Of trains and trainings

For years, I’ve had the opportunity to ply the length of California aboard Amtrak, earning more public transit cred than any other Infopeople trainer. My two favorite routes are the San Joaquins–especially in spring when the almond trees and roses are blooming for miles and miles alongside the tracks–and the Capitol Corridor–especially at dawn when the water birds are just waking as we trundle through the Delta. Today, it will be the Capitol Corridor, but not at dawn…one last slide up to Sacramento for one last Weeding workshop in 2007.

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to take perhaps the most glorious train ride ever: to reach Reno for the AASL conference, I made reservations on the California Zephyr, which snakes through the Sierras for more than three hours of tunnels (29), snow sheds (8), the American River’s gorges and canyons, and, in this case, blazing gold autumn under crisp blue skies. (I’d share the pictures I managed to take but the connector cable for the camera is somewhere in the depths of my luggage, so that will have to wait).

This afternoon, after a last good-bye to the Earphone English crowd at Berkeley High, it’s off to Berkeley’s Amtrak station, under a booming overpass that feeds cars in every possible direction except into the Bay. There’s some great artwork down there: a giant mural with a brief inscription to both ancient and modern shore pedestrians.

Tags: AASL2007, Amtrak, Berkeley High School, Earphone English, Infopeople