Out and About: Potomac Eagle

A few month ago my folks and I headed out to Cumberland Maryland to ride the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.

It was one of a number of scenic rail trips we had talked about maybe doing, in the beforetime.

The Potomac Eagle, in nearby Romney WV is another of them. They are so nearby in fact that originally we’d planned we might do both as one master excursion. But alas, the world became vastly less accommodating.

So we find ourselves, some months later, back in Cumberland Maryland, as our nearest place to stay for yet another rail adventure.

From Cumberland it’s less than 30 miles to Romney, WV and the Potomac Eagle.

They have multiple classes of food service, an observation car (at the far end of things) and a gondola car that’s full open air (but you can’t come and go from it – basically once you are in it, you’re out there for 45 minutes at a stretch- and it is far too cold a day for any of that.

It’s a pleasant excursion and truly is scenic. There’s a running dialogue of what we’re passing by one of the staff – we enjoy it a lot. There’s a differential between where she is at the far end of the train, describing upcoming items, and where we are at the other end of the train, seeing those items a minute later (maybe, if we can figure out what she was describing).

But aside from that it’s actually a very nice trip.

I can say that, in part, because we ended up on the scenic side of the train. That was by chance and by grace, not by request. We had thought maybe the train would turn around and the people on the other side would have the views on the way back, but not so.

Which means we had a nice day, but they may have been less enthused.

Afterwards we all felt really tired, which is kind of odd. It’s not like we had done anything exhausting.

Also we’d been pretty cooped up, so mom and I went for a walk and then later I went down to the hotel gym for a little over an hour — I was all alone in there (yay) but it’s generally requested so though I doubt anyone would have said anything either way, I wore my mask in there because #WiseChoicesGoodHabits #GoodNeighbors #ThisIsHowCivilizationWorks #ItsNotLikeWearingAMaskIsHard

We ordered in food later that night, and I got all my steps, and we were all in our respective beds before 10pm.

So… success!

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And now I’m back home and defrosting the makings of a South African stew, thanks to (I).

More to come!