January 2000

Back to December 1999.

Poughkeepsie, NY 1 - 2/1/00
Just seen the Great Changing of the Digits here in NY on TV -- esp loved the synchronised "10, 9, 8" etc from 1.5 million people on the streets there. Us, we're on the couch drinking bubbly cider and commenting on how terribly phallic the Washington Monument display was. (The reporter thinks Sydney did better. I say, "Except for the happy face!" What were they thinking?)
Have passed my last few days in NY with friends, cats and movies. After the marathon TV session following the Y2K celebrations in various countries (I don't know too many Australians so feel quite happy to reiterate again that the happy face at Sydney sorta spoiled the effect) I slept in on New Year's day for quite a satisfying length of time. In the evening we went out to watch "Bicentennial Man", which was very good aside from a robot breaking the First Law rather unnecessarily, and then stayed up late again to watch "La Reine Margot" and practice my French skills. About halfway through I found myself talking to the cat in French, so it must have worked.

Montreal 2 - 3/1/00
Today, equipped with a new wheelie-bag from Walmart to replace the one of Dad's that I broke, I'm on the way up to Canada to use my French on someone who'll hopefully understand it. It's rather dark outside the train, as it seems that every cloud in the country has moved between us and the sun. There also seems to be rather more snow and ice around than there was in NYC and Poughkeepsie. The train conductor has handed out customs declaration forms for us to fill out, and has announced that he won't talk about how that's not his job.
If you receive this then Canadian customs hasn't taken too great exception to my packed lunch and I'll have remembered to take my Canadian cash out of the sock in my bag.

Alas, the two cybercafes I knew of in this area turned out not to exist. Instead I've got to use this computer @ the hostel which doesn't allow disks, and have to leave my beautifully written :-) letter for another time. Doing my best to practice my French, but people keep hearing my accent and switching to English!
Montreal was cool. Downright chilly in fact, with snow on the ground (the parts that hadn't been trodden on by several hundred passers-by, at least) when I arrived. I had easily enough warm clothes, though. Found the hostel without a hitch (even though Dad's map of Montreal is from 1981, when a rather large street was not yet named Rene Levesque), and then went out exploring. Cybercafes lacking, I did some tourist shopping instead -- postcards and a couple of trinkets -- and was befriended by an effusive shop owner who shook my hand several times and even kissed my cheek French-style. I kept an eye on the door but never had to precipitously use it... He gave me a nice discount on my purchases, and a keyring, and a can of Sprite, and a fairly long conversation, some of it even in French.
Next morning I got up fairly early to go shopping -- the nice people at the desk pointed me to the nearest market so I could pick up supplies for making my breakfast and lunch. I finished eating just in time to check out.
Well, I'm a girl who doesn't know where her towel is -- almost left it behind at the youth hostel this morning. Luckily I'd left myself plenty of time to get to the station, so turning back halfway there wasn't a problem.
Now on the way to Toronto. The terrain here brings new meaning to the word "flat", and I'm rather thankful for all the trees.

Toronto 3 - 4/1/00
Toronto was quite good; got to Planet Hollywood and found some photo-worthy objects: a Due South uniform and a cast of Patrick Stewart's handprints.
[23/2/01 In retrospect, this seems a rather brief sentence to describe Toronto. Um... my other memories of Toronto include looking around at the PATH system, trying to find a map of it in bookshops and such, and eventually finding one in a hotel. Later I found out that this hotel was the one whose revolving doors were used in a Due South episode, and other Duesers visiting Toronto tend to take photos. I passed blithely through them, oblivious.]
The ecaf did evil things in a long story that I might describe later [or might not; I've now forgotten everything, though it probably had something to do with floppy disks], and I didn't have time to download all my mail, even in half an hour. The youth hostel was nice. In the morning I wandered past a lot of shops I wanted to visit; all of them closed, being too early in the morning. [Some bookstores; a huge music store; and the library, which was nearly open, but I had to turn back towards the train station.]

across Canada 4 - 7/1/00
Well, in three days on the train I've written not a single email, so this is just a quick note before we arrive at our final destination.
The train trip's been great -- met up with three cool people: Ryan, Dawn, and John, and we kept each other busy with talking. One of the guys had a cat in the baggage hold and had to visit frequently to check on it. I tried going up to the observation area but had to walk through the smoking cabin to get there: ick.
There were a reasonable amount of stops along the way where we could get out. Only annoying thing was the staff telling us we had less time than we did. Particularly at Jasper, where on the way back to the station from the Mountie Shop I saw an e-cafe but didn't have the time to go in. Or didn't think I did; by the time we left the station it was about 3/4 of an hour later! Via Rail's a pretty cool lot, though; even when we're late they can catch us up. Last night were 1hr 20min late; this morning we're pretty much as on time as you can get.
Earlier, at Winnipeg, we wandered looking for fastfood which didn't seem to be in existence. At some point came across a decorative stone lion tipped with snow: very Aslan-like. The snow, walking back to the train station, squeaked.
Lots of cool scenery, too. No digital camera, alas, so can't send you photos, but I can send my "artistic impression" of each province as we went through it. They made my co-travellers laugh, anyway, and I promised them I'd try to get them up on the website.

Ontario (the endless province)	Manitoba (the flat province)	Saskatchewan (the province we went through at night)

Alberta (the province where we first saw the Rockies)	British Columbia, aka BC (the province with Vancouver in)

Vancouver 7/1/00
Didn't get to spend long in Vancouver, just enough to find the library (closed) and the ecaf, thanks to directions from Dawn on the train. It was raining. Used the last of my non-emergency comp batteries on the bus to Seattle and am now recharging both it and me.
Canada: <sniffle> Didn't see a single Mountie! Some snow, but not very deep.

Seattle 7 - 8/1/00

Took me a while to get to the youth hostel; first I had to walk literally _up_ streets, then when I got to the place... I looked over the rails and couldn't figure out how to get down to the entrance on the street below. Managed to get directions from a small restaurant next to me, and this involved going around a block and down a street -- already dreading having to go up it again in the morning, and of course feeling utterly exhausted with my life on my back. Once I'd dumped my stuff in my room (up steep stairs!), I went out to buy some food from a grocery store; after eating I went out again in the dark and drizzling rain to find myself a cybercafe. Discovered a very cool mural on the way.
Overnighted, then visited a market in the morning (this was Pike's Market, which I later realised was something of a tourist spot) before heading to the train station. There's a free downtown bus service, which is quite nice, except that what they really need is an elevator service. It's disconcerting walking up and down streets that are on angles more habitually associated with a graphics and design classroom. Plus I came across a t-shirt along the lines of "You don't tan in Seattle, you just rust", and I've never been good with rain.

Portland 8/1/00
Talked to someone almost all the way down to Portland, until I got bored and pretended to be sleeping. There was a bridge. Very cool train station there. Bricks. I went for a walk (in more drizzle) to find some protein (aka a cheeseburger of the cardboard/sawdust/plastic type), and stumbled on a technical bookstore called "Powells" which was cool -- and then it pointed me to a bigger bookstore a couple of blocks away. Books and more books; new, second-hand, everything. Heaven!
I got out the list of books Dad wanted, and started to browse. Set myself a definite time limit so I wouldn't be tempted to miss the train (and a bit of a weight limit so I could fit the books in my bags). Made it back to the station on time (passing a shop with the mildly disconcerting sign "If we see a drug deal we _will_ call the police.") and am now on the way to Pasco to meet Lara. (Yes, somewhere along the way I got some food.)

Pasco 8 - 9/1/00
Had a great time in Pasco; stayed up far too late talking to Lara about writing and such, as two writers inevitably will. :-)
Next morning went shopping to stock up on groceries for the next few train trips (or the next few weeks; I'm now very well supplied indeed) and came back in time for a late lunch. Drove to "the Reach", a wildlife reserve where Lara has from time to time spotted a few spiders, in late afternoon -- drove there during sunset and back under the stars. Didn't see any spiders. Nice to see Orion the right side up in this hemisphere. :-)

eastwards 9 - 11/1/00
Then on to Minneapolis. A nice train ride, in that I had two seats to myself and found an almost-comfortable position to sleep in.
On arrival, however, I discovered that Amtrak had fairly thoroughly soaked my tramping bag. Somehow it got covered in snow, which subsequently (rather predictably) melted. Luckily most of my stuff was in bags, and most of the wet stuff can be put through the drier. But there's some things, like maps (most importantly a couple copies of the New World Order map) which are going to end up wrinkled, and even hard to read in one or two spots; a couple of books narrowly escaped the same fate. And to top it all off, the guy at the baggage counter just passed it off as "unavoidable". If anything's dirty I was to give him the dry cleaning bill, but no apology at all for wet clothing etc. I'm almost tempted to take it with me as carry-on from now on to stop it happening again.

Minneapolis 11 - 12/1/00
Tom Sherren's family apparently has a nasty bug running amok, so he's very kindly putting me up in a motel for the night while he takes my wet clothes home to his clothes-drier. So here I've got two very comfortable beds and am wondering if I could smuggle one onto the train. :-) (Okay, so one of them is currently covered with everything in my bag that didn't need drying, but nevertheless I'm feeling very spoiled.)
Next morning Tom drove me around the Twin Cities -- firstly to the block on S. Lyndale, between 26th and 27th, where I recognised a lot of shops (French Meadow Bakery, Mud Pie restaurant, etc) and discovered the place where the 'tourist bureau' I mentioned in my wee scene must be located, a nice anonymous block of a plaster-coated building. [Yes, this was another scene I'd written based on internet research.]
Also visited the library nearby for internet access: the library was downstairs from the street. Next a cybercafe for a hot chocolate and to send messages from my disk, as the library didn't allow any disk use. Then a general tour of the area, stopping for lunch at a Mexican place. I got to see this end of the Mississippi in daylight, at least. :-) Also, the snow here was crunchy instead of squeaky, and that seemed a little more natural. :-)
The rasfc gathering planned for the evening seemed to be cursed -- three out of four of the people interested turned out to be unable to make it, for various reasons. However David Owen-Cruise could, so we met at an Egyptian restaurant and chatted for a couple of hours over very large servings.
On my way to Chicago now with snow coming down hard enough to make them leave the St Paul station half an hour or so behind schedule. Hopefully won't arrive too late in the windy city, but will see what happens.
For some reason I've entrusted the bag with 'them' again. See if they can soak it this time; now almost everything's in plastic.

Chicago 12 - 14/1/00
Arrived in Chicago about just a wee bit late and wandered around for seven blocks trying to find the local train station two blocks away for my train. I'd looked at a map and very carefully worked out my directions... then gone up an escalator that took me unknowingly to the other side of the street. Eventually I realised I was heading the wrong way, then turned back, then gave up on figuring it out myself and asked help from one of the nice chaps hanging around the station hoping to carry bags for tips.
Finally discovered why everything in _Chicago Hope_ seems green: they show it from through the train windows. Which are tinted green.
Arrived out at Geneva; Sam picked me up and drove me back to her place where I met everyone. We were about to sit down for dinner when the lights went out, and stayed out for forty minutes. Dinner by candlelight (and fluorescent flashlight).
Next day Sam and I went to the Museum of Science & Industry, including the coal mine among a maze of other exhibits. One about flying, with a handy airplane to tour; also toured a U505 submarine.

Toronto 14 - 17/1/00

Spent the next day travelling up to Toronto (again). It was a while before I met up with Coridon, as apparently Amtrak had very helpfully told him my train was an hour late due to a change of crew. In fact we were, at one stage, three quarters of an hour late waiting for some other trains on the tracks; but we cut that down to half an hour late by the border, and efficient VIA cut it down to a mere six minutes late into Toronto. Amtrak is weird.)
We went to the University of Toronto to look around the campus a bit. Cool buildings. It was around about here that I confused my camera to the point of paralysis by putting new batteries in. Luckily Coridon had his digital camera along, so we kept on clicking. Then we went on to the Royal Ontario Museum, and managed to see a very reasonable representation of the exhibits there. Pity the bat cave didn't have any live bats in it, though!
Took a photo of the shadow of the CN tower from the main observation deck. It was a windy day, and the tower swayed about six inches. The revolving doors to outside were locked, as otherwise they'd revolve all by themselves in the wind. On the street, we saw the door at the back of a truck swing and fetch someone a startling blow.

Took many Niagara Falls photos: this is the Horseshoe Falls. The weather got to a wind chill of -36. [Celsius, IIRC; but it's pretty close to Fahrenheit in that region anyway.] It was a spectacular sight, with a light show on the falls, but I'm very glad I was well wrapped: two hats, two pairs of gloves, my scarf, five layers on top and three below. Still a bit chilly, even with all that! But wonderful to see the falls.

Buffalo 17/1/00
There were two stations in Buffalo; I almost got off at the wrong one, the one downtown. The one I did go to was pretty close to the middle of nowhere. I went wandering and found a few closed shops, it being Martin Luther King Day. No scenery to speak of. Plus rather cold, so I went back to the station where there was a power outlet for my laptop.
Probably should have got off in the downtown station after all: I spent nine or ten hours waiting for the train -- and then another three because the train left NYC rather late, so I had to phone up Geoff to let him know not to get up at 4am to meet me. The phone wanted $3.75 in quarters for the call, which meant going around everyone in sight trying to make the right change. We finally left the station somewhere between 4 and 5am.
Thankfully found two seats together, so when the loud Texan stopped talking I could get some sleep.

Cleveland 18 - 20/1/00
Spent the next couple days in Cleveland catching up on sleep and becoming acquainted with Bujold books and generally relaxing with Geoff, Kathy, and little Bronwyn. Also got my camera fixed.
The weather that certain Recog people claim is following me hit Cleveland on the night of the 19th, and made my departing train on the morning of the 20th an hour late.

Chicago 20 - 22/1/00
And then there was something going on with the tracks, so we got another hour and a half behind schedule on the way to Chicago. A larger number of the toilets than one would hope developed Issues, and smokers started getting unhappy because the smoking lounge had been closed. Amtrak attempted appeasements of an extra smoking session for those interested, plus a blueberry muffin and a can of fizzy/pop/soda (choose your dialect). It seemed to work for the people who weren't raving lunatics, ie all but one guy. ("Everyone remain calm," he says, pacing the aisle.) No idea yet on how the can of drink is intended to solve the toilet problem, but I guess they're hoping we arrive in Chicago first....

Later We did arrive in Chicago first. :-) Took the right turn to the Northwestern Station for the metra train this time, and went out to meet Crys. Got conducted to her house, and spent a while discussing Due South and watching various Callum Keith Rennie related programmes. :-)
We went to the weapons and armour exhibit in the Art Institute. Sasscat will be thrilled to know we also went to the Canadian Consulate (or at least lurked around outside the rooms on the 24th floor of the Prudential building where it's located); and also visited Rush Street and Lakeview. Except that by the time we got to Lakeview it was getting very cold, so we didn't get to see much. Several years later, I have an abiding memory of *pink*.
We also watched the lunar eclipse during ad breaks in "Call of the Wild" (Due South episode, not a televisation of the Jack London novel), in which the moon went a lovely shade of orange over a long period of time, though it took heating the window with a hairdryer to see through the frost.

Madison 22 - 23/1/00
Took a bus to Madison, WI. Memorial Union there looks nothing like any station I've been in before, and for a couple of minutes I wondered if I was in the right place. However, Rachael found me about then and relieved my uncertainty. She took me to her apartment to meet her cat Chinook, then we made ginger ice cream, ate pizza, ate the ice cream, and played the feather game with the cat for most of the evening. (That's when you wave a long thing with a feather on the end in front of the cat, and move it away just before the cat pounces. When you get bored of the game, the cat tries to play by itself and is bemused as to its failure.)

Chicago / Merrillville 23 - 24/1/00
Far too early the next morning I had to wake up to catch my bus back to Chicago. But once back there I was picked up by Sam and family and taken to Merrillville, Indiana for lunch with Candy and family. The guys kept talking about computers and ISPs, but we managed to have some intelligible conversation as well. Performed an equivalent of the ink blot test with Candy's daughter Cynthia by naming random connected-dot drawings as objects ranging from bats to Australia. I must have passed, because she then folded a dollar bill into a ring for my pinkie.
By the time we got back to Sam's place, I'd decided that my sniffle was most definitely a cold; indeed, a particularly nasty cold. Or so it felt at the time (I've now mostly recovered), so after finishing their copy of the Bujold novel I started reading at Geoff's (one must get one's priorities right) I napped for a couple of hours. Had a small dinner, tried unsuccessfully to contact the Salt Lake City youth hostel, and went to bed again.
Managed to eat an egg for breakfast, since my stomach was rebelling at the thought of anything else. Realised on the way into town that there was in fact another number to contact the SLC hostel at, and called them there from Union Station. Realised in the middle of the conversation that as I was arriving after midnight on the 26th, I'd want to reserve the night of the _25th_. Some confusion ensued and I resolved to call back from Denver (on the 25th itself) to make sure I'd have a bed for the night. The San Francisco hostel wasn't answering at all.
Despite my cold, I was bored of sitting around in the station so took myself off for a wander. Went around the station and then west. Wimped out on my plan to walk down an alleyway. Waited at a street crossing rather than cross against the lights, though no cars were around; a policeman opposite me had no such qualms.

westwards 24 - 26/1/00
Got two seats to myself on the train, so didn't have to inflict my cold on anyone else. More importantly, I got some reasonable sleep, and woke up feeling much better. At Denver I managed to confirm reservations for both SLC and SF.

Then we arrived in the Rockies, and started following the Colorado River. A couple of people have recommended this particular train ride to me, and now I understand why. Just to explain it.... Um. Think really tall piles of rocks. Really pretty rocks. Really high above your head. On both sides of you. And they're very cool, and very beautiful, and they're all around you. The rocks are mostly red, but with some white and yellow and green stains. There's evergreen trees (sorry, I could barely tell a spruce from a fir if they were labelled in neon lights) on the rocks wherever they're not vertical. Just below you, because the train's going right along the bottom of this, is the Colorado river. Mostly it's green, though it's sometimes iced over, and has miniature icebergs in it, and later rapids. At some points it's braided, and the islands are covered in yellow grasses and red bushes. Red and yellow and green and white. Forget science fiction: this is *the* sense of wonder. It's two hours of pure "wow", and then just when you think it's done, it's another couple of hours of "wow" after that. --After that I don't know; it gets dark too early this time of year. :-(
I only stopped watching for a couple of minutes during Amtrak's scavenger hunt; they asked for a coin with one's date of birth on it. Clearly not enough people were trying, because now I'm the proud owner of a pack of Amtrak playing cards. Also of not-nearly-enough photos of the river and various canyons -- this stuff is too big to photograph. Apparently the best of it isn't accessible by car, so you have to take the California Zephyr. Very very very highly recommended; the entire river gets my "Best scenery of the trip" award. (Yes, it even wins over Niagara Falls, and that was no Saskatchewan!)
Dashed into the gift shop during a 10minute stop somewhere for a couple of postcards, and didn't miss the train!

Salt Lake City 26 - 28/1/00
Arrived in SLC, shared a cab with a couple of other hostellers, found my key waiting at the door, and slipped into bed with barely a rather-loud-clang of the door to wake the other person in my dorm.
On my first day in SLC, I took note of a couple of places I wanted to visit (ie the library and any cybercafe that existed; also a museum I saw at random on the map) and set off. Located a supermarket on the way downhill. Visited the museum, then wandered for a while and found another one -- opposite Temple Square, so when I got out of that one I just crossed the street and got myself a free guided tour with a couple of (very :-) friendly Mormons. Then did little bits and pieces like shopping, cooking and laundry. Spent far too long on my feet, all told. Oh, and there was a mouse in the hostel kitchen. I think it was black, but it hid under the oven.

Despite sore legs (and chapped with the wind), I got myself up on my second day at a reasonable time (ie only about half an hour after my alarm went off) so I'd have time to pack my things and check out. Left my bags in the office for the day while I gadded about. First I walked about 10 blocks uphill to get a good view of the place. Especially with the nice weather, though there were some annoying trees in the way. (Darn vegetation blocking all the scenery! - we complained about this on the train across Canada, too.)
Couldn't find a bus to the Great Salt Lake, but was pointed to an organ recital in the Tabernacle at lunch instead; that pointed me to a choir practice in the evening. (Both free, yay :-) Between the two events, I did a messy attempt at some genealogical research. Got lots of names, most of them either "William" or "Elizabeth". (There were also some Johns and Marys.) Who knows if they'll be any use in trying to solve the puzzle of the two Fitchett branches in NZ, but it kept me out of mischief for the day.
Collected my bags from the hostel before the office closed and got a taxi to the train station. No-one to share it with this time (oh woe is me), however I shall endure... When I checked their website this afternoon the train was running an hour late; hopefully they'll've made up some time, because the chairs here really are not made for sleeping in.

San Francisco 28 - 29/1/00

Got my train, got some sleep, saw some scenery, and got to my bed in the youth hostel, while writing fanfiction to annoy Sasscat.
Spent my last day in America with Lucy, driving around San Francisco to see bits and pieces, both planned and unplanned, and hastily changing lunch plans to avoid a sudden street brawl in front of us. :-) Walked on the beach and talked about writing, then found a particularly cool fountain you can walk around, through, on, and under without even getting (particularly) wet. Also walked past a commercial -- which will only show somewhere obscure in Europe.
Finally drove to the airport...

Los Angeles - Auckland - Christchurch 29 - 31/1/00
... where I did all the usual airport stuff (following instructions) until I got home. A short hop to Los Angeles, a little longer hop to Auckland (New Zealand) (NB, not a full day; we crossed the dateline), and finally another short hop to Christchurch. Mum, Dad and one sister (the other was at school) met me (after a while; they had to keep an eye on the car in the 5-minute parking as well)....

Back to my North American page, my travel page, or the main page.
Email me.