Anyone going to Seattle?
- Thread starter SmellyCat
- Start date
My wife and I will be going along with our son, his wife, our 19 month old grandson from Vancouver, a friend from Seattle I have not seen in about thirty years (has Wash State "Coug" connections dislikes UDub immensely and will be rooting vociferously for NU) and possibly a friend of my son's. Very, very much looking forward to the game and hoping I can get enough tickets from NU!
I’m planning to go, meeting my dad there. Not sure if others from my group joining. Go Cats
Hey don't stop there.
Seattle is a suburb of Anchorage and you can even get to Honolulu on the Alaska Railroad:
How to get to Honolulu by Train from Alaska
In this video watch Alaska Railroad’s Denali Star Train depart from Anchorage headed to Honolulu. (The Denali Star runs daily all summer between Anchorage and Fairbanks.)
In close to three hours the train arrives in Talkeetna. In another four hours and 20 minutes the train will pull into Denali.
Between those scheduled stops is Honolulu, Alaska. There was once a time when the predecessor train from Anchorage to Fairbanks was a flag-stop train along its entire route and one could get off in Honolulu and reboard in Honolulu by flagging the returning southbound train down by waving a green flag.
Today if you want to stand on the ground in Honolulu, Alaska by rail one can get as close as ten miles on the train and then hiking the rest of the way. This requires getting off the Denali Star Train in Talkeetna and then boarding the last flag-stop train in America, Alaska Railroad’s Hurricane Turn Train. From Talkeetna to its terminus in Hurricane it is 57.3 miles. On the old Alaska Railroad route maps Honolulu was the next stop north of Hurricane, Alaska.
Otherwise just keep your eyes peeled after the Denali Star Train passes over the scenic 296 foot bridge that crosses Hurricane Gulch on its way to its next scheduled stop after Talkeetna, Denali, and you will have both seen and been in Honolulu!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emxhLYAHlcw
Hurricane Gulch as viewed from the Roadway:
Serving as a tour guide back when one could "whistle stop" the train at Honolulu. Pictured at Denali Park and with visitors from Japan. (Note the English to Japanese Dictionary in hand - no Google Translate back in the day.)
Below, Talkeetna where one would transfer to the Alaska Railroad's Hurricane Turn Train, the last "flag-stop train" in America. (From Talkeetna one can get to Hurricane on the "flag-stop train" and from there it is a 10 mile hike to Honolulu today.)
The Alaska Railroad Train Depot at Denali in the Denali National Park. If you have ridden the train from Anchorage to this point you have indeed traveled through Honolulu, Alaska!
The Alaska Railroad Train Depot at Denali in the Denali National Park. If you have ridden the train from Anchorage to this point you have indeed traveled through Honolulu, Alaska!
OK lined up the airline tickets as Alaska Airlines had a 3 Day Sale that I took advantage of today.
Anyone know yet where the team hotel will be and/or other Wildcat centric lodging locations?
( I’ll be allergic to dogs that weekend.)
OK, here is some added Alaska Railroad History: (Apolgies in advance if all the described photos don't post.)
As we prepare for our first ever ride in a Dome Railcar, I have been doing a little research about Dome Railcars and in particular their association with tourism in Alaska.
In the summer of 1973 after my first year of law school I served as a tour guide for Japanese tourists visiting Alaska. One of the offered tours was travel aboard the Alaska Railroad to then Mt. McKinley National Park. While my employer was Westours, they contracted with a Japan Airlines subsidiary, JALPAK whose tours I led. Skp ahead another decade and Westours became Westours Holland America. In the mid 1980's cruise ships were increasingly coming to Alaska and Westours Holland America and Princess seized upon the opportunity to create a cruise ship like experience on the Alaska Railroad by offering Dome Railcars that could better showcase the scenic beauty of Alaska and which had full meal service in each car and narrating tour guides. (In my day meals were offered in a "dining car" shared by the whole train, but the selection was French Dip Sandwich or French Dip Sandwich which was about all the one burner stove could accommodate.)
Here below is my sharing what I have learned about the Dome Railcars beginning with a YouTube Video of the train we will be riding to Denali Park from Anchorage.
(In clicking on the screenshot thumbnail it will say you are going to an external site. That is OK as the external site is in fact YouTube so go ahead and click again.)
Following the video are a series of photos of each of the types of Ultra Dome Railcars that are available today in Alaska where 28 of the total 44 Ultra Dome Railcars ever built are located.
Alaska’s 28 full length Ultra Dome rail cars are the only ones in the United States and there are only 16 more in the world with those operated by Rocky Mountain in Canada.
Here in this video watch as an Alaska Railroad engine pulls a pair of Holland America Line’s 10 total McKinley Explorer Ultra Dome Rail cars which are followed by a pair of Princess Tours’ 10 total Princess Ultra Dome Rail Cars.
The remaining 8 Ultra Dome Rail Cars in Alaska are split evenly between the Alaska Railroad and Royal Celebrity which provides rail tours in Alaska for the Celebrity Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean. The Celebrity rail cars go by the name Wilderness Express.
While both Princess and Holland America contract with the Alaska Railroad to run their own routes, the other 8 are attached to trains with regularly scheduled train service.
All 44 of the world's Ultra Dome Rail Cars were made by a single company, Colorado Railcar and its predecessor, Rader Railcar. The first was manufactured in 1988 and the last in 2007.
Prior to the advent of the Ultra Dome Rail Cars Super Dome Rail Cars had been manufactured by two competing companies, Pullman and Budd. Alaska's venture into Dome Cars began with these Super models when in 1983-84 Tour Alaska and subsequently Princess in 1984 and Westours Holland America and Princess in 1985 began buying up Full length Dome Car rolling stock from other railroads. By 2005 Westours Holland America had 13 Super Dome Cars when they began selling them off to be replaced by the current Ultra Dome Cars. Each of those were named after Alaska Rivers. Four ended up in Colorado where they are today part of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. These Super Dome Rail Cars were the first full length dome cars with Pullman having made 10 and Budd 20. Alaska had cornered the market on Super Dome Cars as well.
As an historical note, before the Super Dome Cars that emerged in the 1950's as the first full length dome cars, 199 Short Dome Cars had been built beginning in 1945 until 1958. Alaska Railroad still has some Short Dome Cars that can be seen on scheduled routes. These Short Dome Cars only had the center third of a car as a dome and were never owned or affiliated with the Alaska Cruise lines that first brought the full length Dome Cars to Alaska.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx6rtU1PvTIAll four types of Ultra Dome Railcars Now Riding the Rails in Alaska. (Of the total 44 built by Colorado Railcar between 1988 and 2007, 28 are in Alaska and 16 in Canada.)
First, Holland America's McKinley Explorer:
Second, Princess:
Third, Royal Celebrity's Wilderness Express:
Fourth, One of the Alaska Railroad's own Ultra Dome Railcars:
And for good measure, here is one of the Alaska Railroad's Short Dome Cars:
I'm planning on going. Likely riding solo for this one, let me know if anyone has an extra ticket to sell
OK, I did find out that the team hotel will be Westin Bellevue located at Bellevue Way in Bellevue, Washington. Apparently they are offering a parents' of players rate in the mid 250 to 300 range per night. I ended up opting for something closer to the stadium although I imagine the players and parents will have dedicated buses to get them from Bellevue to the Husky Stadium in Seattle.
On the Alumni website there is reference to a local watering hole as a place for Wildcat Purple to gather both Friday and thereafter. That is apart from the Alumni Tailgate itself that should be in the stadium locale. The name of the informal meeting site is Stoup Brewing on Capitol Hill. Perhaps some of the locals could provide more info about the place and its proximity to the Stadium.
I did not know what Washington's stadium looks like, where it sits, or how amazing the views are until like three weeks ago. This is now on my must-see stadium list. Those of you going will be treated to a sun setting over the sound in the middle of hte fourth quarter, I bet it's going to be incredible.
Anyone know what section the NU tickets are in? They are no longer available. If not I think we are gonna buy in section 307 where a couple other friends of mine are.
I'm also heading out to Seattle and looking to buy a few tickets in the NU section. Anyone have any extras they might want to sell?
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