Saturday, August 16, 2008
Hell is a train ride 10hrs long
Took a trip this week to Sault ST. Marie, Canada to take a train ride through the Agawa Canyon. I thought it would be a spectacular trip with many sights to see, but nay, I was bamboozled. Cursed AAA and their damn flyers !! A 5hr drive through the whole of Michigan crossing two bridges ( that was cool though) and an A-hole of a customs agent only to find out it would be the trip from hell, a slow agonizing trip through hell that only seemed longer the more you wished it would end. Thank my chicken wings I had my wife with me or there would have been a terrible train wreck on the news. I think I saw one bird on the trip and a surprised Gartner snake after we got off the train to stretch our legs after the 4hr hike to get to the canyon. One thing that did surprise me was that there were a lot of trees in hell and even a running stream with a souvenir shop made from some piece of crap rolling stock from another era filled with shirts that had ducks and wolves silk screened to the front. A silloutte of a bear on an orange shirt stuck out only because...well...it was orange. Cheap magnets, pens and some dusty shot glasses that said "welcome to hell" or "Agawa Canyon" on them rounded out the rest of the shop. We did have lunch on this train which actually was kinda nice. A meatball sub in the middle of nowhere can only be found on a trip like this one. After our -3 star lunch and a walk through what could be my final destination when my life ends on this wretched planet, we headed back to .....middle earth. Another 4hrs, screaming snot nosed kids crying the whole time back and the only thing I could do was sleep , 20 minutes at a time. After apologizing to my wife a million times in my head I finally said out loud " sweetie, I think we made a mistake" LOL. When we were getting closer to the end of the ride on our tortoise train, I noticed the track took us through the shitty neigborhoods of SSM. Why in the hell would you have a tour train take you through this mess ? and then it hit me, this is the trip you take when your 88 not 38, because when your 88 and purchase a ticket on that 10hr slow death trip you can get off at the canyon with all those trees with no birds to be seen and take the river Styx that runs through the valley to Hell.....HA!!!
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4 comments:
I think I would have had to go get "lost" for a few days to stretch and recuperate before grabbing the next train back. The one thing I do like about train travel is that you have more room than in an airplane.
I still want to take this trip, but then I love trains. However, I've discovered that I prefer to take train trips alone. The one time I took a cross country trip with my wife, there were flooding in the midwest and the trains were late and I had to listen to her complain--next time, she flew, I rode the rails. I get upset with waiting at an airport; with the train I take books and enjoy drinks in the lounge car and chats with folks and naps and don't worry about arrival times.
that all sounds great Sage but if the folks are 6 year olds or 88 year olds there isn't alot of chatting happening other than snoring or crying :)
Sage, keep in mind that the top speed was 45 km which occurred at kilometer 92 of the 114 kilometers to get to the park (not to mention coming back as well). I doubt the trains you speak of went that slow.
That meatball sub was good though.
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