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Fairbanks Railroad Depot We woke up about 6am and packed up. Manoli called for a taxi for 7:30am, and we waited around. Just before 7:30 the taxi showed up, we loaded up and away we went. As you probably already know, if you been reading my blogs up til now, today we were going to Anchorage by train. We reached the depot around 7:45, picked up our tickets, and waited again. While we waited, we checked out the neat model railroad display. It was very realistic, and the guy that managed the display was very informative. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:20am, and about 10 mins before, they open the gates and we boarded.
We had seats in car D, the back car of the train. We had checked our luggage bags, and Manoli checked her backpack too. I kept mine so I could use my computer. The train consisted of 2 locomotives, a baggage car, 2 Gold Star class cars, a cafeteria car, and 2 Adventure class cars. Everything was cool about our car, except they didn't have tables, or even cup holders. We ended going to the back of the car, and up the stairs to the dome part,
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The model railroad display so could see where we were going, and take better pictures.
Soon after boarding, we were on our way. Just so you know, we paid for the cheaper Adventure Class, rather than the fancy, much more expensive Gold Class. The only differences were that the seats where nicer and more comfortable, they had a nicer dome to view the scenery, and it included 2 or 3 meals along the way. Granted, I would have liked more comfortable seats and food, but for $360 each, it definitely seemed not to be worth it. We paid $176 each, with military discount, for the Adventure Class. Also, our two cars only had like 6 people total, including us. Along the way, we bought 3 coffees at $2.50 each, a reindeer sausage dinner at $8, a reindeer sausage dog at $6, a bag of chips, and a blueberry muffin.
The scenery along the way was awesome! I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone. We saw really huge mountain ranges with snow covered peaks, quaint little towns, and two black bears. We stopped briefly at several places, including Denali and Talkeetna, and we were allowed to get off briefly at both. My
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Leaving Fairbanks only criticisms about the trip, besides the lack of cup holders, was that we had to pull off on sidings several times to let other trains go buy, and this delayed our trip and arrival quite a bit. We arrived in Anchorage at 8:30pm instead of 8pm. When we got off, one of the first things I noticed was how many "homeless" people were hanging around/living across the street. A lot of them had tents and everything. When we finally got our luggage, we joined the group of folks waiting for taxis. When my wife called the Taxi company, they told her it was first come, first serve. There were a number of folks waiting for taxes to show, so she called an Uber. Well, while we waited, several taxis came, but we had to turn them down to the folks behind us. Our Uber car finally showed, we loaded our luggage (into a Chevy Cruz!), and away we went, to our home for the next two nights, Creekwood Inn and RV.
When we arrived, sometime after 9pm, we had no problem checking in, and went up to our room. The room was pretty well appointed with a queen
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Beautiful view of the forest sized bed, chest-of-drawers, a table and chair, a medium sized TV, our own bathroom and shower (yipee!), and even a coffee maker, refrigerator, and microwave. Since it was so late, and we didn't know the area, we got some snacks from the front desk, and I made coffee. I worked on this blog for a bit, then decided I was sleepy.
Tomorrow, our day is up for grabs, but we plan on taking a bus downtown, and maybe do one of the trolley tours.
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