Day 5 - last day on the train for now.

Woke this morning in Pacific time. My cell phone did not, however. It was still in Mountain time. So, when I went to the dining car for breakfast at what I thought was 6:30 they were not even anywhere near ready to serve. Then I realized my error and went back and had coffee in the sleeper instead. I always keep food with me in the train in case this happens.

Sunrise took place in the east. Imagine that. It was amazing over the Sierra Nevada, which we had begun to climb at that time. We went through the towns of Sparks and Reno and I saw the famous Mustang Ranch. The climb over the Sierra Nevada took us through the Donner Pass and I got some excellent shots of Donner Lake which is quite beautiful. As we descended into the San Joachin valley for the almost dead-straight shot to Sacramento we went from snow cover to 90 degrees in about 1/2 hour.

I had the pleasure to meet to elderly ladies on the train during meal service last night. Rose, who is a young 84 and Josephine (Jo) who is 80. What wonderful senses of humor they had as they told us stories of the trouble they used to start when they were younger. Jo asked for AND WAS GIVEN by her sons a gift of a white water raft ride through the Grand Canyon for her 80th birthday! These were a couple of really neat ladies and I am happy to have met them.

The train was almost an hour ahead of schedule arriving into Emeryville. The bus to the Pier and then a taxi to the hotel took up another hour and I arrived at the Hilton in the Financial District at 4:00pm. I am on the 7th floor. My view is of the tall surrounding buildings. The Transamerica Pyramid building is behind the one I'm in right now.

I took a pot shot and had dinner at the first Chinese Restaurant that had their door open and it wasn't bad. No shock there. The hotel is smack in the middle of China town on all sides. If you want anything Chinese it is here. I will be exploring that area in greater depth on Friday.

After dinner I decided a short walk down to the Embarcadero would be a nice way to familiarize myself with the area and boy did that work out. My little 5 block walk turned into a 3 mile walk that took me all the way to Pier 39, the main pier and where all the attractions are.

Then it was back to my room and a quick Skype to home but I'm exhausted and can hardly keep my eyes open. I'm even too tired to make links to everything in the post. I'll catch up tomorrow after spending the day walking across, around, over, under and otherwise in the general vicinity of the Golden Gate Bridge. That is, if I still have an ounce of strength left after that day.