First Day Spottings - California and Nevada

Things I have seen today from the train:
* the inlets between San Francisco and Sacramento
* fields of the great agricultural valley of California
* the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas
* vistas from high up in the mountains on my way to Truckee
* smoke piping upward from a fire in Placer county and a reddish brown tinted sky from it being blown northeasterward
* lots of people tubing down the American (?) river - one with a cooler attached to him and a drink in his hand - looks relaxing
* a fly fisherman on a inflatable raft in the river being navigated by another with oars (okay, so I'm sure my labels are not completely accurate for all these things)
* patches of purple and patches of yellow flowers covering the hillside up on the way up to Truckee
* a very tearful goodbye kiss between a man and woman who also looked to have a child with them at the Reno station. It certainly made me wonder what their story was and I felt sad for them :(
* the old western style buildings of Truckee
* the vast barren Nevada valleys
* farmland stretching alongside the railroad in Nevada
* the town of Fernley to which I have odd connections ( a friend who moved from there, a friend who married a man from there and moved there, and then meeting a grandmother and granddaughter in Costa Rica who were from Fernley and knew my friend's husband...random)
* several elderly in the lounge car taking in the scenery and fully enjoying the train
* a beautiful sunset over the Nevada mountains
* an obnoxious kid running through the cars terrorizing people (he even got in a fight with another kid near me which turned into a shoving match)
* city lights of Elko (which I've never heard of but looks like a good size place)

So, dinner on the train is an interesting experience. First I had to reserve a spot which I did for 8pm. I then was seated with two random people and after a few minutes another joined us. It's certainly a way to meet people from all walks of life on the train.
I'm now in the lounge car. There are a lot of interesting people on here. I'm glad that I have my earphones and can drown out conversations I don't want to hear! I think I'm going to bed early so I can be awake to see the crossing of Utah into Colorado. I'm excited for the Rockies tomorrow. Now, just to figure out how to change, brush teeth, etc. Lesson #1 - I should have packed a smaller tote in my carry-on with just my clothes and things for this trip on the train. My carry-on suitcase is going to be hard to take up and down to get things out of. Grrr...




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad