Characters that crossed our path.

During this trip home and back we came across a few odd people. Like the guy that got on the train in pasco same time we did. He had this weird vibe about him.He just looked wrong.He rode the train all the way to L.A then a week later the same guy is on the train with us headed back to pasco. He was dressed in the same outfit and he had hot pink finger nails this time and earrings. we called referred to him as "pinks" for the return trip.
Then there was this guy i think we saw him in Portland waiting to get on train to L.A. He had this huge old school boom box with dual cassette decks..lol..the whole way to Portland you would see him with his headphones plugged into this thing, people on the train kept asking him was that his ipod.We referred to him as"boom box"
Then there was The kid that sat next jill(johns wife) on the train coming back. He looked like he was a tweaker, and was trying to detox while on the train.After he finished eating all the food he brought with him he started to chew up his plastic spork.lol.
There was this old lady that was on the train and bus with us and every time jill would look at her this lady would shoot jill this total stare of hate at her.it was pretty funny.
There was other odd folks we ran into i just cant remember right now, should have wrote it down as we came across them so i could put it up here..oh well next time.

Pictures from Trip down to Cali and while in cali.

Here are pictures from the trip down to California and pictures while in California. we didn't take many would have liked to have taken more, especially in California

Portland to L.A

in california

Return Trip PArt 2. Klamath Falls to moses lake

So we get into Klamath falls around 8am or so and have to wait around for about an hour for the bus.There was only 11 of us taking this bus to pasco, which was nice because we got stretch out and there was plenty of room.The bus driver tells us before we take off that its a 7 hour bus ride but Amtrak wont let the bus get there until 8pm. So a 7 hour bus ride he had to stretch to an 11 hour bus ride.So we made a few stops to get snacks and drinks and to stretch our legs that kinda thing.we went by crater lake saw a few bald eagles. We stopped at the bridge that was 300ft above the crocked river.There was also a story that a women tossed her kids over the bridge. It was pretty cool bridge.It started snowing at this point. Then we stopped in this ghost town in shaniko oregon.It was really foggy at this point so made the place a little creepy. This ghost town has the oldest functioning post office in Oregon. It started in 1901.IT was neat walking around there.We get on the bus and head for biggs Oregon, this is where our dinner break will be. On the way to biggs we hit some thick fog. you couldn't see anything, it was like a grey blanket was tossed over us. Thank goodness that didn't last to long. We did see parts of the Oregon trail. and ( i don't remember where) there's this tree that is covered in shoes. Don't know why someone would make a shoe tree but there is one out there in nowhere Oregon.lol.SO we get to biggs, its nothing more then a truck stop. We have dinner and hung out there until 530 or so. Now its getting dark and its hard to see anything. we got into Pasco about 730. John and the kids were there to pick us up. it was about an hour and a half car ride to Moses lake.

Klamath Falls to Pasco

Return trip Part1.L.A to Klamath Falls

Dad took us to the train station in L.a on Saturday morning. He hung out with us for a bit and then it was time for him to go.He hugged us goodbye and then he started crying which in turn made us cry too.. It was hard saying goodbye to him...
We get on the train and find out the train is sold out. Lots of people and lots of booze.people were drinking it up. There was a set of identical twin girls sitting the seats behind, thought that was kinda weird.The ride to Klamath was nice,got some good pictures. The Storm that hit california today we ran into in Mt.Shasta we slowed to a crawl. Didn't think we would get out of there. It was snowing so much.Then the snow from the rocks and mountains would fall down and hit the train. and the trees were weighed down from all the snow and the branches were actually scrapping the windows of the train..kinda creepy. but all in all it was an ok ride to Klamath Falls.

L.A to Klamath Falls

Last night in Cali

Well it was our last day in california.The kid had off from school today so we took him to the movies. We saw Coraline in 3D..It was a an ok movie. We all looked so funny in those 3d glasses. heres a couple of pics of the 3 of us with them on. the first pic is Tina and the kid, the second is Gina and the kid.


Going to spend the rest of the day with the family today and just pack up and get ready to leave tomorrow morning.Its funny how we came down to get some sun and get out of the snow and we get here and rained most of the time..lol..thats ok,the rain was nice.

Cali trip

Well on Monday we got up and went to visit a friend, hung out with her which was a lot of fun. Then that evening we meet up with a lot of our friends at a restaurant for margarita monday.It was great to see everyone, we missed these people a lot and it was awesome to hang out with them for the evening.
Tuesday: Dad took off from work and the kid stayed home from school and the 4 of us hung out for the day. We went shopping to a lot of places we don't have back in Washington. The kid made us a birthday cake. so we had that on Tuesday night.
Wednesday: the kid had to go to school but dad took another day off from work to hang out with us. So we went out drove around a bit trying to get a good picture of the snow on the mountains. we got a couple of good pics. It was kinda neat to see what had all changed around here since we have been gone. All the places that are gone now and all the new stuff thats in its place. Then Wednesday night we went to the ducks game. That was a lot of fun.got to visit with everyone and i don't think we even made it to our seats, to busy talking with everyone. lol..we did see the last minute of the game when the ducks made a goal and won the game. Then after the game a few of us went out to eat.
Thursday:We had nothing planned for this day. We did go to the pet store and picked up some stuff for the turtles that we cant get up where we live. We hung around the house mostly. being on the go since early sat morning and not getting much sleep it kinda caught up with us today. we played video games with the kids for awhile and then did our taxes(we know how to live it up on vacation..dont we..lol)
Friday: no plan for today..probably just catch up on some sleep since we wont get much of it on the train this weekend.
It was a fast five days. wish we could have been down here longer.Hopefully soon we will get to come down for a visit again. To all our friends reading this, it was great seeing you all. we miss you already!....Well, going to go an try to enjoy our last day in California. i'll blog again after we get back up north.

night one..home

We get home last night around 10pm or so and everyone was up to greet us. that kinda shocked us.It was great to see everyone and the kid got so tall and his voice changed..lol. he even has a moustache starting to grow..i told him you got some rodent on your lip..lol..anyway.. first night back home was good.

pasco to L.A

Well we made it to California.Our train ride wasnt to bad.We started out at 3am on sat and drove about an hour and a half to the train station. The ride was good until we hit this mass amount of fog and we slowed to about 10mph. i have anxiety riding in a car as it is and then to add all the fog in there..shit i bit down 3 of my finger nails until they started bleeding..lol..But john did a great job driving through it and getting us there.
WE got on the train at 5am or so and headed to Portland. That ride wasnt bad, it was quick. Then we had a layover in Portland for 4 hours. it was nice though to walk around and stuff. It was cool in Portland looked like it had just rained and there was a nice cool breeze.
We got on the train about 2pm or so headed to L.A from Portland.It was really hot in the car we where seated in. after awhile we couldn't take it any longer and went and sat at a booth in the observation car and stayed there until we got to L.A.The ride was very scenic and beautiful(most parts).Saw Mount hood and Mt Shasta both were pretty awesome to see.full of snow. The Train hauled ass through most of the trip except when we got to san luis obispo( i think there's where it was) they said they thought the tracks ahead were underwater so we had to proceed slowly just in case.oh somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Oregon the train just stopped. They said that union pacific was going to inspect the train. apparently we had a brake line dragging under the train..so while they are fixing this i guess they touched something they shouldn't have and all the power went off..no air flow, lights ...nothing..thank goodness they got it fixed quick and they got the air flowing again and we were on our way.
There was lots of characters on the train, i'll blog about them later. so we finally get to l.a and it didn't hit me that we where home until i saw dad walking up to get us.he hugged us and i was thinking ok i'm home now. we stepped outside and it was like a fucking heat wave..lol..it was i think 50-60 degrees or so.. thats about 40 degrees hotter then we are used to right now.lol..
Well all in all it was a good trip down it went faster then i thought it would.

trains and air fresheners

in a few days we will be leaving for home. we are so excited about going.This past week i have been sick,wicked chest cold,i can barley talk(that might be a good thing, i can hear some of you saying..lol..).Gina is starting to get sick to..Hopefully we will be fine by the time we leave.weather is warming up a bit. we are now in 30's might even hit a day or two of 40.we have been watching the departure times of the trains we are taking the last week or so and they are pretty much on time..so cross fingers it stays that way and we wont have any delays getting home.
work is going all right. haven't been cut any hours,which is nice. people were getting hours cut the last few weeks. ok..latest injury report....i was putting aerosol cans of air fresheners away, they slide into this spring loaded rack thing so that when one can gets taken out the next can slides forward and there's a guard rail to stop the cans from just falling out all over the floor.and you guessed it its on the top shelf...well i was putting some away and one can hit the guard rail and it fumbled around and the bottom of the can hit him right on the lip...tears rolled down my face instantly..lol...it was like when you tear up after popping a zit in your nose...it was that stinging pain..lol..for a moment i thought i chipped my tooth too, but checked and it was ok..The other day i was stocking some paper plates with my department manager and i went to the cut the box open with my box cutter and cut my finger..i said every cuss word i knew.as you know cussing is big no-no at my place of employment..My department manager just started laughing and said damn tina..lol..glad no one else heard what i said..that could have been bad for me.
Ok well i guess thats about it for now. We will see you all in a week!