Author: Peter

The travails of travelling by Amtrak 6-7 July We chose to return to Flagstaff by a different route to pick up the South West Chief train (No 3) from Chicago to Los Angeles. These were the tickets which we earlier

4 – 6 July It was still dark as we disembarked at Flagstaff station shortly before five in the morning. The Arizona air was cool, and the full moon hung heavily above the skyline across the railway tracks. The town

1-3 July The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is directly on the Walk of Fame, opposite the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. What a glorious hotel, built in 1927, by Hollywood luminaries, it shows off its old Spanish Colonial Revival-style architecture.  It

29 June -1 July Gerry drove us to Emeryville Station via an excellent French bakery in Berkeley. Time for a croissant and coffee before boarding the northbound train. There had been a derailment the previous day, and our booked train

June 26-29 After a bumpy night in narrow bunk beds, the Amtrak train approached San Francisco, having caught up with an hour’s delay. After an over-sized breakfast in the dining car, some packing of overnight toiletries, we emerged onto the

25-26 June Sunday morning saw us stop off, en route to Seattle King Street Station, at the same coffee shop we had visited on the way to the hotel, where we grabbed a coffee and large croissant for breakfast. We

22-24 June The sun was welcoming us back to Vancouver, where we had just one night before setting off to Seattle. We went looking for a light dinner and happened across a trendy restaurant, where they made up something especially

21-22 June A cold morning, but with clearer sky than we had ever seen in Banff. We were waiting at our Banff hotel entrance for the Rocky Mountaineer bus to pick us up. We need not have worried- we were

15-21 June Lake Louise Although we only stayed one night in Lake Louise, after our day trek on 17 June, we visited the village on two days earlier to pick up some bear spray. Lake Louise is the highest settlement

Lake Helen 12km round trip, elevation 2465m, 16th June  The car park was quite small, so we were lucky to grab one of the two last remaining spaces in the cleared forest. Taking some time to pack necessities, Peter fixed