Traveling Grouch

This post is a bit long. I thought about breaking it into parts, but I can't. You'll see why. Not the actual train My cousin apparently loves the Amtrak train system. In 2013 she responded to my post about bus travel with " Train travel - much nicer - even coach!" So, fast forward to August of 2018 and we decided to plan a train trip. This isn't a verbatim conversation. Let's consider it fiction. "Honey, we should take a train trip! Here's one from Chicago to Seattle and you get to stop off at Glacier National Park. Amtrak should be fun. Everyone raves about it." She smiles at me, knowing that I make these statements and hardly ever follow through. "Go ahead," she says. Well, I think, this should be easy. Amtrak has a vacation planning group called Amtrak Vacations, so I'll just call them. "Hello," I say to the woman who answers, "I'd like to take a train trip. We'd like to see if trains are as fun as people

We went to Michigan where my brother put us up - and put up with us - for a week. I miss the beautiful fall colors in Michigan. We froze our ever-lovin' bums off during the horse-drawn carriage ride on Mackinac Island. Our guide regaled us with numerous tales of the isle for an enjoyable tour. Very scenic. Lots of trees. Eventually the trip home... The Grand Rapids Airport displays television-like billboards on the walls. On our return trip, these billboards enticed the flyer with ... wait for it ... Thousand dollar  Tag Heuer men's watches . It is pretty, though. I mean - manly. The guy in the advertisement? Brad Pitt. Well, of course Brad Pitt wears one. He probably wears two! I think they'd be better off with a good ad for summer sausage . Great. Now I'm hungry. Thanks for reading. I'll tag my posts, so you will know which have semis-serious information and which are observations. This one, for instance, is an observation.

People (generally) like to take "scenic" routes. They mark such routes on maps. Every Chamber of Commerce for each small city boasts at least one "scenic" route. Advertisements for travel all tout how "scenic" their tour is. They all lie. You'll undoubtedly see things you don't see at home. Things like... well ... trees and water ... and trees ... and more water. I just had to share that thought.

I'm retired. Retired people travel. I like visiting new places. So far, I hate getting there. Come with me, and I'll grouse about those little irritations.  I'll give some tips on travel. I'll unabashedly give affiliate links to things I really like. I'll post about past travel experiences, to Rwanda, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerta Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Canada, Israel, Germany, as well as places in the USA. We'll be heading back to Costa Rica at some point. We plan to travel to France and other European countries. I'm sure I'll have something to say about those trips. Here we go, one adventure at a time. PS - I'll always post on Wednesdays. Other days I might... Thanks for reading.