Topic: Summer Vacations by Rail

[noozer]

If your interested in taking a vacation by rail this summer, this is a good website to get started with:

http://www.americasbestonline.net/index.php/pages/trainexcursions.html

Given the current gasoline prices.... rail is sounding better and better.  Too bad we can't hook up with a train here in Columbus..... but that day is coming.

[the pope]

I was thinking about taking a summer vacation in Shaker Square.

[jonmoxon]

I'd take Amtrak to Erie, Pa and hit the Presque Isle beaches, take in a Seawolves (AA baseball) game downtown, Waldameer Amusement Park, and hit the bars downtown. Erie is a pretty cool town in the summer.

[jonmoxon]

^I forgot there's also a track/slots facility that opened a little while ago, but it's outside the city; closer to I-90.

[UrbanSurfin]

I'm taking my summer vacation by rail (Cleveland to Boston) and rental car (to Acadia National Park area). But it got an inauspicious start yesterday when I was in Cleveland for a meeting and tried to pick up my online-purchased tickets beforehand at the inconveniently located Amshak. I was there over 15 minutes, with six people in line ahead of me at noon. In that time, the line had not moved an inch. Not a single transaction had been completed. I went back after my meeting, but the Amshak was closed.

In a country with a real rail system, the station would be grand and bustling.

[ink]

I wanted to do a vacation by Amtrak, but I want to travel to multiple cities and you can only do so many 3 a.m. days before it gets too old to be worth it.

[KJP]

I'm taking my summer vacation by rail (Cleveland to Boston) and rental car (to Acadia National Park area). But it got an inauspicious start yesterday when I was in Cleveland for a meeting and tried to pick up my online-purchased tickets beforehand at the inconveniently located Amshak. I was there over 15 minutes, with six people in line ahead of me at noon. In that time, the line had not moved an inch. Not a single transaction had been completed. I went back after my meeting, but the Amshak was closed.

In a country with a real rail system, the station would be grand and bustling.

I've had better luck picking up my tickets about 30 minute before train time. There's usually little or no line and more staff working the ticket counter. As always, check the Amtrak website or call Julie at the 1-800 to find out if the train's on time. Better to wait for an hour at home than at the station.

[UrbanSurfin]

Thanks, Ken. And while I think of it, I meant to ask at the Amshak about long-term parking. Is that lot OK for me to leave my car there a week?

[jonmoxon]

^Yes. I left my Jeep there for a week when I went to Boston last November. It is a gated, secure lot.

[KJP]

It's gated, but not secure. The fencing is totally open to the trackside of the station. My suggestion: get dropped off there or take a cab.

[jonmoxon]

^Really?! I didn't notice. My Jeep wasn't messed with, anyway.

[UncleRando]

I've been looking into a Chicago/Milwaukee vacation, this Summer, by rail.  If I can't make it work with rail, then it's not going to happen.

[kingfish out of water]

Great find, noozer.

[KJP]

I've been looking into a Chicago/Milwaukee vacation, this Summer, by rail.  If I can't make it work with rail, then it's not going to happen.

Try Megabus. Maybe you'll be lucky and get one of the double-decker buses.