Our grand train adventure is officially ON LIKE DONKEY KONG! We booked our passage from Houston to Los Angeles last night. Here’s a rough itinerary thus far.
Feb 22th depart Houston 6:55pm – We are traveling in an Amtrak Roomette for this leg of the trip since we will be on the train for 2 nights. It’s really cool because our meals will be provided. All we have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride! From a homeschool perspective, there will be a ton of opportunities to learn about history. Amtrak provides some cool resources so we will always know something about the places we are passing through. I’ve read that the passenger train we will be traveling on stops periodically to allow cargo trains to pass. We can probably work some lessons in about industry and how products are moved around the country.
Feb 24th arrive Los Angeles 5:35am – Since we are arriving early in the morning, we are going to do a whirlwind trip around Los Angeles all day via their public transportation system. You can buy an all-day pass for $5 that will evidently take you wherever you want to go. On this night, we are staying in a hotel close to Hollywood. We will be using our Holiday Inn points from earlier trips, so our hotel room will only cost $70!
Feb 25th depart Los Angeles 10am to Sacramento 11:59pm – I’m still not sure about this part of the trip. We may fit an extra day in here to visit San Francisco depending on David’s ability to get an early enough flight on Wednesday.
**David arrives** Like I said before, this date may change depending on the availability of flights for David, and his work schedule. Feb 26nd Sacramento dep 7:45am to Merced arrives 10:31am – 11am Catch the San Joaquin to Merced. There, board a luxury motorcoach at 11am for a scenic ride through Mariposa and El Portal, and then directly into Yosemite National Park arriving at 1:20pm. Sleep in heated tents take the 10am 2 hour Yosemite tour and depart Yosemite at 1:25.
Feb 27rd 4:56am arrive in Dunsmuir, CA (DUN) to camp at Mt. Shasta
Feb 28th depart Dunsmuir, CA (DUN) 4:56am to arrive Seattle 8:38pm
Feb 28 – fly to Alaska for the Iditarod!
March 3rd – fly home
I’m so excited about this trip! I feel like Corbin is the perfect age right now to really make some great memories. He’s big enough to physically handle it, but he hasn’t quite hit that butt-head teenager phase where he’s too cool for everything either.
This trip was originally planned as research for a fantasy novel Corbin and I are writing about a mom and her homeschooled son who take a grand train adventure. (Sound familiar?) Along the way, they meet up with some magical hobos. Shenanigans ensue. I doubt we will meet any magical hobos on our trip, but it will be a lot of fun to write as we travel and learn.