Friday, March 27, 2009 8:53 PM CDT
COLUMN: Enjoyable cross-country trip easier aboard Amtrak
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
My recent vacation in Sacramento, Calif., was brief, but that was okay because I got to do much of my relaxing and sightseeing on the way there and back.
I fulfilled a longstanding goal of mine by taking my first cross-country, overnight rail trip. A visit to my great aunt Rosalie in Sacramento, Calif., gave me an opportunity to see how my nostalgic visions of rail travel compared to the real thing on Amtrak’s California Zephyr.
The Zephyr originates in Chicago and passes through Galesburg in northwest Illinois on its way west to San Francisco.
My sister, Renee, and I picked Galesburg as our departure point because it is roughly the same distance from our Mattoon hometown as Chicago and has a whole lot less traffic. This decision shaved several hours off of our rail travel time.
Galesburg also turned out to be a good choice because its Amtrak station is near the Discovery Depot Children’s Museum. My 3-year-old daughter Hannah burned off energy playing there when she and my wife, Beckie, dropped us off and picked us up at the station.
Renee and I planned to leave Galesburg late afternoon March 14, arrive in Sacramento late afternoon March 16 for a three-night stay, leave Sacramento late morning March 19, and return to Galesburg early afternoon March 21.
Although we were prepared for delays, the Zephyr picked us up on time in Galesburg and dropped us off early at our Californian destination. It was only about 90 minutes late returning us to Illinois. During the return, our train was slowed in Iowa by the raising of a bridge over the Mississippi River for barge traffic.
When we boarded the Zephyr, the porter directed us to our Roomette sleeping compartment. We knew the compartment would be small, but we were still surprised when we saw the walk-in closet size of our room.
Still, we quickly got used to the room and found it was really all the space we needed. The two chairs there converted to a bed and a top bunk folded down from the ceiling. There was space allotted for hanging clothes and storing our carry-on bags.
Amtrak does offer more spacious rooms containing bathroom/showers, but we opted for the lower-cost Roomette. Our bathroom and shower were nearby in the sleeper car, which also offered a coffee and ice water station. This car was kind of like a rolling bed and breakfast.
After settling into our room, we took a wobbly walk down the train’s narrow hallways to the dining car. Meals, including dessert, were included in the price of our room, so we ate breakfast, lunch and supper in this car.
Each meal featured set items, such as a cheeseburger and a steak, as well as specials, such as a chorizo breakfast burrito and grilled salmon. The meals were accompanied by sides including vegetables and potatoes, and followed by apple crumb cake, chocolate torts and other desserts.
I tried nearly every menu item during the trip and the food was generally very good.
To optimize dining space, the wait staff has different parties of passengers share tables. We got to visit with young people traveling from the East to the West Coast, a family bound for a ski trip, two best friends (an American woman and a German woman) who have traveled together for decades, and other interesting folks.
We also spent a lot of time in the adjacent observation car, which has windows on the sides and part of the roof. This was a great location for viewing mountain vistas, snow-capped ski resorts, and winding river canyons. The trip is timed so that passengers are awake to see the most spectacular scenery.
There were also opportunities to step off of the train for several minutes at Denver, Colo.; Reno, Nev.; ski resort towns; and other stations where there were a lot of passengers or Amtrak crew changes and refueling. These stops, along with watching DVDs and reading, helped us pass our waking hours.
Our sleeping hours were a little more challenging. It took a while to get accustomed to the rocking of the train, and the Roomette’s pillows and mattresses were, by necessity, thin.
As we rolled toward Sacramento, volunteers from this city’s California State Railroad Museum boarded in Reno. They shared stories about the history and landscape along this section of railroad. Sacramento was the starting point of the western end of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.
We did not have time to visit the Railroad Museum but we did dine at its historic Old Sacramento neighborhood, along the scenic Sacramento River. This Old West-looking neighborhood’s attractions are within walking distance of the train station.
Thanks to a road trip provided by our cousin Tom, we were able to visit the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park near Sacramento and see a replica of the Sutter’s Mill site where the Gold Rush began in 1849.
My sister and I were sad to say goodbye to our family in Sacramento, but were happy to be back aboard the train.
We knew from the first leg of our trip that the return trip would be full of good food, beautiful scenery and plenty of time to relax. We just made sure to bring a couple of comfortable, store-bought pillows from Sacramento onboard with us.
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AnnieC wrote on Mar 29, 2009 4:05 PM: