Collecting Grandpop from the train

Since midnight Grandpop and the Amtrak Empire Builder have been heading towards Seattle; now inside Washington State.

It’s just getting light here – so the first Grandpop will see will be the descent down to the coast from the Cascade Mountains.

Looks like on time into Everett and then almost 45 minutes early into Seattle.

Grandpop is on the train

We got a call early this morning as Grandpop was rolling across North Dakota parallel to the Canadian border. All is well – and evidently he got the train.

Today covers four states and three time zones.

North Dakota – Central
Montana – Mountain
Northern Idaho – Pacific
Washington – Pacific

It looks like the train is on time this morning – leaving Fargo, ND just before 0400.

As I write the train is between Stanley, ND and Williston, ND – almost halfway to Seattle. 1000 miles from Chicago, 1200 miles to go.

The rest of the day continues across into Montana (clocks change!) and then into Idaho (clocks change!) just before midnight.

Grandpop is on the train (we hope)

I spoke to my Dad yesterday when he arrived in Chicago – his cell phone wasn’t working, neither was the internet in the hotel.

We’re hoping that at 14.15 (Central Time) he got on the Amtrak Empire Builder from Chicago – heading to Seattle. Planned arrival is just after 10.00 on Friday morning.

As I am writing he has already done two states (IL and WI) and should be crossing the Mississippi River into MN.

He’s not going to see much of Minnesota in the dark – just the lights of the cities. As the sun comes up he’ll be at the geographic centre of the country in Rugby, ND. Four states down – three to go.

Off to Kauai

So – we’re almost ready. Off to Kauai in the morning.

It’s strange to have dropped Aoife off at Steffi’s this afternoon; she’s happy playing with Finn and Kaya – but Grania misses her.

Hugo will be coming along – he’s our nursing baby – so we’ll have a fun week with him on his own.

New pictures – from a long time ago

I borrowed a film scanner – and slowly I’m scanning old films.

It’s lucky dip – most of the APS films are unlabeled. So far I’ve found pictures of travel, weddings and live ‘before Utah’.

Here are a few from my trip to India in August 2001:

Berlin

I was in Berlin last weekend – on Monday I had a late start, so I took the chance to walk miles and look at the old Soviet zone/DDR.

It was very humbling to see where the Berlin Wall stood until just a few years ago; I clearly remember the events of late 1989.

In many areas there are stones and cobbles in the road showing where the wall used to run.

More photos later.

Sunday Morning in London

Yesterday I needed to kill a few hours between flying in and my train out.

I ambled through early morning central London, got some fresh air and saw the sights without the tourists.

Then over to the Tate Modern via St Paul’s. The new installation is “Shibboleth 2007″ – and it really is incredible. I’ve not seen so many people just looking and being intrigued before. The BBC have had a couple of articles – here and here.

Manchester architecture

 The old:

and the new: