboat Hotel on the Sacramento River, where we had reservations for the Murder Mystery Dinner Show and overnight rooms.
We checked in and then spent several hours wandering around, taking photos and sightseeing all over Old Sacramento.

At 7:30 p.m., we went to the showroom and totally enjoyed the Murder Mystery Show (Elaine correctly guessed who was the killer - I did not).

Sunday:
On Sunday, we were scheduled to leave the Sacramento station at 11:09 a.m., and arrive back in Reno in the late afternoon, and our return trip was uneventful until the train stopped in Roseville.

Our Amtrak "California Zephyr" was going to be a normal 5-hour ride arriving in Reno at 4:09 p.m., until our passenger train stopped. There had been a 5-car freight train derailment, up ahead, in Colfax, blocking the main railroad line over the Sierra.

Thank goodness that no one got hurt!
 We were at a halt in Roseville for about 5 hours (5 very boring and long hours spent looking out the train window), and then we spent about another 3 hours stopped just before Colfax, while they were clearing the wreck off the railroad tracks. 
While we waited, they fed us free beef stew over mashed potatoes for dinner. It was tasty and filling, but the beef was almost non-existent. 
Once we got going again, we finally arrived in Reno at 11:30 p.m. and then back home in Carson City at 12:15 midnight, tired but safe and sound.


Here are some memories from our trip:
01. The sight of old abandoned cars, pickups, trucks, refrigerators, stoves, sofas, chairs, crates, boxes, bottles, cans, clothing, wood, metal, etc., all the way down to just pure junk that was strewn along the railroad.
Sadly, the human race makes pigs look squeaky clean. The garbage was disgusting and it marred the landscape at many different locations.

02. The crazy, round-about way that we had to walk to cover the two blocks from the train station to the Holiday Inn Hotel.
You had to cross two intersections by walking in three different directions at each intersection to avoid being run down by the auto traffic.

03. The many, very nice folks we met on AmTrak traveling to and from Sacramento and on the Delta King Riverboat including: two women traveling from Iowa to San Francisco and then on to Hawaii, Marie Hanson of Reno, a couple from Carson City, a couple from Minden, Hugh and Helen Peterson from Moundhouse, the grandparents from Reno taking their three grandsons on their very first train ride, and the Cesar Lopez family of Napa (father, mother and three teen-age daughters) who sat at our table at the Murder Mystery Dinner Show.

04. The very nice holiday lights on the many businesses and homes as our train traveled past Truckee at 10:30 p.m.

Finally:
Why don’t you round up a group of friends and relatives and take Amtrak to Sacramento some weekend? I guarantee it will be a fun time...if there is not a derailment that delays your return to the Reno railroad depot.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell what really caught my eye while we were wandering around in Old Sacramento.
If he grins and says, “It was all of the motorcycles parked at the curbs and all of the scruffy, looking panhandlers," he could have also been visiting in Old Sacramento last Saturday.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now and www.SouthTahoeNow.com. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com