Let's just say, that this whole trip was an adventure. My mom wanted to do an Amtrak trip, so we booked a vacation package through them. Did you know you can do that? We didn't either.
So basically, Amtrak does all the heavy lifting for you. They not only booked our train tickets, but also our hotels, rental car and even some activities at a few of our stops - tickets the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and tickets for a private Jeep tour in Pigeon Forge.
But day one was all about us seeing how we would survive being on a train for 13 hours, give or take. We left New Orleans at 9:15 am and got to Atlanta at 11 pm. The whole Crescent route runs from New Orleans to New York, and for anyone who does that whole stretch without booking one of the private rooms, I don't know how you do it.
We started off all smiles with a 9 pound bag of snacks, books to read, crafts to make, and anxiously awaiting the cafe car to open. Well, the last part could have been just me as I was desperately in need of a cup of coffee.
The first part of the trip seemed to move quickly. We were stopping almost every hour, so we felt pretty good leaving Meridian, MS.
However, that is when there started being multiple hours between stops. And since we still had many, many hours left to go, vibes started to drop. We hit our first delay in Tuscaloosa. After Tuscaloosa was also when the cafe car closed for a few hours. I was convinced that our train car did not have air, because the other car I had to walk through to get to the cafe car was freezing.
Vibes were low as we got another delay 10 minutes out from Atlanta. By this time the whole crew was just ready for beds. Our hotel was a disappointment, but more on that when I recap the whole experience later. But here are some highlights of the actual train trip:
Snack Count: 7
2 1/4 cups of trail mix, one nature bakery bar - raspberry, one mini bag of peanut M&Ms, one mini bag of goldfish, one dum dum sucker - cherry, one pack of peanut butter and cheese crackers
Trips to Cafe Car: 3
Egg bites, cheese tray, hot dog
Cups of Coffee: 3
Books Read: 3
The Original Hank the Cowdog, The Restaurants of Lost Recipes, Beauty & The Grease
Diamond Paintings Done: 6
Bathroom Trips: 7
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