10/6: Atlanta to New Orleans - pics

Today we travelled from Atlanta to New Orleans. We left at about 8 am and arrived around 8:30 pm. We snacked on the food stuff that we had purchased in Atlanta. Everything went smoothly and we got to see parts of Alabama and Mississippi.Our taxi ride to the Omni Royal Orleans hotel was short and the driver pointed out some of the attractions. He recommended French street for music. That's where the locals go. We are excited to be in New Orleans for 4 days.

10/5: Atlanta - pics

Arrived this morning about 8 am and checked into the Westin. We took a nap until about 1 pm. Went out for some lunch at a place next door named "The True Food Kitchen". We then went shopping in the Lenox Mall. Later this evening we tried to find some peach pie. We couldn't find any restaurants and as a last resort we even tried the Publix grocery store. No peach pie for you today! Come back another year..

We enjoyed our brief stay in Atlanta. The Amtrak station here was surprisingly small. It is about the size of a normal home. Tiny for a large city like Atlanta. Apparently it is all that's needed. No one tried to rip us off and they were a friendly bunch.

A view of Buckhead/Atlanta, Georgia.

Looking down to the street outside our hotel.

10/4: D.C. to Atlanta - pics

We were able to squeeze in a couple more museums today before we had to leave D.C. I spent to much time in the Native American museum and we had to rush through the Air and Space museum. Margi was a bit miffed about that. We may have to make another trip here.

Amtrak messed up our reservations again. They have tried charging us extra twice before, but have always reversed them out after Margi challenged them. Today was a little different. Margi had called in our reservations before we left Hartford for 3 legs (D.C., Atlanta, New Orleans). When we got to the Hartford terminal, they told us that there were no reservations and we should add them again. When we called to check on 10/3, we learned there were no reservations. They fixed the reservations and we asked for a confirmation email. All we got was an email with no contents. All was well, or so we thought.. On the evening of 10/4, when we went to check in at the D.C. terminal, they told us we would need to pay their $45 late fee per passenger  since we had no reservations. Margi was able to convince them that it was their mistake and they issued new tickets for us all the way to El Paso. We had our bags checked to our next stop of Atlanta. Once again we thought that all was well until 1/2 hour before boarding time. When we double checked the dates on our tickets they had entered 10/6 as the departure date for both the Atlanta and New Orleans destinations. We ended up paying the $90 and boarded for Atlanta at the last minute.

Anyway, on our way to Georgia we passed through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,

10/3: Lincoln memorial, Natural History, Art - pics

We started this day with a trolley ride to the Lincoln memorial. Next was the memorial for the  Korean war. We then caught the trolley to the natural history museum. We decided to start out with a quick lunch. We managed to see most of the exhibits except the butterflies and zipped through many others. Finished off the day with the National Gallery of art museum. There were many beautiful paintings and sculptures. Since we stayed until almost the last minute, we decided to walk back to the hotel. We are both exhausted. Dinner was buffet style at the hotel.

10/2: American and Natural History - pics

We were planning to cover both the American and Natural history museums today. Spent the first half of the day in the American history building. We managed to view most of the exhibits on the 3 floors and then had some lunch. We then walked over to the natural history building and arrived about 3:30 pm. This was not enough time for even a single floor. We did get to see the famous Hope diamond and gaped at many others. We hurried out the wrong side and walked back to where we thought the trolley bus would pick us up. Landmarks didn't look right, so we walked through the building and just managed to catch the last bus back to our Holiday Inn. It rained hard again today, but most of our time was spent indoors. Dinner for me was Quiznos mac and cheese. Margi had a meat and cheese sandwich.

A Matson shipping container...

A butterfly made of gems.

10/1 - Trolley bus tour of D.C. - pics

Today we took a tour of the main D.C. attractions via a trolley bus around D.C. We went around the loop twice and only got off once. It was the Union station for a hamburger lunch at a Red Rocket. It rained all day, so I think the bus was a good way to spend the day. Our bus pass is good for 48 hours and Friday we will use it to visit our choice of the attractions. We did pick up a couple of $5 umbrellas today.

9/30 - Off to D.C.

Today was a simple day. Cracker Barrel for a nice lunch. April and Jeff drove us to the Amtrak station in Hartford. We boarded about 3:30 pm and arrived in Washington D.C. about 10:30 pm. It was a pleasant and uneventful ride. We passed through Delaware, Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore, Maryland on our way here, It was dark most of trip, and I do regret missing historic sites like Philadelphia. There's just not enough time to see everything in one shot.

Here is a link to show our Amtrak route.
Amtrak crescent-train route