03-16-2017: Last Days of Our Trip

We ended our visit with Shirley last Tuesday.  She had a YAG laser procedure on her eye early in the morning and I drove her back home from it.  It was nice to be able to be there for her.  After we returned to her condo, Christine and I packed up and took some last minute photos.  One was of this gigantic lemon that Shirley had.  Deeny had told us about a super lemon called a Meyer’s lemon and said it was much larger than a regular lemon.  Well, Shirley’s lemon was certainly a monster lemon.

BIG lemon
BIG lemon

There are several citrus trees around her condo – kumquat, lemon, lime, etc.  I’m sure when they have blossoms it must smell heavenly.

I got out the selfie stick to take some shots of the 3 of us.  Shirley had never seen or heard of a selfie stick.  She was enamored with it and so I left mine with her.

Christine, Shirley and Linda
Christine, Shirley and Linda

From Shirley’s, Christine and I drove up A1A about an hour to Melbourne.  Christine had arranged for us to have lunch with a friend of hers, Kathy.  We met her at the Hilton Oceanfront and had a really nice lunch.  Kathy is a lovely woman with whom Christine has had a friendship for many years.  Kathy was a snowbird and summered in the Binghamton area and wintered in Florida.  She now is a full time Florida resident and doesn’t get north anymore.  So I know Christine was really happy to see Kathy and spend some time with her.

Kathy and Christine
Kathy and Christine

After lunch, Christine and I drove to Cocoa Beach to a Hampton Inn for our final night in Florida.  We arrived to find that our room wasn’t ready, so we had to wander around the area for about 90 minutes.  The hotel isn’t exactly on the beach, but it really wasn’t a beach day.  The temperature was much cooler and it was very windy.  We bundled up a bit and at least walked down to the beach to see what it looked like.  It was a nice beach and there was a bit of surf, but still too cool for us.  While the northeast was having a n’oreater, Florida will be experiencing record cold for the next few days.

After walking around the neighborhood, we lounged in our room and relaxed.  We rearranged our packing in preparation for the auto train the next day.  We did have a view of the ocean from our room and so we enjoyed our final evening in Florida.

Last view of the ocean
Last view of the ocean in Cocoa Beach

Wednesday morning we had a drive of a little over an hour from Cocoa Beach to Sanford, FL where we get on the auto train.  About 20 minutes away from Sanford we pulled into a little park.  This was Round Pond Lake in Ovieda. It is a city park that has several playground areas for kids, tennis courts, picnic pavilions, and walking paths.  What a treat!  As the name indicates, there is a nice little pond around which there is a boardwalk around about half of the pond.  We wanted to take a walk prior to getting on the train, so this park was absolutely perfect.  We really enjoyed the boardwalk through the vegetation around the pond.  And we really loved seeing an osprey nest in the a large tree dripping with Spanish moss that was hanging out over the pond.  An osprey was in the nest and its partner was flying around.  We saw another osprey nest a short way around the pond and watched as 2 ospreys circled around their nest.

Round pond
Round pond
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Our trusty vehicle

After our great walk, it was off to the auto train.  From checking the Amtrak app on my phone, I knew that the train from Lorton was delayed so when we got to the station cars we’re all queued up and cars were still being unloaded from the arriving train.  We eventually were able to release our car for loading and then we sat in the Sanford terminal for about 90 minutes.

We got to our roomette, which Christine calls a “cabin-ette,” and settled in.

Christine in the roomette
Christine in the roomette

We pulled out of the station at about 5:00, which was an hour late.  It’s really fun riding the train.  We signed up for the 7:00 dinner seating and sat with an elder couple from Maryland.  We had a nice chat while enjoying a really delicious dinner.  Our porter made up our beds at 9:00.  That involves sliding the 2 seats together to form the lower berth and dropping the upper berth down from the ceiling.  That leaves less than 12 inches between the lower berth and the sliding glass door, so changing clothes is quite challenging.  Then comes the other challenge for me – getting up to and in the upper berth.  However, for whatever reason, I found it easier this time around and managed to get myself into the bed without too much trouble.  I actually thought there was a little more room from my memory of the upper berth two years ago.

Christine slept more than I did.  I found the train motion intrusive and I kept rocking along with the train, which kept me from sleeping.  We woke up about 6:00 and dressed and then went to the dining car for a continental breakfast.  We sat with a couple from Reading, PA and had a nice chat.  The man was a math professor and his wife was a 2nd grade teacher and musician.  As an avocation, the math professor also is a jazz musician and plays in clubs with a band.  So, we had a good talk about music.

We rolled into Lorton, VA 90 minutes late at 10:30.  While waiting to disembark, I saw 2 signs that caught my eye.  One was about the auto train.  The other was sort of an advertisement for the auto train.  The phone number for reservations was very clever, I thought (I-95 is the primary interstate to/from Florida).

Our train had 33 cars, about 380 people and about 240 cars, so we weren’t as full as it could have been.  Amtrak adds or subtracts cars as necessary.  Near Jacksonville, the train goes through a horseshoe curve in the CSX rail yard where you can look out the window and see both ends of the train.  That was pretty neat.

Two years ago, our vehicle was almost the last car unloaded and we waited nearly 3 hours for it.  This time, we were much luckier.  Our number was called after just an hour, so we were on the road at about 11:30.  We had originally planned to drive all the way home on Thursday.  But, with having little sleep and a huge pile of snow waiting for us, I wasn’t keen to face that nearing darkness and in cold, windy conditions.  So, we made the decision to spend the night in a Hampton Inn in Hazelton, PA.  It was a good thing to do.  In Hazelton, we saw up close the size of the snowfall awaiting us.  We had a great valley view room and enjoyed the end of a sunny day and then a lovely sunset.

We had breakfast at the Hampton Inn on Friday (Happy St. Patrick’s Day) and then set off for Binghamton at about 8:30.  I’ll write about what awaited us in the next post.

 

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