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Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9 |
March 5, 2004
March 4, 2004
March 3, 2004
March 2, 2004
March 1, 2004
February 29, 2004
February 28, 2004
February 27, 2004
February 26, 2004
Prelude The focal point of the trip is the USS Enterprise, the world's first and fastest nuclear powered aircraft carrier. My son is currently serving as a journalist aboard the Big E and I'll be joining him for a few days on a Tiger Cruise. Tiger Cruises, where crew members are allowed to invite a family member or friend aboard, typically occur at the end of a long deployment. This one will take place when the Enterprise comes home to Norfolk after several months in the Persian Gulf. More from necessity than desire, I'll be flying to the start of the cruise in Florida but timing isn't as constrained for my own homecoming and I naturally looked for other choices. One of the few places that shares a passenger train route with Cincinnati is Washington, DC, and I've long wanted to ride Amtrak's Cardinal eastward through the West Virginia hills. This seems a good time to try out the route but, since much of the trackside scenery will be hidden by darkness on the westbound trip, an eastbound version will probably remain on the to-do list. A readily available Norfolk to DC rail connection rounds out the travel connections. It is possible to schedule both rail segments to minimize layover time in Washington but where's the fun in that? I've set things up to allow some site seeing in the capitol (Smithsonian's America on the Move here I come!) before heading home. So I'll get to see my son for the first time in over a year, travel aboard what is possibly the world's best known military craft, visit my daughter-in-law and grandson, check out some stuff in the nation's capitol, and ride the rails through some very pretty country. Should be a happening nine days. |
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