My wife and I usually plan a fall camping trip. This year, for a variety of reasons, we decided to do a train trip instead--room is smaller, but the view keeps changing--otherwise very similar. We had enough AGR points to do a two zone-round trip roomette redemption and after talking to a number of AUers, we settled on Santa Barbara as our vacation spot. We left on Wednesday, 9/25 on the California Zephyr to Roseville to spend the weekend with my wife's aunt. This is about a week after the flooding in Colorado so we knew we were taking the Wyoming detour. I was disappointed for my wife, but I had never taken the original trans con line, and I just happened to be reading about the building of the first trans con line, so I was very happy. This was also my first time in a trans-dorm. Julie was our attendant, as well as the attendant for the first coach. She was great.
We arrived into Denver a little late, all the Colorado passengers got aboard buses, and we headed north on the train. We left Colorado and started heading west over the Sherman grade. The loco had some kind of electrical issue, it delayed us for about an hour, but they fixed it and we made it over the hill and on to Laramie and Rawlins. The scenery was nothing like the Colorado route, but imaging the engineers, graders and track layers running the first line west was pretty fun. The best scenery along the detour route was probably around Green River. There may be more farther west, but that's when sundown hit, along with a little snow. There were some photos in the book that were taken during 1867-68 and I ended up with some of the same views of the buttes on my camera phone. I guess it takes more than 140 years to see much change in a mountain.
The last time I took the Zephyr was 1980. I remember the last day goes way too fast. The trip over the Sierras needs to be about twice as long. It was a beautiful morning over Donner Pass and down into Roseville. The Trans-dorm cleared out by this point so we were bouncing back and forth in the car to get the best view. The builders of this section of the railroad are just plain awe inspiring, both in ingenuity and effort.
We boarded the Coast Starlight in Sacramento for the trip down to Santa Barbara a day and a half later. We booked a roomette separately from our AGR ressie even though it was a day trip. The price was right, and I have heard so much about the Pacific Parlour car(thanks the_traveller, Amtrak Blue, Jim Hudson, AlanB and others), I had to do it. We were not disappointed. The trip through the Salinas valley was terrific, though my wife would have liked to have seen "Identifier Signs" on the vegetable crops planted along the line. You could feed a large army out of that valley. The trip along the beach after San Luis Obispo was stunning. We got off the train, walked to our hotel, and then started a terrific few days in SB. I hadn't been to Santa Barbara for twenty years, but this town really has it together. We were a block from the beach and five blocks from State street, the main thoroughfare in town. The sights, shopping and food were top-notch.
We left Santa Barbara on Thursday, 10/3 for Portland to catch the Empire Builder on 10/4. We were assigned a room on the lower level, another first. We really liked it. The views didn't seem to be compromised and it was really quiet. The Parlour car should be on every train, by the way. We made our way back up the beach, up the Questa (sp) grade, through the valley and then darkness. We woke up to Mt. Shasta catching the first rays of sunlight. It looks like the train circuits about 3/4s of the mountain. It was in view for quite a while. The ride through southern Oregon was beautiful. (I am running out of adjectives and we still have to get through Montana) I always thought of Oregon as being a very populous state, but the route that Amtrak takes make me re-think that--it's very remote.
The transfer to the Empire Builder in Portland went smoothly. We chased the setting sun up the Columbia river gorge. We made it The Dalles before darkness shut off the view. I woke up in Spokane when they joined up the trains. We left on time and I went back to sleep. I think we were at Whitefish when the sun came up. The rest of the day was spent staring out the window at Montana. I'd never been there before and am now wondering why. It was cold along the route, from 25 in Whitefish to 30 the rest of the way, but not much snow yet.
Another overnight and we were running into Minneapolis-St. Paul by morning. We were close to being on time until there was a minor freight derailment pulling into the station ahead of us. That added another hour to our delay, but no worries...we were on the train! It's nice to take the train along familiar areas and seeing new things. I've spent some time along the river and across Wisconsin, but it's great to see it from a different seat. We arrived in Milwaukee two hours down, but very happy. An eleven day vacation with six of those days spent on the train. Couldn't have been better. Thanks to everyone for their help with the planning and execution of this vacation. I couldn't have done it without you.
Now, if I can just figure out how to get my pictures posted...
We arrived into Denver a little late, all the Colorado passengers got aboard buses, and we headed north on the train. We left Colorado and started heading west over the Sherman grade. The loco had some kind of electrical issue, it delayed us for about an hour, but they fixed it and we made it over the hill and on to Laramie and Rawlins. The scenery was nothing like the Colorado route, but imaging the engineers, graders and track layers running the first line west was pretty fun. The best scenery along the detour route was probably around Green River. There may be more farther west, but that's when sundown hit, along with a little snow. There were some photos in the book that were taken during 1867-68 and I ended up with some of the same views of the buttes on my camera phone. I guess it takes more than 140 years to see much change in a mountain.
The last time I took the Zephyr was 1980. I remember the last day goes way too fast. The trip over the Sierras needs to be about twice as long. It was a beautiful morning over Donner Pass and down into Roseville. The Trans-dorm cleared out by this point so we were bouncing back and forth in the car to get the best view. The builders of this section of the railroad are just plain awe inspiring, both in ingenuity and effort.
We boarded the Coast Starlight in Sacramento for the trip down to Santa Barbara a day and a half later. We booked a roomette separately from our AGR ressie even though it was a day trip. The price was right, and I have heard so much about the Pacific Parlour car(thanks the_traveller, Amtrak Blue, Jim Hudson, AlanB and others), I had to do it. We were not disappointed. The trip through the Salinas valley was terrific, though my wife would have liked to have seen "Identifier Signs" on the vegetable crops planted along the line. You could feed a large army out of that valley. The trip along the beach after San Luis Obispo was stunning. We got off the train, walked to our hotel, and then started a terrific few days in SB. I hadn't been to Santa Barbara for twenty years, but this town really has it together. We were a block from the beach and five blocks from State street, the main thoroughfare in town. The sights, shopping and food were top-notch.
We left Santa Barbara on Thursday, 10/3 for Portland to catch the Empire Builder on 10/4. We were assigned a room on the lower level, another first. We really liked it. The views didn't seem to be compromised and it was really quiet. The Parlour car should be on every train, by the way. We made our way back up the beach, up the Questa (sp) grade, through the valley and then darkness. We woke up to Mt. Shasta catching the first rays of sunlight. It looks like the train circuits about 3/4s of the mountain. It was in view for quite a while. The ride through southern Oregon was beautiful. (I am running out of adjectives and we still have to get through Montana) I always thought of Oregon as being a very populous state, but the route that Amtrak takes make me re-think that--it's very remote.
The transfer to the Empire Builder in Portland went smoothly. We chased the setting sun up the Columbia river gorge. We made it The Dalles before darkness shut off the view. I woke up in Spokane when they joined up the trains. We left on time and I went back to sleep. I think we were at Whitefish when the sun came up. The rest of the day was spent staring out the window at Montana. I'd never been there before and am now wondering why. It was cold along the route, from 25 in Whitefish to 30 the rest of the way, but not much snow yet.
Another overnight and we were running into Minneapolis-St. Paul by morning. We were close to being on time until there was a minor freight derailment pulling into the station ahead of us. That added another hour to our delay, but no worries...we were on the train! It's nice to take the train along familiar areas and seeing new things. I've spent some time along the river and across Wisconsin, but it's great to see it from a different seat. We arrived in Milwaukee two hours down, but very happy. An eleven day vacation with six of those days spent on the train. Couldn't have been better. Thanks to everyone for their help with the planning and execution of this vacation. I couldn't have done it without you.
Now, if I can just figure out how to get my pictures posted...
