Taking a trip to the west coast

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64conv65hard

64conv65hard

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Not sure if this is the right spot for this topic.
Work is sending me out to Seattle this Saturday 8/14 for a week of teaching and then the wife and I will be taking the train back to MD. We will be getting on the train on the 21st and heading down to Sacramento. From there we will head over to Denver where we will spend a couple of nights and check out the city. If anyone has any advice on what to see it would be appreciated (I did get permission to go to a baseball game there). Next we will continue on tho Chicago and then up to Milwaukee where we have some friends we haven't seen for a while. On the 27th we will then reboard the train that will take us back to MD. We took the train to Seattle a couple of years ago that went through the northern states and it was great. Lots of old, lost cars and parts in peoples backyards that noone ever gets to see. If anyone is nearby on my trip just say the word and I will try to say hello in person.
 
When I was a kid and my father worked for the CNR (Canadian National Railway), we got free passage to anywhere in Canada. We went to Toronto a couple of times. My fondest memory is of the sleeper car, all draped in black cloth and falling asleep while looking out the window at the moonlit wilderness. Enjoy the trip.
 
Sacramento has a AAA baseball team (Sacramento Rivercats), but I think they will be out of town during your visit. Sacramento has what's called "Old Sac", a couple of blocks that have been kept as the city was during the 1850's = the Gold Rush Days. It's a good place to spend a day. Just south of Old Sac is the Towe Auto Museum (http://toweautomuseum.org/) featuring a collection of old classic cars. Old Sac also has the California Train Museum (http://www.csrmf.org/). If you want to visit an old train line, about 15 miles north of Sacramento in Woodland, you can visit the Sacramento River Train (http://www.sacramentorivertrain.com/). There are several other museums in the Sacramento area (http://www.sacmuseums.org/index.html) if that's what you are looking for.
If you want to take a short trip (2 - 3 hours drive East), South Lake Tahoe has a collection of casino's and restaurants around Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe there are a number of small wineries if you are interested in that (http://www.weekendwinery.com/Wineries/Wineries_CA_SierraGold.htm). If you go toward the West Coast some more, about 2 - 3 hours West, you can visit the Sonoma Wine Country that has a number of wineries there also (http://sonoma.com/).
Anything specific you are wanting to see?
 
We'll be switching trains in Sacramento with a 4 hour layover so anything we do will have to be by foot.
 
OK, the Amtrak station is just north of Old Sac, and the Railroad Museum is between Old Sac and the Amtrak station, so it's easily within walking distance. Check out this site (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=497) for info on the State Historic Park part of Old Sac, which is most of it. On there is a link to a web site showing a lot of the other retail and eating establishments and other attractions in Old Sac. You could easily spend several hours in the Railroad Museum aone, or spend it checking out the rest of Old Sac. Enjoy!
 
Thanks for the info David. Even though I've been working on locomotives for 30 years (Amtrak) I still enjoy going to the RR museums.
 
Mopars Unlimited Northwest Chapter is having a show on Sunday, Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, Stop by if you have a chance.
 
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