The four-day train trip was a new experience. When we first thought about our trip, the literature showed the Sunset Limited going from Orlando in a southern route passing through New Orleans and Houston on its way to Los Angeles. Katrina destroyed tracks and it is not running. So, we needed to go way north before we could head West.
The 17-hour Winter Park, Florida (beautiful tree-lined College town) to Washington, D.C. portion was in Coach Class sitting up. It wouldn't have been too bad except for the old guy behind us who had to keep harumphing up something from his toe nails. It was amazing such a small man could make such a loud sound. When Ruth overheard the conversation about who was going to change his bag, she decided to pick up her purse from the floor, just in case. The guy in front of us (assigned seats) spent most of his time going to the bar for beer. He had been a Lifeguard at a Disney hotel for eleven years and four more years as a bellhop (you are right, way too much info.) The worst part was the next morning trip to the lavatory. Ruth was glad she had shoes on but would have been happier with boots. If you let 60 plus people eat and drink and there are only two toilets, you are asking for trouble.
Then the really good part. By upgrading to the sleeper car, we had Acela Lounge privileges in Washington, which allowed us coffee, juice, pastries, clean rest room, and a place to stow our carryons while we walked ourselves silly around Washington D.C. The Amtrak stations are all in prime locations - we were close to a lot of important stuff. We found Diane Feinstein's office in the Senate Building, found the National Botanical Garden and a wonderful statue garden, then walked to the Mall and the World War II Memorial that is new since our last visit in 1997. It was pretty hot, so we had to drag ourselves back to the Station, deciding to skip a visit to the National Art Gallery (a lot of steps to ascend) and other sites along the way. We were back in time to get rested up and gather ourselves together for personal delivery to our roomette.
What a difference! Our own little room with facing seats and a door that closed that made it very quiet. Even though the restroom was down the hall, there were three for about 6 roomettes. Plus a shower with towels and soap. I had expected a larger area (looked pretty big from the website) and there wasn't a lot of space for our four bags of stuff. Luckily, we were close to the storage area so Ruth spent some time trying to reorganize our stuff. The gal across from us spent a lot of time on her cell phone and we weren't looking forward to an evening of her conversations. As it turns out, Gwen was a lot of fun (think Whoopi Goldberg in her early days). She works for Amtrak and gave us the scoop on the best routes to take (she likes California Zephyr through Denver and Salt Lake City). Dinner was quite good - braised beef with mashed potatoes and vegetables with cheesecake for dessert.
Nighttime came and time for sleeping. Once the bunk comes into place and the seats made into a bed, there's no room for standing or sitting. We had planned for a full moon transit so Don could see stuff when he's frequently awake in the night. So, up Ruth goes for the bunk (no window). Unfortunately, Ruth gets claustrophobic. There's really enough space, but you can't sit up without hitting your head. There's a net that hooks into the ceiling so you're not likely to fall out. And, once she was asleep she was o.k.
Don enjoyed listening to the train blow its whistle as it went through railroad crossings. Since we brought along our GPS navigation device, he could see when a crossing was coming and predict when the engineer would start the required the blowing of his horn. It also showed every small town and river across those big open areas of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Then up for breakfast - a pretty good omelet with grits and biscuit (no gravy). Don had the waffle. Then off the train after 17 hours and into Chicago's Metropolitan Lounge. We were much more rested this time. And the weather was cooler but still very pleasant. We headed off from the station and walked the Artwork tour seeing some wonderful works and architecture. We walked around Millenium Park and were impressed with all the stuff there. We checked out the student art sale at the Art Institute but didn't think we'd have time to do justice to their galleries. We know we'll get to Chicago again sometime. There is plenty more to see (e.g., Lyric Opera and Lyon & Healy harp factory).
Then back to the station for our 43-hour jaunt to Los Angeles. George (from Argentina) was our Attendant for this trip - in charge of making coffee and keeping water and juice available, making up our beds, delivering the daily paper, etc. On the lower level (ours) there are four roomettes and two rooms for families/handicapped plus three lavatories and a shower plus luggage storage area. Far more pleasant. The upper level has better views and more roomettes and rooms with private bathroom and wider beds. To get to the dining car we had to go upstairs and through another sleeping car then over the moving parts of the moving cars. The meals are included in the upgrade price and you can order off their menu. There's a flat-iron steak, roast chicken, fish of the day, special of the day and vegetarian choices. The first night we had their pork tenderloins which were quite tender and good with baked potato and vegetables. For dessert Don had their apple crumble and Ruth had a wonderful chocolate, white chocolate cherry layer cake - very rich. Ruth did a slightly better job of getting into the upper bunk but it was tougher getting settled (she kept thinking of being in a 3-sided coffin). Once asleep she was o.k. And then it was morning, early morning. Don was in a deep sleep, and Ruth wanted out. Every movement brought a bruise. Ruth couldn't get the net loose. And she didn't want to wake Don. But she did. He said the whimpering was getting pretty loud and he could no longer ignore it. So he came to the rescue. Thank you, Don.
So, up and over for breakfast. Don had the southwestern omelet and Ruth had the blueberry pancakes. Then back to watching the scenery go by. What a fabulous way to see the country. From Florida we had swampy landscape, then wonderful architecture through the southern states and into D.C. The train stations are beautiful and pretty much restored to their former days of glory. From Chicago we go through beautiful, rich farm country. We have access to the Observation Car which is pretty neat. I planned to read and do crossword puzzles but still have two paperbacks not touched. People we talked to during meals are pretty much experienced train travelers and we all agree that flying is no longer fun.
For lunch we selected sandwiches (burger and tuna salad) with raspberry cheesecake for dessert. They do let us off the train once in awhile. In Albuquerque we had enough time to walk around the main street and get an ice cream. There was also some shopping at the station offered by the natives - silver jewelry, turquoise, etc. with good prices. We were going through New Mexico for a sunset with wonderful side lighting on the red rock/tabletop mountains. Quite a few people departed at Flagstaff to go to the Grand Canyon. Then one more night in the bunk bed. Don really is a keeper - he took the upper one. He took pity on Ruth or maybe he just didn't want to hear the whimpering again. So he took a sleeping pill and Ruth got to see the desert under full moon - really spectacular.
We woke up in California. Breakfast was from 5-6 a.m. Of course we didn't want to miss that and we had gained an hour from the time change. We pulled into Los Angeles on time at 8:15.
We truly enjoyed our trek: SILVER METEOR #98 (17 hours); CAPITOL LIMITED #29 (17 hours); SOUTHWEST CHIEF #3 (43 hours), and SURFLINER #768 (2.75 hours).
