train Archives - Life with Dee

Two Days in London

December 31, 2014 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

I still have so much to share from our Paris trip and I fully intend to finish this series within a couple of weeks of the start of 2015. For now, how about a quick post about our little excursion to London?

David had the brilliant idea that we should take advantage of proximity and zip on over to London during our trip. He knew that I’ve long wished for an opportunity to meet my dear friend, Mary, in person. She and I began corresponding via email about 13 years ago. We “met” on an email list for FlyLady followers. One day she asked for clarification of an American term. I responded and also mentioned that her name was the same as my mom’s maiden name. It seems such a simple and innocuous beginning for what has become a deep and lasting friendship.

Mid-way through our Paris trip we caught the train to London. The train trip alone was quite an adventure. I’d love to travel Europe via train someday. We met up with Mary near our hotel. She spotted us from a distance and the three of us embraced right there on the sidewalk. It immediately felt as though we’d all known each other forever. Over the years David has heard me talk about Mary so much that he already felt as though he knew her, too.

It was a gorgeous, unseasonably warm and sunny day. We had decided that it would be a good idea to hop a tour bus for an overview of the city. We had done that in Paris and it was wonderful. Well, we didn’t do so well selecting a tour bus company in London. I’ll spare you the details but if you are ever planning to take a trip to London let me know and I’ll tell you which company to avoid.

Still, it was absolutely splendid to spend the day with Mary:

She caught a train back to Birmingham, where she lives, at about 10:30 p.m. and we said our goodbyes in the train station. I truly hope I will get another opportunity to see my dear friend. Maybe someday she can come visit me!

David and I headed back to our hotel which was only a few blocks from the train station. We had, however, walked our ever-lovin’ legs off that day. That tour bus thing? Yeah, it didn’t work out quite like we planned. Anyway, back at the hotel I had already taken off my boots when I was overcome with a desire – no…NEED – for a cup of hot tea. It was after 11 p.m. and room service was closed for the night. They had a bar downstairs and I took a chance that they might be able to fix me up. I pulled my boots back on and trudged downstairs in search of a fix for my addiction. I should have known that it wouldn’t be a problem in England. This is what the bartender fixed up for me to take back to our room:

My opinion of London shot up dramatically at that point. We had endured crowds, traffic, incompetent bus drivers and the worst food imaginable but a perfect cup of tea fixes nearly anything.

We slept well in a very comfortable hotel room and awoke ready to give London another shot. The weather was more typical – cool and rainy – but we had a better idea how to get around and we had a lovely day. We decided to focus on the two main things we wanted to see. I wanted to see the Globe Theatre and David wanted to see Buckingham Palace:

We saw the Globe first. We didn’t get to go inside but we did pick up a couple of things in the gift shop and enjoyed a nice lunch there. Finally…a decent meal. Not quite Paris but then, nothing is. Still, we had a tasty shepherd’s pie in a lovely little restaurant.

We made our way to Buckingham Palace, enjoying a walk through a pretty park. The palace was quite impressive from the outside which is all we saw. That’s right, the Queen didn’t invite us in for tea. Can you believe that? And we know she was home because literally two minutes after we decided to catch a cab across the street the cab driver pointed out that we had just missed the Queen. If we had waited outside the gate just two more minutes…

Ah, well…that’s how things go sometimes. It was time to head back to the train station and back to Paris. I’m really glad we took the time to go to London, most especially because I got to see Mary, but we were both more than ready to go back to Paris.

Here are a few more pictures from London:

The Tower of London

A famed double-decker bus

One of their charming red phone booths

A cheerful rebel

Big Ben

Adventures in Austin

March 1, 2013 By Deanna Piercy Leave a Comment

Have you ever had one of those weekends that was almost too fun to talk about rationally? Well, our trip to Austin last weekend was one of those. Train travel, a nice hotel, live music, great friends and a beard competition – what could be better?

I think I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.

We arrived Saturday evening and we all went out for Mexican food. Everyone had had long days of traveling so we called it a night around 10:30. On Friday we all did some shopping and browsing in vintage shops. David and I didn’t buy anything but this hat was tempting:

Little Alex was quite the trooper:

David and I hit the record shops and added to our collection:

Marcus, the birthday boy, found himself a vintage suit and rocked it:

The place we tried to see live music Friday night was sold out so we went to The Continental Club and lucked into what pretty much amounted to a gospel revival in a bar. These guys are from Louisiana and absolutely awesome.

Friday night was beyond amazing. So much fun! On Saturday we did a little more shopping, ate lunch at the food trucks, went back to get ready and then met up for the main event, the Mohawk’s Beard and Mustache Competition. The line was down the street but fortunately we had all bought tickets in advance.

Larry and David tried to look as intimidating as the bear but it didn’t last long:

I had no idea what to expect at a beard competition but it was highly entertaining. We will definitely do it again sometime. Here’s our view from the outdoor balcony down toward the stage:

Marcus and David with Captain America:

Our whole crew plus one of the contestants:

These were the finalists. Can you guess who won?:

Part of our crew:

Can you tell we were having a great time?

After the competition was over we all decided we needed breakfast so we headed to the 24 Diner. The food was spectacular. I had chicken and waffles, a couple had the eggs benedict special, a couple more had sweet potato hash…everyone’s food was really, really good. And the service was outstanding. If you ever find yourself in Austin needing food in the middle of the night, I highly recommend this place.

But all good things must come to an end so at about 3:30 a.m. we went back to hotel so we could catch at least a little sleep before our train left Sunday morning at 9:30. We both did a lot of yawning and maybe a little snoring on the train home but it was all worth it. One of our group referred to this trip as “the best family vacation ever”. We might not be related but I’m happy to claim them all as family.

Today I decided we should have a little reunion so we are having the group over this Saturday for games and pizza. One of my goals for this year is to entertain more often even if it means putting aside my perfectionist tendencies regarding a spotless house and serving a home-cooked meal. I still enjoy those types of parties but I know we’ll have more gatherings if I don’t set the bar quite that high every time. This will be my inaugural “easy party” event. I’ll vacuum up the Shiloh hair and make sure there’s toilet paper in the bathroom but otherwise I refuse to work myself into a state of exhaustion before the party. I’ll let you know how it goes.

*The first few pictures are mine and the last four were taken by Lindsay Shane.

Anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles

February 25, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 5 Comments

As David and I stood on the platform waiting to board our train Thursday morning, the following quote from George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” came to mind:

George: You know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are?
Uncle Billy: Uh, huh. Breakfast is served, lunch is served, dinner is…
George: No, no, no, no! Anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles.

I rode a train once as a young child along with my aunt and cousin. I recall enjoying the experience but not too many details other than going through the doors between cars on our way to the dining car. We also did a short ride in Branson when the kids were young and then took them on the Amtrak from Pauls Valley to Fort Worth when they were a little older. David and I have often talked about taking a long train trip somewhere so when he suggested we take the train to Austin I was pretty excited.

I was going to blog about our whole long weekend trip in one post but it turns out I have several really cool train pictures to share so I’ll tell you about the rest tomorrow.

We awakened early Thursday morning to cold rain but at least it was above freezing – just barely! There was still snow on the ground from the previous day’s surprise snowstorm but the roads were fine. We left early just in case so we arrived at our station in Pauls Valley with plenty of time to spare.

Here is a picture of the old depot which is now a museum:

Our train left at about 9:30 a.m. Only a handful of people boarded at our station and the train wasn’t very full at all. We settled into our comfortable seats – so much better than on a plane! I had brought some hot tea with me and something to read:

This is the back side of the depot in Pauls Valley:

Here is the Ardmore, Oklahoma station taken from inside the train:

Here is our approach into Fort Worth, Texas:

And the station itself in Fort Worth:

We had a two hour layover in Fort Worth. Despite the way the picture above looks, it was a sunny day and fairly warm. We walked a few blocks to a little cafe where we ate lunch. We then walked back to the station and sat outdoors until our next train arrived. It was warm enough that I took off my sweater, rolled up the sleeves on my t-shirt and got a little sun on my arms. I am SO ready for winter to be over!

Back on the train, we read, listened to music, chatted, and just gazed at the scenery:

From our train window. It's flat but at least it's green. #texas #trainride

Or I should say, that is what *I* did. David logged a total of 51 work-related phone calls. Yes, FIFTY-ONE calls. Poor guy. The other people in our car were actually sorry for him and as we disembarked one gentleman told David as we walked by that he sure hoped he would be able to enjoy the rest of his vacation.

Still, even for David there were moments like this:

We witnessed one of the most glorious sunsets. It was on the opposite side of the train from our seats so we couldn’t get good photos of it. The one above was actually taken on our side, which just shows how much of the sky was lit up. It was truly spectacular.

We arrived in Austin around 7:30 p.m. This is the train we had been on:

As I said, I’ll tell you all about the amazing time we had in Austin in another post but here are the pictures I took on our return trip. This one was taken while waiting for our train Sunday morning in Austin:

Here’s David waiting his turn to show the conductor our ticket:

This was taken from the train at the station in Temple, Texas:

Here’s a shot of the seating. Those things in the seats are adjustable leg rests. There are also adjustable foot rests on the backs of the seats and fold down trays. The seats are adjustable, too, so you can get really comfortable:

This is an old train car on display at the Fort Worth station. I used a couple of filters on Snapseed, a photo app I have on my phone. I love the way it turned out:

We had around a three hour layover in Fort Worth on the return trip but since it was sunny and 70 degrees I didn’t much mind. Once again I soaked up some sun and my shoulders are even a little pink.

There were some delays along the way so our train didn’t arrive in Pauls Valley until somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. and then we had the hour drive home. We were utterly exhausted, not because of the train ride, but because we had been out until about 3:30 a.m. the night before and then David’s phone rang at 7:11 a.m. Yes, it was work-related. I’m just glad I’m not likely to see any of the people from the train ride because I kept dosing off and then waking myself up snoring. Oh, well.

Now David and I are even more convinced we want to take a long, scenic train trip, maybe along the coast of California. I do believe we have been entranced by the romance of train travel.

All aboard!

February 21, 2013 By Deanna Piercy 1 Comment

We are on the train heading to Austin for a few days. This, my friends, is the way to travel!