http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/D Big/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from D Big en-us Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:58:48 UTC Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:58:48 UTC After leaving the hotel this morning we had a 3minute cab ride to the Amtrak station in Emeryville CA. As I stated in an earlier entry Emeryville is the farthest Amtrak goes. From there therersquos a 6 bus connection that continues across the bay into the heart of San Francisco if thatrsquos where yoursquore heading. To keep things simpler we avoided having the bus ride by just stay http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Nevada/West-Wendover/blog-130608.html Another day of the San Francisco life Pretty lowkey but an enjoyable day. We made our way back to the train station and across the bay to San Fran our hotel a Hilton is in Emeryville across the bay from San Francisco chosen for its proximity to the Amtrak station for our departure tomorrow. From the public train we caught a transfer via bus towards the Golden Gate Park. We met two cr http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-130271.html Today was one of thost busy days where you do lots and lots but at the end of the day have done surprisingly little. Disembarking a cruise ship is always time consuming as you have to clear customs and INS get your baggage inspected etc. At around 9 o'clock we were off the ship and on a cab to Oakland. Once here we took a nap first thing. Afterwards we made our way down to the train station http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-129973.html Last day at sea If you read yesterday's entry you'll understand why we slept until about 1100 this morning. We did manage to make it to another photo lecture though. This time the speaker told stories about his various more interesting assignments over the years. There were some great ones. Some of the good ones involved the airplane pilot he typically used for aerial shots getting FAA ci http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-129971.html San Franciscobound Happy Valentine's Day The days at sea are as actionpacked as the days in port if you partake of the various activities on the ship. There are groups that meet all over the ship to play trivia games have afternoon tea play card games attend lectures etc... We started out the day with a photography lecture which was quite good. There is a fellow on the ship who was a http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-129966.html Cabo San Lucas MexicoToday's stop was Cabo San Lucas. It's extremely well known as a hotspot for American vacationers and Acacia and I now know why. It's beautiful. After riding the tender to the docks Acacia and I joined a tour group for a short water taxi ride around the bay to see the length of Cabo from the water. We got a great view of all the various beaches big resorts and milliona http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Mexico/blog-129170.html What an awesome day The morning seemed to be starting very badly but the day was certainly redeemed. We purchased tickets to go on an ATV ridevillage tour outside of Puerto Vallarta. The problem lies in the setting of clocks. Long story short our time keeping device for the trip my cell phone since neither of us wear watches ended up an hour behind. We stepped off the ship onto the dock http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Mexico/Jalisco/Puerto-Vallarta/blog-129169.html ZihuatenejoIxtapa MexicoLet the beach bummin' begin We met up with our tour group at 800 this morning to head out to a small island for the day. The ship was anchored in the bay of Zihuatanejo since the docks here cannot accomodate ships this large. There are three tenders which is ship lingo for water taxi. At least that's my interpretation. While there are many more basic lifeboats o http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Mexico/blog-129167.html Today we explored Acapulco which was a treat After a nice breakfast on the ship we headed down the the docks and caught a cab. I should say that the cabs catch us down here. The second you exit the ports of entry down here you are bombarded by taxi drivers wanting to whisk you off to the far reaches of the town. A lady Acacia met by the pool said that on previous trips to Acapulco she had s http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Mexico/Guerrero/Acapulco/blog-128036.html This was yet another sea day. We're closing the distance to Acapulco which is the furthest South of our 5 ports of call. This being day 9 Acacia and I were beginning to run short on clean clothes so it was time to do some more laundry. This was quite the chore since everyone else on our deck seemed to have the same idea. Looking back on it it does make sense that this Sea day in the midd http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-128035.html Today was our first day of exploring the strange foreign land of Mexico. As we didn't dock until 1230PM we had the morning to relax on the ship. After getting up we went straight to another dance class. This one was an introduction to the salsa. It's an awesome latin dance with an extremely simple basic step which lends itself well to lots of hip swaying and fancy improvisation. Afterwards http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Mexico/Sinaloa/Mazatlan/blog-128033.html After a short breakfast at the buffet upstairs we went to our second dance class which was the second level Meringue class. We picked up a few new moves to throw into the routine then made our way to the pool to finally sit out and enjoy the sun. We're just getting far enough south that you can enjoy sitting out on the upper decks. We both got a little sun before grabbing lunch at the pizzeria http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-128031.html Today was quite fun. We're at sea today and tomorrow so there are no Mexican adventures to write of yet. We had a continental breakfast delivered to our stateroom at around 9 this morning. If only we could start every day that way... The next step was to take a meringue class in one of the clubs. The turnout was surprisingly large. I'd say there were about 100 people there in all. One of http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-128030.html What an exhausting day We woke up at the Heritage Marina Hotel and had a quick breakfast then did a load of laundry to make sure we were stocked up on clean clothes for the cruise. Then we hopped in a cab and were on our way to the Port of San Francisco. Traffic near the pier was horrible. Not only were roughly 2000 passengers trying to leave the pier from our boat's previous trip but there http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/blog-128028.html We arrived in San Francisco aprox 4.5hrs late last night. That seems to be par for the course on the longer western routes on Amtrak. After chatting with the conductor for a short while he wrote out a small note with a transfer ticket which gave us a free bus ride from the train station in Emeryville CA to the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The ride would only have cost us 12 but free http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-125688.html This is a most excellent article Acacia wrote for anyone thinking aboutinterested in taking a train tripFactoids About Trains by the FirstTimer for the FirstTimer by Acacia Uible ahhhh I'm Uible not Hillard now. FreakyThere's an interesting mix of people who ride the trains. Some use them to commute outskirts of chicago into town for instance. These people get an affordable r http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Colorado/Denver/blog-125529.html After reaching Chicago and sitting in the terminal for about an hour and a half we were on our way The Number 5 California Zephyr pulled out promptly at 200PM. In the interest of saving a little money we are staying in a slightly smaller room for the rest of the trip. It's called a roomette and seats two comfortably. There are two reclining chairs facing each other in front of a nice large http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-125520.html Our trip began not so promptly at 200AM this morning. The 51 Cardinal was supposed to reach Cincinnati at 110 AM but in what I'm told is typical Amtrak fashion it was running an hour behind. When we finally got on board our room was surprisingly large. We splurged and reserved the fullblown bedroom for the fist leg of our trip Cincinnati to Chicago as we expected to be tired boarding http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Ohio/Cincinnati/blog-124655.html