violist
Aug 19, 12, 8:15 pm
UA 560 IAD SEA 1345 1650 320 8B
was 1228 1510
was 3812 IAD EWR 1443 1609 ER4 4A
and 1462 EWR SEA 1735 2039 738 2F
1478 SEA ANC 2115 2351 738 2F
was 6010 IAD EWR 1450 1618 ER4 4A
and 1462 EWR SEA 1700 1959 738 2F
and 1132 SEA ANC 2055 2325 738 2F
My extra-miles-earning detour was derailed because of weather
and congestion (not mine, though I did have a bad cough),
and they put me on the nonstop, which was delayed - cost to
me, 500 miles and a first-class seat. So the best laid plans
of mice and men went awry, and I endured 6 hours in a middle
seat between a pouty brunette who would have been somewhat
attractive but for the .....iness written all over her face
and a jovial doctor working for the CDC. I chatted with him
for an hour, slept an hour, worked on the computer for a bit
over an hour, and otherwise stared at the ceiling.
It wasn't a bad flight, and the Economy Plus seats on the
United aircraft have as much room as the first class ones
on the Continental ones. Narrower though, so both my
seatmates bumped elbows with me; the aisle guy took it all
in stride, whereas the woman alternated between trying to
push my elbow off the rest (it was barely on, and almost all
in my territory, I swear) and cowering by the window.
We pulled up to the gate just shy of 2 hours late, and as
I had counted on lunch on my previous itinerary and had
failed to chow down, off I went to Anthony's, where Willapa
Bay oysters were kind of bland; the briny Penn Coves were
much more characterful. Still peckish, I ordered an
appetizer plate of fried oysters, where the Willapa Bays did
well as generic fried seafood. And on to the United Club,
where Jim Beam white served well as cough syrup.
The Anchorage flight was rather pleasant; they offered a
snack of chicken breast with pasta salad. I turned that
down, asking for a Courvoisier, of which there was none.
The matronly but pleasant FA offered Jim Black instead, but
I told her she'd broken my heart.
Halfway through the flight she came over with a Courvoisier
nabbed from coach, where they sell it for the equivalent of
$105 a fifth. She said that she hadn't wanted to break my
heart. The gesture was appreciated.
My friend Bill picked me up at the airport, and we spent a
couple of beer-laden days before meeting up with Lilli for
a couple of wine-tinged ones.
Lilli liked the company and the price of our Muldoon digs
but figured that it would be beyond troublesome to make it
to the train station early in the morning, so for the last
night before our adventure we decided to double up on a
hotel near downtown.
The Holiday Inn Express Anchorage is amidst a cluster of
cheap to midrange hotels on Spenard near the end, so there
was nothing interesting to eat. The jolly desk clerk said,
oh, it's free pie night at the Village Inn next door
(actually two doors down, past the Wendy's drive-thru), so
there we went. No beer (it seems to be patronized and
staffed largely with LDSs, and in retrospect the desk clerk
probably was one herself), a lot of prefab stuff on the menu
alternating with a lot of sweet stuff. As it is a mix and
match proposition, I ordered the 4-item breakfast available
all day, asking for pretty much all protein items. I tried
to get 2 burger patties, but the waiter regretfully pointed
out that the policy was to offer only one of each item. So
I got a 1/4 lb burger patty, which turned out about 6 oz of
hand-packed pretty decent ground meat, done brown through;
followed by a sizable sausage patty (cheap industrial); 2
slices of bacon (salty but ok); and a biscuit and gravy. On
the side, as it was only $1.65 extra, I got a small serving
of chicken-fried steak, which was your okay prefab thing,
one FDA-size serving. The gravy was extraordinarily salty
but did not taste bad.
Lilli had a burger, which was not as good as mine, partially
because it came with lettuce and tomato.
The free pie selection is limited: in addition to what we
ordered, there's cherry and one other similar selection. We
got apple and three-berry (blue, rasp, and boysen) to go, as
our portions had been sizable. Next day, the pies tasted
fairly decent: the chain advertises "best pies in America";
not so. In retrospect, I wish it had been free beer night.
The room itself was reasonably attractive, plenty of
amenities (the higher your status, it seems, the more junk
they put in your bathroom), larger than the standard, with
a bunch of dead space. Notably, the beds were different, one
being too hard, the other being just right. No worries, we
weren't going to be there much. We collapsed after dinner
and slept through to the alarms (we set 3 and also ordered a
wake-up call).
Breakfast - a wide array of breakfast breads; some fruit,
including the excellent pineapple that one seems to find
consistently in Alaska; okay sausage gravy; rubber eggs;
porridge; bacon. All decent quality, the giant Costco
muffins being exceptionally good. All under the watchful
eyes of stuffed animals and similar bric-a-brac.
It's a quick taxi ride to the train station, taking half the
time the hotel said it would, costing $5 less than it said.
Our guides beckoa, BOB W, and jackal had told us to be there
at 0715 for an 0815 departure on the Denali Star. We arrived
half an hour even before that - certain of these worthies
didn't get there until 0745 and were just fine, adding
insult to injury. Our group had the rear end of car E to
ourselves except for the last row, a group of tourists who
were suitably bemused by our rowdiness.
You aren't supposed to bring booze aboard, though you can
carry coolers on, ostensibly for food, and the generally
pretty jolly conductors sort of look the other way if you
aren't stupid or blatant about it.
Unofficial beverages in this car included Estancia Merlot
and the Kirkland Signature Cotes du Rhone; both were
unexceptionable. The official ones were the Woodbridge
Cabernet (not very good), Alaska amber, which ran out
early, and Alaska summer, which though less preferable also
ran out during the course of the trip, leaving some nasty
wheat beer as the alternative, plus the usual mass-market
swill. Twelve hours is a long time for the catering as well
as for the passengers to endure.
On this trip there was not much wildlife - just two bears
swimming across the river; good views of Denali, though,
especially from our car's domed area, which, as we were in
second class, was time rationed so as to give fair use to
all the other coach passengers.
Much of the train emptied out at Denali, but the esteemed
Seat2A joined us for the rest of the trip, regaling us with
edifying and amusing stories and a bottle of Russell's
Reserve Bourbon, which was much appreciated. After a good
long time, somewhat lubricated, we alighted in Fairbanks.
was 1228 1510
was 3812 IAD EWR 1443 1609 ER4 4A
and 1462 EWR SEA 1735 2039 738 2F
1478 SEA ANC 2115 2351 738 2F
was 6010 IAD EWR 1450 1618 ER4 4A
and 1462 EWR SEA 1700 1959 738 2F
and 1132 SEA ANC 2055 2325 738 2F
My extra-miles-earning detour was derailed because of weather
and congestion (not mine, though I did have a bad cough),
and they put me on the nonstop, which was delayed - cost to
me, 500 miles and a first-class seat. So the best laid plans
of mice and men went awry, and I endured 6 hours in a middle
seat between a pouty brunette who would have been somewhat
attractive but for the .....iness written all over her face
and a jovial doctor working for the CDC. I chatted with him
for an hour, slept an hour, worked on the computer for a bit
over an hour, and otherwise stared at the ceiling.
It wasn't a bad flight, and the Economy Plus seats on the
United aircraft have as much room as the first class ones
on the Continental ones. Narrower though, so both my
seatmates bumped elbows with me; the aisle guy took it all
in stride, whereas the woman alternated between trying to
push my elbow off the rest (it was barely on, and almost all
in my territory, I swear) and cowering by the window.
We pulled up to the gate just shy of 2 hours late, and as
I had counted on lunch on my previous itinerary and had
failed to chow down, off I went to Anthony's, where Willapa
Bay oysters were kind of bland; the briny Penn Coves were
much more characterful. Still peckish, I ordered an
appetizer plate of fried oysters, where the Willapa Bays did
well as generic fried seafood. And on to the United Club,
where Jim Beam white served well as cough syrup.
The Anchorage flight was rather pleasant; they offered a
snack of chicken breast with pasta salad. I turned that
down, asking for a Courvoisier, of which there was none.
The matronly but pleasant FA offered Jim Black instead, but
I told her she'd broken my heart.
Halfway through the flight she came over with a Courvoisier
nabbed from coach, where they sell it for the equivalent of
$105 a fifth. She said that she hadn't wanted to break my
heart. The gesture was appreciated.
My friend Bill picked me up at the airport, and we spent a
couple of beer-laden days before meeting up with Lilli for
a couple of wine-tinged ones.
Lilli liked the company and the price of our Muldoon digs
but figured that it would be beyond troublesome to make it
to the train station early in the morning, so for the last
night before our adventure we decided to double up on a
hotel near downtown.
The Holiday Inn Express Anchorage is amidst a cluster of
cheap to midrange hotels on Spenard near the end, so there
was nothing interesting to eat. The jolly desk clerk said,
oh, it's free pie night at the Village Inn next door
(actually two doors down, past the Wendy's drive-thru), so
there we went. No beer (it seems to be patronized and
staffed largely with LDSs, and in retrospect the desk clerk
probably was one herself), a lot of prefab stuff on the menu
alternating with a lot of sweet stuff. As it is a mix and
match proposition, I ordered the 4-item breakfast available
all day, asking for pretty much all protein items. I tried
to get 2 burger patties, but the waiter regretfully pointed
out that the policy was to offer only one of each item. So
I got a 1/4 lb burger patty, which turned out about 6 oz of
hand-packed pretty decent ground meat, done brown through;
followed by a sizable sausage patty (cheap industrial); 2
slices of bacon (salty but ok); and a biscuit and gravy. On
the side, as it was only $1.65 extra, I got a small serving
of chicken-fried steak, which was your okay prefab thing,
one FDA-size serving. The gravy was extraordinarily salty
but did not taste bad.
Lilli had a burger, which was not as good as mine, partially
because it came with lettuce and tomato.
The free pie selection is limited: in addition to what we
ordered, there's cherry and one other similar selection. We
got apple and three-berry (blue, rasp, and boysen) to go, as
our portions had been sizable. Next day, the pies tasted
fairly decent: the chain advertises "best pies in America";
not so. In retrospect, I wish it had been free beer night.
The room itself was reasonably attractive, plenty of
amenities (the higher your status, it seems, the more junk
they put in your bathroom), larger than the standard, with
a bunch of dead space. Notably, the beds were different, one
being too hard, the other being just right. No worries, we
weren't going to be there much. We collapsed after dinner
and slept through to the alarms (we set 3 and also ordered a
wake-up call).
Breakfast - a wide array of breakfast breads; some fruit,
including the excellent pineapple that one seems to find
consistently in Alaska; okay sausage gravy; rubber eggs;
porridge; bacon. All decent quality, the giant Costco
muffins being exceptionally good. All under the watchful
eyes of stuffed animals and similar bric-a-brac.
It's a quick taxi ride to the train station, taking half the
time the hotel said it would, costing $5 less than it said.
Our guides beckoa, BOB W, and jackal had told us to be there
at 0715 for an 0815 departure on the Denali Star. We arrived
half an hour even before that - certain of these worthies
didn't get there until 0745 and were just fine, adding
insult to injury. Our group had the rear end of car E to
ourselves except for the last row, a group of tourists who
were suitably bemused by our rowdiness.
You aren't supposed to bring booze aboard, though you can
carry coolers on, ostensibly for food, and the generally
pretty jolly conductors sort of look the other way if you
aren't stupid or blatant about it.
Unofficial beverages in this car included Estancia Merlot
and the Kirkland Signature Cotes du Rhone; both were
unexceptionable. The official ones were the Woodbridge
Cabernet (not very good), Alaska amber, which ran out
early, and Alaska summer, which though less preferable also
ran out during the course of the trip, leaving some nasty
wheat beer as the alternative, plus the usual mass-market
swill. Twelve hours is a long time for the catering as well
as for the passengers to endure.
On this trip there was not much wildlife - just two bears
swimming across the river; good views of Denali, though,
especially from our car's domed area, which, as we were in
second class, was time rationed so as to give fair use to
all the other coach passengers.
Much of the train emptied out at Denali, but the esteemed
Seat2A joined us for the rest of the trip, regaling us with
edifying and amusing stories and a bottle of Russell's
Reserve Bourbon, which was much appreciated. After a good
long time, somewhat lubricated, we alighted in Fairbanks.