I spent the morning with my dad....

April 4, 2010...

I love riding the train. It reminds me of my father. I can feel his presence every time I ride the train. He loved trains to a level more that anyone I know. It’s another one of those “I hated when I was a kid, but I love now”. Well, maybe not hated, but I definitely didn’t appreciate it as much as my father wanted me to. Of course it’s one of those things that my father tried to force us to love as much as he did. Thinking back now I don’t love trains at the level that he did, but I do enjoy a train ride quite a bit. My sister did to, but what is more important she loved the Amtrak bathrooms....lol. Same goes for all those signs that he made us read at state parks and such. Now that I am older I find myself looking forward to those signs and find I usually want more info than what they have put. Thanks to my phone I can usually research more info quickly...Oh technology...lol. Here I am the start of my first full day as a 29 year old. lol It was a little tough getting up early after my wonderful bowling birthday bash the night before. Which was wonderful! Thank you all that showed up it meant so much to me. My back was a little sore from bowling though... god I am getting old...lol, but I was very excited to ride the train and see the Jackmans so I managed. It is a very mild gray morning in Portland as my sister and I head down to the train station. We both are too tired to talk so my sister put on some great tunes. The song that stood out to me is the song by The Mamas & the Papas called "Go where you want to go".  (I will put a link at the bottom to a video) While I got my morning cup of music I messed around with my new flip cam. You will see a video of my trip on the train going to Seattle and then back to Portland soon. When I have time to get to that project...lol. So many projects so little time. God that is exciting. I have so much to learn and I am very excited about it. 

So I sat in the train station for about a half and hour before they boarded the business class. Which for those that don’t take the train business class is basically first class seating on the train. More room, less people sitting next to you, and even an outlet so if you need to plug in your laptop or... anything that requires electricity lol. Hmmmm  speaking of that... I wonder, if next time I could bring my blender so I could make lava flows for my trip...lol. ;-) 

My seat was at the back of the business class car with only one seat in the row. Which was plenty ok with me. I settled in and started the ride with about 15 minutes of filming of the beginning trip out of town. Then after that I was  super thirsty and so I headed to the bristo car for some water. I also got a $3.00 off voucher for being in business class that was burning a whole in my pocket. I had to go spend it! lol So I make my way there and end up getting a chicken bowl, bottle of water, and I guess what was a king size bag of skittles. I thought it was just a regular size till she put it in the box with the other things. “...daaaaamn that a huge bag...”...”It’s ok Derrick you’re on vacation... when in Rome... right?*shrugs shoulders*” lol Short wait for the microwave and I headed back to my seat. So since I had no seat next to me at all. I had a lot of free room and extra tray to keep things out of my way. I also used the second tray to set up my tripod and flip cam.  I sat down and proceeded to eat the best of what Amtrak offers as food. The water was good. The chicken bowl was like barely even a serving and I don’t eat large portions. The skittles were melted which I wasn’t quite sure about. They were sitting next to the chicken bowl in my box carrier so I figured that was the reason. I ate them anyway as I pulled my head phones out plugged them in to the seat headphone jack and started to watch the “in transit” movie selection.(Normally you would say in flight movie... wasn’t sure how to say it on a train... I know I am definitely not in flight...lol) I was happy to see it was “The Blindside”. I have been meaning to get around to seeing it for a while. So I set up cam and then enjoyed the movie and the view out the window at times. If you have never taken the train before the train ride up to Seattle from Portland is a very nice trip. There is several rivers you cross and later on in the trip up to Seattle large bodies of water to the left side of the train. Even on this gray day it was still a lot of fun to just enjoy the view. Everything is so green...Oh how I love spring. So the movie entertained me up to about the Tacoma station. Then I took the headphones out of the headphone jack on the seat and into my iphone and let my music collection take me the rest of the way. I film almost all the way into Seattle’s train station, but the camcorder filled up right before Seahawks stadium. Perfect! I love my new flip cam already. It knows I hate the Seahawks. Anyways, There wasn’t even 10 people in my car so exiting the train was a piece of cake. I walked down the train and found My good buddy Mike and his wonderful Dad Doug waiting for me. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing there is someone there waiting for you. Same way goes for the airport. That wonderful enjoyment of reunion. I bet that this same feeling is very similar to how it is when we die to meet with those that have already past over. After smiles and warm greetings are shared we head to the car then to Lynwood where Mike’s parents have a house. 

Riding in the car and joking around just like the good old days. See I lived with Mike and his parents for about three years. So we have quite a bit of history. It felt very nice. Another sense of being home. We get to the house and I am greeted by Mike’s older brother Chuck and his Wife Erin and baby on the way. To the kitchen and long hug from his mom J’anne. I know so many great woman in my life. Even my sister was saying such things on my birthday. So she catches up with me briefly and continues to prepare dinner. Then the rest of us head to family room and watch Chuck play Modern Warfare 2 then later he is streaming random things with his computer to Doug’s big screen TV. Chuck works on video games. So he was showing some of his projects and what video games he has been involved with. Just a wonderful gathering and more importantly while Mike and I were hanging out on there couch we got a surprise visit of the lost ninja turtle “Homoangelo”. 

Oh Mikey J it doesn’t take long before you get me laughing like a chipmunk. lol Priceless!

Dinner was lovely. I didn’t get a pic I was too hungry and caught up in conversation. Salad, a roast, and some veggies. Yum! Later they had some strawberries and shortcake. Well, they did...lol I had just strawberries, but it was wonderful! I am so lucky and blessed. We also after dinner and while having dessert played two games of scrabble. I have been playing a lot of that lately. Both on my phone and with friends of late. In the first game we had too many players and so we did team scrabble. Doug and J’anne, Chuck and Erin, Mike and me. It was was too much fun. Mike and I came in last, but only because we had to save the board...lol. Then the after first game Chuck and Erin had to leave. Something about work in the morning.... being responsible...damn the woes of getting older...lol. So the second game was a 4 way battle royal. Which to my surprise I came in second behind J’anne. That’s impressive to me since last time I saw her play she scored like over 300 points. lol Then after that a bit of TV. Then Mike and I headed upstairs and I showed him my new baby....*rubs my macbook*...we end up getting on ichat with my cousin Jason and his girlfriend Celeste. That was a lot of fun. Never know what you are going to get with my cousin. From pictures of pig balls to watching short episodes of cops (his favorite...lol). Looking for the classic line... “Why you running?...” We were talking on there for like 2  1/2 hours. Crazy shit. Then off to bed. Time to get some much needed sleep. Wonderful day ... being 29 is going to work out perfectly. Love you all goodnight. =) 

This Blog question is: " Have you ever taken the train for traveling? If so where did you go?"

Feel free to leave  comment... or I will just keep talking to myself... lol =P

With love and pure D-lite! =)

More coming blog entries from trip coming soon! 

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