to see related
photos.Report of a family's 1997 cross-country Amtrak adventure from New Jersey
with stops at Glacier, San Francisco, Sequoia and southwest Colorado.
As you read the report, click on a to see related
photos.
We're a New Jersey family of five (kids aged 5, 8 & 10 at the time) who has previously enjoyed two AutoTrain trips and an eastern circle trip (DC, Chicago/central Illinois, Buffalo/Niagara). In 1997, we took a more ambitious coast-to-coast Amtrak trip described in this report.
We took the trip August 14 through September 1 (Labor Day), making arrangements through Ted Kildegaard, now with Zephyr Travel. We used Amtrak All Aboard fares and added one extra side trip in central California that cost just a bit more. The All Aboard stops were Whitefish, MT; San Francisco, CA; and Grand Junction, CO. Since we opted for sleepers, we had use of the Metropolitan Lounges in DC, Chicago and Portland, making it possible to stash our bags in the lounge and catch a local attraction during each layover. A National Park Service Eagle Pass got us into several National Parks as well as National Monuments and a maritime museum.
Itinerary:
Even with a full itinerary, the trip wasn't hectic. We had more food, sleep and exercise than normal and returned thoroughly refreshed. There were plenty of relaxing times on the train, spectacular scenery, and time to make new friends..
The trains were punctual, except for the Coast Starlight, which lost a lot of time during the night. All the car attendants and servers were good to very good except for one car attendant who provided no service and left the passengers to do their own beds. His tip went to another attendant who had our assigned car and was good enough to move us to other rooms since the assigned rooms had broken air conditioning.
Rooms - Our youngest is very small and can share a bed with an adult. We booked family rooms except for Chicago to Whitefish and on the Lake Shore. Both there and on the Zephyr segment where we changed rooms, we had standard rooms across from each other on the top level. We ended up preferring the standard rooms since it was nice to split up the kids with a quiet room for the guys (my son and me) and the other room for the ladies. Also, the view was better on the upper level.
Facilities - For the most part, the facilities were clean and everything worked as expected. Other than the air conditioning malfunction mentioned above, we experienced only one other problem: on one segment, we had to use the shower in the next car until ours was fixed. The community showers on both the Superliners and the Lake Shore Viewliner met our needs without the extra expense of Deluxe rooms. Coffee, soft drinks and spring water were always available for the sleeping car passengers, either right in the car on the upper level or via drink vouchers that we could redeem at the snack bar.
Luggage - For the five of us we took a backpack each (in which we kept toiletries, toys, scanner, camera, jackets), a briefcase-type book bag, two small and one large rolling suitcases and one or two cloth tote bags. The backpacks, tote bags and book bag went with us to our rooms and the suitcases stayed in the luggage rack. We didn't check bags, and we each had our assigned things to carry between trains. We shipped boxes from Mailboxes Etc three times during the trip to lighten the load as we accumulated new souvenirs, books and coveted (but bulky) Amtrak sleeper-service mementos.
Meals - We took up one booth at each meal. The supper menus were similar on most trains (large helpings of half chicken, steak or fish) with more originality on the Coast Starlight and Lake Shore. Because of our itinerary, we didn't have many lunches on board. The breakfasts were varied. Sadly, only one or two of the trains had railroad French toast. We stuffed ourselves and sometimes weren't very hungry when the next meal rolled around, but we suffered through it anyway :-)
Fares - The accommodation fares were quite high, even for the cheaper family and standard rooms, but they were somewhat offset by the very low-priced rail fare and the inclusion of meals with the room. For our family, the overall cost was more than for an air trip to the west and about the same cost as the air/rail package. But the train trip let us include many more destinations (some out of range to cheap airfare), a rail experience and extra scenery by just investing more calendar time and more planning.
The Amtrak bug hits us without warning. On our earlier eastern circle trip, we had that vacation planned as a car trip and just three weeks before trip, we came up with a workable rail itinerary. Amazingly, we got the last seats/rooms on the trains we wanted. Don't try to cut it that close.
For this 1997 trip, we worked out the route and stops in January/February and started making reservations in March/April. The planning tools we used were:
Besides Amtrak seats/rooms, the National Park lodges also need to be reserved months in advance.
Trip Notes - NJ through GlacierWe live close enough to a NJ Transit station that we can drop the family/luggage at the station, take the car home and hike back to the station - so this was really a door-to-door train odyssey. We left on the 7:50a commuter train to Newark, connecting with the 9:36a Clocker for DC and arrived at 12:45p at DC Union Station. That left time take the Metro right from the station to the Navy Memorial/Archives stop. The Navy Memorial is a plaza with fountains and a granite map of the world you can walk on. The map illustrates how much of the earth's surface is covered by water. We saw exhibits and a really good movie at the Naval Heritage Center off the plaza (like IMAX in width and effects but wide not tall). My son bought a plastic motorized submarine to replace the one that no longer worked and kept it in his backpack during the trip.
Leaving the Navy Memorial, we crossed the street to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Magna Carta at the National Archives before returning by Metro to Union Station.
We left DC as much as 30 minutes later than the scheduled 4:10p departure but made up the time. The Capitol used Superliner equipment and we had a family bedroom. The train goes through some lush green Appalachian scenery, but the sun was down before we finished supper. It arrived on time in Chicago at 8:50a. We stashed our bags in the Metropolitan Lounge and grabbed a taxi for the Field Museum. It's worth a visit there just to see the Egyptian tomb and dinosaurs.
Waiting for a connecting train delayed our departure from Chicago about 30-45 minutes beyond the advertised 1:20p. The only thing eventful on the first day of the Empire Builder was a severe storm that had us stop for a short time in Minnesota. The conductor announced something about a hotbox report, but on my scanner I heard the dispatcher tell the engineer that there was a tornado expected to cross the tracks and advising him to use his judgement about whether to hold or proceed.
We were running over an hour behind as we approached the mountains late afternoon on the following day. They seem almost like foothills from the eastern side so it's hard to believe you're at the continental divide. The big, timbered Glacier Park Lodge is across the road from the East Glacier station. Folks staying there use rental cars or the jammer sightseeing buses to get into the park.
Past East Glacier we started getting into the tall pine or spruce forests which are my wife's favorite type of train scenery. We got off at Whitefish and called for our Dollar rental. Had they realized we were arriving by train, the car would have been at the station with the keys in a box there. That's the type of convenience you want. The local Quality Inn Pine Lodge was clean, well equipped and a perfect home base for exploring Glacier Park.
Our Eagle Pass got us express entry to the park. On our first day, we ate at Lake McDonald Lodge, bought huckleberry jam there, drove Going to the Sun Road with hikes at Logan Pass (Hidden Lake Trail) and St. Mary Falls and returned via East Glacier and Essex. We saw many wild animals up close that day (mule deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and one bear) as well as open range cattle outside the park.
The following day we enjoyed the boat ride at Lake McDonald, walked the easy but photogenic Trail of the Cedars and toured Hungry Horse Dam before returning to Whitefish for our train. There was a spectacular lightning storm approaching as we left Whitefish.
The train splits during the night in Spokane. Part of it, including the diner, goes to Seattle. Our half retained the lounge but served a marginal cold breakfast. The scenery along the Columbia River was interesting but not as lush as I had expected. The windows were also fairly dirty from the previous night's rain.
Trip Notes - Portland & San
FranciscoWe arrived as scheduled around 9:00a in Portland, Oregon. We left our bags in Portland's very proper Metropolitan Lounge (it's nicely furnished and they prefer you don't bring food in) and caught a taxi to the zoo. The zoo was average, not as good as the National Zoo in DC or Brookfield outside Chicago, but the kids had a great time.
An assistant conductor exchanged our tickets for boarding passes prior to the Coast Starlight's arrival. We got settled in our room and left for the Pacific Parlor Car as soon as we had dinner reservations. We enjoyed fruit & cheese refreshments in the parlor car and our kids loved the magician who made them balloon swords and animals. Scenery included the many forested mountains and lakes throughout southern Oregon.
By the time we got up the next morning, the train was running 3-4 hours behind schedule due to slow orders throughout the night. As we approached Emeryville we could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. An Amtrak bus was waiting to shuttle us to San Francisco. Rather than leave the bus at the Ferry Building and catch a cab, we stayed on while the bus stopped first at Fisherman's Wharf then at Union Square. The driver dropped several of us right at our hotels.
Even though we had only a half day left in San Francisco, we made the most of it by walking (should we say climbing?) over the hill to a Chinatown meal, the Cable Car Museum, Lombard (crooked) Street, Hyde Pier Maritime Museum and a sunset bay cruise. We returned by cable car after a long wait in line at the cable car terminus and stocked up on books at Borders around the corner from the hotel.
Breakfast at the Lexington Park Hotel was simple but elegant fresh croissants with jam, coffee, tea and juice. Since we slept late, we exhausted what was left on our floor and had to raid the breakfast bars on the other floors. We repacked our belongings and shipped another box of loot home at the Mailboxes Etc we could see from our hotel window.
Trip Notes - Sequoia &
Kings CanyonAn Amtrak bus from Union Square connected us to the 2:13p San Joaquins at Emeryville, arriving 6:18p in Fresno. This run of the San Joaquins used single level cars. Our auto rental from Dollar was out of the airport terminal, with an extra $5 fee for pickup. We headed straight toward the mountains on Route 180 and could smell the ripening grapes from the vineyards. The Sherwood Inn, at Frankwood Road near Minkler, provided an excellent supper. It's like tasting fresh vegetables for the first time when you eat them at their source instead after they've been shipped and stored for several days.
The rest of the trip into the mountains to Giant Forest Lodge at Sequoia was mostly in the dark. Once in the park, the headlights would sometimes reveal the stands of giant trees, but we would wait until the next day to really see them. It was around midnight when we checked in and one of our party set off the car alarm by accident. We got it shut off before the rangers caught up with us, but we had to guess at how it operated. (Both here and at Glacier we were upgraded to the big Chrysler LHS models. This one had a sunroof, all the better for viewing the trees.)
This would be one of the last seasons for the Giant Forest Lodge, built right in a grove of Sequoia trees. A new lodge, not as far into the park as Giant Forest, was under construction. Our rooms were the typical park-service-austere type, with the location accounting for their hotel price. The food service across street included a cafeteria and a pizza pub. We had one full day at Sequoia, during which we explored the groves of trees and novelties like the tunnel tree, toured Crystal Cave and saw rangers light planned burns to encourage growth of new Sequoia trees.
After spending a 2nd night at the lodge, we drove into Kings Canyon. We saw views of the high Sierras, toured Boyden Cave (also run by the Park Service) and saw more big trees including the General Grant.
We returned the car to Fresno airport, got a ride to the La Quinta Inn (just 1.5 blocks from the Amtrak station) and enjoyed a big Mexican meal at the El Torito restaurant next door then a swim before turning in. La Quinta opens its continental breakfast early, a good thing since our train left Fresno at 6:50a.
Trip Notes - Sacramento &
Southwest ColoradoThis time the San Joaquins used the newer 2-level California Cars. It connected at Stockton with an Amtrak bus for an on time 9:45a arrival at Sacramento. Sacramento, like DC, Chicago and Portland, has a grand old train station. We did a "partial check" of our bags at Sacramento (checked but returned to us later for carrying aboard) since the lockers weren't working or were in use. Just a block away is the not-to-be-missed California Railroad Museum. This is a very professionally done museum that appeals to both the railfan and the general public. We could have stayed a couple hours longer but had to get back to catch the Zephyr.
The California Zephyr left Sacramento at 1:20p, arriving Grand Junction at 11:57a the next day. During this first day of the Zephyr's journey we crossed the Sierra Nevada range at Donner's Pass and saw all sorts of great mountain scenery before nightfall. By the next day we were in the red rock canyon and desert lands with some good views of stereotypical western landscapes before pulling into Grand Junction. We also saw some deer and antelopes (playing on the range of course) that morning.
We picked Grand Junction as our last Amtrak stopover since it was convenient to so many interesting natural, historical and archeological sites. We planned our route as a loop from Grand Junction, stopping a different place each night. Budgeting our time, we opted to skip Durango attractions (including the popular rail excursion) and to skip Dinosaur Nat'l Monument because both would cost an extra day that we didn't have.
My oldest daughter and I walked from Grand Junction Station to the Enterprise Rentals a few blocks away. This time no free upgrade; we got a full size Olds sans leather and gizmos. Leaving Grand Junction, we first took a driving tour through Colorado National Monument - red rock canyons, cliffs and perfect photos at every turn. This has to be one of the Park Service's best but least known properties. From there we headed southeast into the San Juan Mountains to Montrose and stayed at Comfort Inn, catching a quick supper at the adjacent Pizza Hut and then a swim before bed.
On our second day in Colorado we toured the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nat'l Monument, just outside Montrose, then joined back to the main road to head through Ouray to Silverton, an old mining town with an authentic wild west downtown and an elevation of 9300 feet. We made it in time for the last daily tour of Old Hundredth Gold Mine before checking into the Wyman Inn, a bed and breakfast right in Silverton.
[Much is written about the beautiful but treacherous Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Silverton, hugging the mountainside with no guard rails. We didn't find the drive harrowing at all. The other mountain drives that did require concentration were parts of Colorado Nat'l Monument and the Montana Route 49 shortcut to East Glacier that featured rock slides and open range grazing.]
Since we knew the weather was going to be good, I made reservations for a horseback trail ride with Rapp Guide Service, just down the mountain on the way toward Durango. A one-hour ride was just right for armchair cowboys like us. Once back on the ground, we headed west from Durango to Mesa Verde Nat'l Park. There we toured the much-photographed Cliff Palace before checking in at Far View Lodge. Supper was a pricey, but tasty meal at the Metate Room restaurant, where we use the displayed native woven rugs to play our own version of "The Price Is Right" while waiting for our food. Got an extra $4-6K? Downstairs from the restaurant is a slide show that provides a good orientation to Anasazi culture.
We toured Balcony House and saw the museum before leaving Mesa Verde the next day. At Cortez, we shipped home another box of books and souvenirs, including the cherished submarine. The 3-hour drive from Mesa Verde/Cortez to Moab was very enjoyable. Open western expanse with red rock hills and some monuments and arches. The peaks of the greener San Juan mountains where we had been at Silverton could be seen in the distance.
Although the sun was low in the sky, we decided to go ahead and see part of Arches National Park. We got quite a few pictures, took one short hike to Double Arch and met a coyote up close. We overnighted at Comfort Suites, Moab. Back at Arches after breakfast we stopped at the Delicate Arch Viewpoint and took the unadvertised steep hike to the upper viewpoint. This provides a much better view of the arch across a canyon but avoids the long hike of the Delicate Arch Trail that starts elsewhere in the park and takes you right to the arch. Before leaving Arches on that hot desert day, we walked to Sand Dune Arch and photographed some lizards.
[At Arches, like all the National Parks, there is a good book and souvenir shop. Items at these shops that appealed to our kids were National Park trading cards, park medallions, photo magnets, bookmarks and postcards. Here and elsewhere we bought our share of sparkly geodes, dinosaur claws, compasses of sundry types and books on how to pan for gold.]
Leaving Arches, we took Scenic Route 128, stopping briefly at Fisher Towers - a set of rock spires often used in TV commercials. No Jeeps up there this time. We hit the Dinosaur Valley Museum in downtown Grand Junction shortly before it closed and spent the night at the new Super 8 in Fruita. The Devil's Canyon Science and Learning Center, near the motel was our last stop before heading for the train. It, like the other dino museum, is a blend of science and entertainment. Behind it was a large human maze made of vertical plastic pipe poles with colored tarps for walls, a race against time to find four hidden locations in the maze. That was fun for dad and kids.
The Zephyr left on time around noon from Grand Junction for Chicago. We enjoyed some breathtaking mountain canyon scenery before leaving the Rockies and passing through Denver just after nightfall. Our arrival in Chicago was close enough to the scheduled 4:20p that our 6:00p connection with the Lake Shore Limited was easily made.
On the Lake Shore, we had two of the high-tech Viewliner standard bedrooms. The supper, served in a heritage diner, was a pleasant departure from the standard menu. I think they had London broil and maybe a boneless chicken breast dinner instead of the usual baked half chicken or steak.
The next day, the ladies had all the good Hudson scenery out their bedroom windows. Our kids enjoyed coloring the Amtrak passport book that showed all the states they had traveled through. We were at least an hour late getting into NY Penn, where the attendant at the Metropolitan Lounge assured us we could catch the next Amtrak train for Newark. Travel on Amtrak from New York City to Newark is only for connecting or continuing passengers (not commuters). Even though we had tickets, no one checked them during that short hop.
Because it was the Labor Day holiday, I purchased discount fare, one-way NJ Transit tickets at Newark to get us the rest of the way home.
Copyright T. A. Jennings. All rights reserved.