Lifestyle
This magical Amtrak ride to New Mexico belongs on your winter bucket list (but book soon)
It was early morning in mid-December when I awoke to the sounds of steady rumbling while lying in the top bunk in my 9-by-5-foot family room in Amtrak’s Southwest Chief train. I climbed down a ladder to find my husband and 5-year-old daughter still snoozing in the lower bunk. Grabbing a seat on the gray banquette by the window, I pulled aside a blue curtain and was astounded by the view of peachy-pink clouds as we rolled across the rugged desert. We were passing through Holbrook, Ariz., and the sunrise was beautiful enough to be in a watercolor painting. At that moment, I felt like I was in a Wes Anderson movie.
There’s a child-like wonderment that comes from taking a train through the expansive Southwest to New Mexico in the winter that you just won’t get from plane travel. We opted for a 16-hour overnight trip instead of a two-hour flight to Albuquerque because we longed for a different way of traveling, one we hoped would slow time in our busy lives. Although we were asleep for half the ride, we spent the remaining hours taking in the beautiful scenery, which looks especially magnificent through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Sightseer Lounge, and enjoying a three-course steak dinner before arriving in Albuquerque around 11 a.m.
If you’ve never planned a nearly 800-mile train trip before, you’ll find some considerations different from traveling by plane or car. Depending on which accommodations you book, Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, which goes all the way to Chicago, can be more expensive than flying. But whether you’re traveling with kids, by yourself or with a friend or partner, there are lots of ways to make it work within your budget.
Read on for tips on the Amtrak experience, along with what to do and eat, and where to stay in New Mexico. If you’re lucky, you might even get to enjoy a dreamy snowfall in the Land of Enchantment.
Booking your train tickets
The early bird gets the best accommodations. Reserve your tickets — Union Station to Albuquerque — as soon as possible since the most desirable rooms (especially family rooms, which can fit up to two adults and two children) are the first to get snatched up. While coach seats are economical, getting to actually lie down for shut-eye in the private rooms can make a world of difference. The roomette and bedroom options can each fit up to two adults (although the former can be a tight squeeze), and the bedroom suite combines two adjoining rooms. Some come with personal bathrooms and showers, while others are shared, so book accordingly. A perk of having a room is that it’s considered first class, so a dedicated attendant will be available to help with turndown service and luggage, and dining car meals are complimentary.
Arriving at Union Station
Union Station in Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
If you’re looking to avoid a hectic LAX experience during the holidays, think of Union Station as its laid-back sibling. Overnight parking is almost always available in the Union Station East garage for $8 per day. (If you plan on parking there for three or more nights, download and fill out a parking request form from the Union Station website and drop it off in the parking office located at Union Station East.)
Plan to arrive at least an hour before your train’s departure if you have to check luggage, are traveling with family or if you’ve made a specific request for assistance at the station. Otherwise, 30 minutes should suffice. If you have a first class ticket, head over to the Amtrak Station Lounge to enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks while you await your departure.
What to bring
If you are checking luggage, make sure to bring a small overnight backpack that will fit in your room or in the overhead compartment near your coach seat. (Smaller rooms may not fit carry-on luggage and you may need to store it outside of your room, so you’ll want the overnight bag for easy access.) If you need to charge multiple devices, bring a small multi-plug splitter as there is usually just one electrical outlet. Earplugs can dampen the chugging train sounds at night. And carry cash to tip the first-class attendants and waiters.
Transportation in Albuquerque and getting to Santa Fe
The Amtrak train will arrive at the Downtown Albuquerque Rail Runner station. From there, you can book a Turo rental in which a vehicle gets dropped off at your location, or visit Enterprise about a mile away (and call the rental office in advance to schedule a free pick-up service). Or take Uber or a free city bus to the rental car center at Albuquerque International Sunport airport, where more options are available.
To get to Santa Fe, you can drive there in an hour or extend your train travel with a ticketed 1.5-hour ride on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express to the Santa Fe Depot Rail Runner station, which is half a mile from downtown Santa Fe.
What to do in Albuquerque
Old Town Poco a Poco Plaza in Albuquerque.
(Jean Trinh)
Stay: The historic Hotel Andaluz is a five-minute walk from the Albuquerque station, making it a perfect home base for adventuring. There are plenty of cozy spaces to hide away at this Moorish-style hotel, with stunning casbah-inspired alcoves in the lobby, a library with a fireplace, and Spanish tapas and more at the wine bar Más.
Eat: Grab a New Mexico-style breakfast at the Central Grill and Coffee House, where red or green chile (Can’t decide? Have it “Christmas style,” a combination of both) reigns supreme on such comfort dishes as burritos and chilaquiles. For more modern fare (and more diverse options), hit up the lively Sawmill Market or 505 Central Food Hall for everything from Detroit-style pizza to ramen and tacos.
Do: Old Town Albuquerque is a year-round attraction with Pueblo-Spanish-style architecture, galleries, shops and restaurants, but it’s extra special during the holidays, when its plaza twinkles at night with farolitos, or luminarias, as they’re also known (a Southwest Christmas tradition of brown paper bag lanterns). On Christmas Eve, you can get tickets for a 45-minute Luminaria Tour bus ride that traverses decorated streets. The ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden will host its annual River of Lights holiday attraction from Nov. 30-Dec. 30 with more than 700 illuminated displays on a 1.5-mile walking path. For winter sports, check out Sandia Peak Ski Area, 35 miles northeast of Albuquerque. And for the kids, keep them entertained at the sprawling Explora interactive museum.
What to do in Santa Fe
Snow blankets the Santa Fe Plaza.
(Jean Trinh)
Stay: During the holidays, the lobby of the downtown Inn of the Governors is transformed into a cozy den complete with Christmas decorations, a roaring fireplace and a daily welcome hour with sherry and biscochitos (the cinnamon and anise-laced New Mexico state cookie). Full service breakfast is included for guests at its Del Charro restaurant and bar, which is open late until midnight on most days.
Eat: Cafe Pasqual’s is packed all day for good reasons: It has solid New Mexico dishes made with local and organic ingredients, it’s in a vibrant space decorated with colorful papeles picados, and it even has a communal table for lone travelers to make new friends. (Make sure to visit its adjacent art gallery while you’re there.) The 71-year-old Shed, also a Santa Fe institution, is a hot spot for margaritas, posole and red chile enchiladas.
Do: The Canyon Road Farolito Walk on Christmas Eve is a longtime Santa Fe tradition, where thousands stroll the artsy thoroughfare to check out the lights. There’s also La Luz de las Noches at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, evenings from Dec. 19 to 31 (closed on Dec. 24 and 25), featuring farolitos, musical performances, food and drinks. For snow activities, travel 35 miles northeast from downtown to Ski Santa Fe, which will be debuting a new high speed lift this winter. Also, not to be missed is the massive immersive art experience of Meow Wolf, and film screenings at “Game of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin’s Jean Cocteau Cinema.
Rebecca Gayheart-Dane speaks onstage at the 16th Annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball on June 3, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Chrysalis Butterfly Ball
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Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Chrysalis Butterfly Ball
The actor Eric Dane, who played Dr. Mark Sloan on the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, died last month. Dane was 53, and announced he had been diagnosed with ALS last April.
The disease affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, robbing a person of their ability to walk, breathe and often speak.
Dane’s widow, Rebecca Gayheart Dane, told NPR it was devastating to see his voice slip away.
“He was witty, acerbic, full of humor, and he always had a great story,” Gayheart Dane said. “So, as speaking became harder for him, I watched and witnessed some of his joy fade, and it was really hard and very heartbreaking.”
She is now working with ElevenLabs, an artificial intelligence company that makes synthetic voice software. The company developed a program that helps people with permanent voice loss replicate their voices, including Eric Dane’s.
Gayheart Dane spoke with All Things Considered host Juana Summers about her role as a caregiver and her complex feelings about artificial intelligence.
Listen to the full interview by clicking on the blue play button above.
Over the course of three Sundays, Image contributing photographer Jennelle Fong captured stylish visitors with their bounty at the venerated Hollywood Farmers Market. “It didn’t have to be a Sunday morning, it could’ve been a Saturday evening,” says Fong. Walking up and down the cross of the four corridors of the farmers market felt like a runway: sweat pants mixed with Hermès, coordinated ERL looks, a Converse heel and an actual Balenciaga x Erewhon bag. Even the rolling carts served as extensions of people’s accessories. The energy was radiant, easygoing, alert and nothing short of magical.
Cameron Crotty wears Liberty London sweater, Adidas skirt and Converse Chuck 70 De Luxe Heel High Top sneakers.
Audrea Wah wears thrifted dress and top, customized by herself, pants from Santee Alley and Fumsup Silver necklace.
Paige McGowan wears a Hiroko Hata skirt, vintage shirt and vintage tote.
Detail of Paige McGowan’s vintage tote.
Samantha Klein with Variety Hour petal bag and Miu Miu loafers.
Samantha Klein in vintage and Variety Hour petal bag, and Aaron Klein, right, in vintage and Big Bud Press stripe bag.
Quincy Vadan wears his personal jewelry designs, under the brand Vadan.
At left, Austin Bachlor wears a Bellagio souvenir hat, and polo top, shorts and sneakers from ERL. At right, Carlos Bachlor wears vintage top from The Dig, shorts and boots from ERL and Balenciaga x Erewhon bag.
Pups Oliver and Koko wear a sunny yellow bucket hat.
Steven Pardo carries an Enorme bag.
Anastasiia Yermak in mirrored sunglasses.
“I’m happy to be the age I am, and have no impulse to hide it,” says Harrison Ford. He’s shown above accepting the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in Los Angeles on March 1.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
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Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
After playing some of the most recognizable and beloved characters in cinematic history, Harrison Ford is not interested in retiring. “Without my work, I really wouldn’t know what to do with myself,” the 83-year-old actor says. “I really do love the work. … It constantly changes, and the people change, and the mission and the opportunity change, and it just makes for an interesting way to live your life.”
Ford initially struggled to find his footing in Hollywood. He worked on-and-off as a carpenter for years before landing the breakthrough role of Han Solo in the original Star Wars film. He went on to star in the Star Wars sequels, as well as the Indiana Jones movies and Blade Runner — all the while frequently performing his own action scenes.
“I don’t want to have to hide the face of the character because it’s a stunt guy,” he says. “I want [the audience] to feel the blow. I want them to see the anxiety. I want them to be there when the decision is made or when the decision is missed. I just want them to be there.”
In the current Apple TV series, Shrinking, Ford plays a therapist named Paul who’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Thus far, he says, the show’s writers haven’t shared with him the progression of Paul’s disease. Instead, he says, “Like a true Parkinson’s patient, I don’t really know what’s coming. … I’m sort of living with the symptoms I have been last described as having.”
Recently, Ford teared up while accepting a recognition for lifetime achievement at the Actor Awards. “That speech that I wrote was not crafted to be emotional; it just happened to me,” he says. “I feel slightly embarrassed by it, because I have enough experience with these things to want to be able to manage not to be overcome.”
Interview highlights
On being asked to help in Star Wars auditions while on a carpentry job at Francis Ford Coppola‘s office
I was there sweeping up. I was just finishing the job when George Lucas walked in [who Ford knew from appearing in Lucas’ last film, American Graffiti] … and I’m standing there in my carpenter’s work belt, sweeping up the floor. It turned out to be a fortuitous occasion, because weeks later I would end up being asked if I would do them a favor and read with the other actors who were being considered for the parts. … I never was told that I was ever to be considered, and then at the end of the process, I guess they ended up with two groups of three people that were in final consideration. I’ve always been amused that in the second group, the character of Han Solo would have been played by Chris Walken. I would have loved to see that.
On his most famous ad-lib in a film
[It’s] the line in Star Wars where Princess Leia tells me that she loves me and I say, “I know,” instead of saying “I love you too,” which is the scripted line. Simply the impulse was to be more in character. And George Lucas, who had written the line, was not so happy that I didn’t give him the original version. But I really felt strongly about it. So he made me sit next to him when he previewed the film in a public movie theater in San Francisco and it got … a good laugh. And so he accepted it and left it in.
On seeing Star Wars for the first time on screen
I was blown away. I mean, I was really shocked by the power of the film. We shot in England and our English crew were not used to something like Star Wars, and so they were pretty sure that it was going to be a disaster. And we weren’t far from that opinion, ourselves, the actors.
On performing an emergency landing while flying solo in a vintage World War II airplane
Let’s just start by saying that it was a mechanical failure. … It was a 74-year-old airplane, and I was 74 years old at the time. .. Four hundred feet in the air above the airport, the engine quit. And it’s my home airport, and I was familiar with the surrounding terrain, which is cluttered with houses, wires and cars, and people. So I turned to a golf course that was there. …
In my ear was the very clear voice of one of my aviation mentors who always, when talking about mechanical failures or other kinds of failures, the advice was to “fly the airplane as far into the crash as possible.” You think about this thing when you’re a pilot, you think about the potential, the possibility of it happening, and of course you train. So when it happened, it was not really a surprise, and I thought I knew what I had to do to handle it, so I just started doing the things that needed to be done. … I don’t remember actually being scared. [My injuries] were more than described in the newspaper, but I’m over them all, thank you. I got my license back and continue to fly. … I am not a thrill seeker. I am a very conservative pilot. It’s not that I do crazy stuff for the fun of it.
On objecting to the Vietnam War draft
I was facing being drafted and I hired a lawyer to represent me to the draft board. I had to explain why I might qualify as a conscientious objector. I explained that I did not have a history of religious affiliation. My mother was Jewish, my father Catholic. … I was raised Democrat. I’m quite happy to accept other people’s versions of God, but I found in a Protestant theologian named Paul Tillich, a sentence that said: If you have trouble with the word God, take whatever is central and most meaningful to your life and call that God.
And to me that was life itself, the complexity, the biodiversity, the incredible integration and complexity of nature, to me seemed to be the same thing as God. And so I prepared an explanation that was probably so unusual that it found the edge of a desk and had a lot of things piled on top of it because it didn’t fit a niche. They never got back to me, basically. The draft board never got back to me.
Lauren Krenzel and Nico Gonzalez Wisler produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
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