Accomodations

For about five minutes in the trip-planning stage Tim and I thought of doing coach seats for the entire trip. It would have been significantly cheaper; however, it would mean no showers, no food, and no privacy. The no privacy issue wasn't really that big of a deal, but the no showers (for me anyway) and no food were bigger deals. We would have had to buy food or try to bring on enough food to last for seven days, a harder task since we've decided to do carry-on only luggage.

So from Syracuse to Chicago, a thirteen-hour overnight trip, we'll be sitting in reserved coach seats. No big whoop for one night, and we'll be saving a little money this way. But from Chicago to Portland, a two-night trip, we splurged on a Superliner Roomette. THIS is the really exciting part. With the roomette are beds (of course), a picture window, electrical outlets (not guaranteed in coach), water, newspaper, shower stuff, climate control, and, best of all, meals. We'll get to eat all meals in the dining car, which I hear is kind of awesome. Also, with the roomette, we can bring our own wine and beer, now a key factor since we found out Rogue Brewery is Newport. The return trip is the same: roomette from Portland to Chicago, coach from Chicago to Syracuse.

Some trains also offer onboard entertainment. I hope we have one of those trains because I bet onboard entertainment is amazing.

Twitter

Depending on the availability of wireless Internet on the train and at stops, I may not be able to post every day. Don't worry; to satisfy your need to know what we're doing, you can follow us on Twitter. From there I can send updates using my cell phone. I know you were worried.

What's This?

In a carpe diem moment last month, Tim and I decided to take a train trip to Oregon over his spring break. We'll be leaving from Syracuse on Friday March 9th and returning on Saturday March 14th. The first leg is from Syracuse to Chicago. Then it's Chicago to Portland. The states we will travel through: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon. We'll then hop on a bus from Portland, Oregon, to Newport, Oregon, on the coast. This also happens to be where Rogue Brewery is located, which I did not discover until after I had decided on Newport as a final destination because it's near a place where we can rock climb right by the ocean. Needless to say this made me even happier about my decision.

Besides throwing ourselves a wedding, this trip may be the least frugal decision we've ever made. Thankfully, our tax return can pay for most of the trip. I know you can argue that this money could have been "better" spent, but unless your argument is a trip to Paris or Buffalo Bills season tickets, I win. (And even then I may have you beat.)

We're really excited about this. So in the next nine days, if you catch me smiling for seemingly no reason, this is why. That, or I'm thinking about this.