Trip update.....

I see by my trusty coutndown doo-dad :) that we are almost at the 3 month mark for our tip. I guess that makes sense since tomorrow is April 23 and we leave on August 23. I found this about a trip on the Empire Builder on Amtrak's website. Reading it gives me a new sense of excitement for the trip. I hope I will have lots to write about for you. I may have to take notes long hand and post after the fact. We'll see how that goes.
As for trip planning, we've booked the train as you know. We hope to have the baseball tickets booked shortly. We are trying to get tickets in two rows at the stadium so that the six of us (Carmen, Cole, Dawson, Brendan, Dave and I - Todd will have to stay in Kamploops to work) can sit more together. To purchase tickets through the website you can only get 6 seats across. Anyway, it's rather complicated to purchase tickets directly from the Seattle Mariners. They have a deal with ticketmaster ( total rip off ) that requires all advance ticket sales to go through TM. The woman on the phone however said if we requested to order the tickets directly from the Mariners they could send us an order form to mail in our request. We could not do it over the phone. I guess it's a good thing I'm a dork and plan ahead or we might not have time to get that done via mail.
I have found some very cheap return flights on USAIR from Seattle to Philadelphia. The flight leaves at 10:30 pm and arrives the next morning in Philadelphia around 6:30 am. However, it is a nonstop flight and really cheap! so we will most likely book it. It's just the two of us and we can spend a day in Seattle before the flight. The only other time I've been there for anything other than an airport stop was on New Year's Day 2002. We had been out to visit Carmen and Todd and the boys with Jimmy and Emma. Note: Seattle is more or less closed on New Year's day. The...... oh dear the big tall thing whats it called?.... my mind just went blank..... oh good I just asked Dave and he went blank too..... Space Needle... I had to google Seattle Tower to get that...LOL Anyway it was open on New Years day and everyone went up except me (surprise, surprise). We managed to find an open restaurant too and had superior service since hardly anyone was there! So I'd like the opportunity to see some of the sights in Seattle if we can.
Next will be the rental car. I still have some research to do on that.
Finally, we will need two hotel rooms for one night after the baseball game. It looks like I may be entitled to one of those free! I belong to Amtrak Guest Rewards and Hilton Honors and they have a double dip program. Points on one translates to points on the other. I've earned almost enough points for the free room. I've been travelling by train for my work travels as much as possible. Most times I do not need the car when I am away so if the train goes there I take it. It's must nicer and now I may reap the benefits of a free room. How cool is that!
Stay tuned....