9 days, 1st trip, SWC to CZ and back, or; SWC OR CZ + fly home?

Hey everyone! I've been lurking and reading a bit. But I have a question, and its very much a question of opinion as much of fact.

My new wife and I are planning a belated honeymoon starting Friday June 14th. We live in Harpers Ferry, WV. We have taken the capitol limited into DC and taken the regional up to NYC but thats the extent of our adventures. We both loved it.

An itinerary I cooked up looks like this:

Fri 6/14 depart Harpers Ferry at 5:16 on 29 Capitol Limited

Sat 6/15 Arrive Chicago Union Station at 8:45.

Go out, get lunch, sightsee,

Sat 6/15 depart Chicago at 3:00 PM on 3 SWC.

Mon 6/17 Arrive LAX 8:15 AM

Mon 6/17 Depart LAX at 10:10 am on Coast Starlight.

Mon 6/17 Arrive Emerysville (SF) at 9:54 PM.

Spend Monday and Tuesday in SF.

Wed 6/19 9:10 AM depart emerysville on 6 California Zephyr

Fri 6/21 Arrive 2:50 in chicago.

Stay fri night in chicago, sightsee more sat

sat 6/22 30 Capitol limited at 6:10 PM,

geting us home

sun 6/23 at 10:55 am.

Now, it occurs to me that this is a ton of time on the train without breaks. We were thinking of using the rail pass as it looks like it would save us money. We may try to upgrade to a roomette on the long overnight trains out west. But what my wife proposed was picking ONE route, either the zephyr or the swc, taking the train through chicago, spending a full day or two in chicago, then stopping 2 times along the route, maybe in sedona or grand canyon, staying the night, then staying 2 nights in san francisco, then flying home. Obviously this would be more hotels and 2 plane ticket which will add a bit of money to the trip.

I'm extremely excited about seeing the country via rail. Iv'e never been out west and the pictures I've seen from blogs and forums are amazing and beautiful. I'm just worried we will get burnt out on being cooped up in the train. I want this trip to be great and hopefully the first of many my wife and I adventure on.

what are your opinions? Is the round trip idea doable, or should we focus on one route, and if so, which route is better and why? And either way, is the roomette worth the extra money?

Thank you so much for your advice.

We have a daughter in San Francisco and visit her a couple of times a year. We have never

become bored or burned out traveling on the train. There always are interesting people on the

train and beautiful scenery to see. I like the westbound Zephyr as it travels through the mountains

during daylight hours. Be sure you book the Ambus from Emeryville to San Francisco when you

book your train trip. I usually return on the Ambus from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, then the

Pacific Surfliner to LAX to connect to the Southwest Chief to Chicago. I hope you have a great trip.

I did a trip very similar to that last year. It was the first trip for both my mom and daughter and they loved it. Some people might not though. I think a roomette is worth the cost especially for the long segments of the chief or the zephyr.

Btw you transfer to San Francisco at Oakland when heading north from LA.

Sounds like a great trip.

This sounds like a dream vacation! And yes, in my opinion the roomettes are worth the extra money on the SWC and CZ. Not so much with the CL and CS since you won't be on those trains for very long. Try to get a seat on the left side (the ocean side) of the CS for the best scenery.

The way you refer to many hours on a train make it sound like a bad thing! You might be a little wobbly when you detrain, but you'll be too euphoric to let it bother you!

If you have the time, I would suggest taking the California Zephyr westbound and the Southwest Chief eastbound.

Let me add one more possibility -

You could still get the most spectacular rail scenery AND save two nights on the train (to spend elsewhere) if you start by flying from BWI to Denver, spending a night there, and catching the westbound California Zephyr the next morning. Take the Coast Starlight south to Los Angeles, and then come back on the Southwest Chief to Chicago. Plan a night or two in Chicago on the return trip...... you could either do the Capitol Limited or fly back to BWI from Chicago.

For my brother's senior trip, my dad said he was sending us to spend 3-4 days in Seattle by way of CONO from Jackson to Chicago, then to Seattle on the EB. His reasoning was because that would be a long route so we could enjoy riding Amtrak. After looking into Seattle, we decided there wasn't TOO much we wanted to do/could do without spending a lot of money. So after talking to our dad, we will instead be spending my brother's senior trip just riding Amtrak. CONO to Chicago, SWC to L.A., CS to Portland, EM to Chicago, then CONO back to Jackson. Halfway though SWC, we will be spending 2 nights in Albuquerque. But we will be spending a total of 7 nights (SEVEN!) on the train, covering a total of 7,212 miles.

Before this, we have ridden Amtrak quite a bit, but never to this extent. As far as it being too much time on a train for you, I can't say. I always feel sad watching it depart with me not on it, but it could be different for you guys. I personally don't think it would be too much on the train, but that's just me.

I hope you guys enjoy your trip!

If possible, go with the round trip train, you'll love it! Don't forget, if you get a roomette, it will include all meals, you'll be able to sleep horizontally & you'll have access to the shower!!!

HAVE FUN

That is a great idea. I wasn't sure which direction would maximize scenery to daylight, so counter clockwise it is.

It looks like we could fly right in to denver on friday night, stay the night there, catch the sweetest part of the zephyr trip west saturday morning, arrive in san francisco sunday night, spend sunday and monday nights there, then leave Tuesday morning on the coastal starlight south to los angeles. We will probably just spend tuesday night there and catch the SWC wednesday evening.

To go straight through that would have us in chicago on Friday and from there to harpers ferry on Saturday. So we have an extra day and I'd love to spend some time somewhere in the southwest (I've never been). I guess the obvious stop would be to hop off at the grand canyon. Is there anywhere else more interesting/exciting? I've heard mixed stuff about the grand canyon (some say "its just a big hole") but its kinda somewhere on my bucket list. I hope this is just the first of many trips out west so I'm not too concerned with missing things, but I'd like to spend our day somewhere with plenty of cool stuff to do.

Having a day off the train will break up the long train ride, too, so we may skip the roomette to save money.

This is sounding much more realistic now... and I'm still really excited. I don't look forward to being stuffed in a coach airline seat for 4 hours but I'm sure I'll endure it with a smile knowing what lays in store for me.

I have only done the cs northbound but I have heard that the scenery northbound is much better than southbound on the cs.

If you do go with flying into Denver, look into catching the 'SkyRide' bus from the airport into downtown Denver. I last used this bus two or three years ago and the fare was $12 or $13 per person at that time......... a fraction of what cabfare would be.

A couple of hotels that I've used in downtown Denver are the Comfort Inn and the Hotel VQ which is adjacent to Mile High Stadium.

If you're going to spend two nights off the train once you get off the California Zephyr, you may want to consider getting off the CZ Sunday afternoon in Sacramento. The historic 'Old Sacramento' (and California State Railroad Museum) are a short walk from the train station and the Vagabond Inn..... also right across the street from the train station....... is the most reasonably priced lodging that you're likely to find anywhere in Northern California.

You could catch a Capitol Corridor train on to the Bay Area Monday morning.

I'd consider stopping at Williams to see the Grand Canyon because you'll be so close and it's an impressive sight plus your wife mentioned it as a stopover. Might as well start the marriage off on the right foot. Only problem is the arrival and departure time. You get there early and ya leave early.

Yeah I see that. Looks like we could get in at 4 am and maybe catch a nap for a few hours, do he grand canyon and stay at the hotel that night, then leave early in the am. Kinda crappy scheduling but there is a long ride through the plains the next evening to catch up on sleep.

Why would the scenery be different southbound on the coastal? The Amtrak route guide says its the same only backwards....

hasteranger said:

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Why would the scenery be different southbound on the coastal? The Amtrak route guide says its the same only backwards....

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it is the same route, but the difference is time of day. You have the best scenery along the coast in the middle of the day going northbound, whereas southbound it may get dark on you especially if the train is running late. Although I see you are proposing this in June, so you would have more daylight. When I rode the Northbound last March, there was a couple I was talking to in the Parlour Car who commented that they didn't see much of the coast when they came down on the CS (northbound was their return trip). We were fortunate enough to have great weather with several whale sightings along the way.

wow, whale sightings? I've never even seen the pacific. This trip is gonna unlock a whole new geographic region for me.

Yeah actually just talked it over with my boss and I'll be doing trainings almost the entire month of June so we are planning on moving the trip to the first week in july. that will save me a vacation day since I'm already off on the 4th. We will actually be spending 4th of july at the grand canyon, from the way the schedule shakes out. Now we just need to book some stuff.

im thinking about taking the zephyr to california and the the southwest chief back east

greg1956a said:

im thinking about taking the zephyr to california and the the southwest chief back east

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Definitely worth the journey, especially if you can include the CS between the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles.