Cross Country By Rail

For many years, Sheila and I have been talking about and dreaming about one day taking a journey across the country by rail. It has always been one of those things we've wanted to do someday when the opportunity presented itself. There is something about train travel... it has a romantic air about it... it is classic... it is relaxed by comparison to other modes of transportation... and it provides spectacular vistas as we wind our way across the country.

This was one of those trips that we always figured would have to wait until after Sheila retires since we knew it would be a time consuming trip but Adam recently moved to California so that has prompted us to take a closer look at transportation options. One way or another, we were headed to California to visit Adam. We figured why not do it in style and the way we want?

Originally, whenever we talked about a cross country rail journey, we talked about stopping at various cities along the way. We'd spend a night or two in each city so we could do some sightseeing and see more of each city. Unfortunately, it is this sort of exploring that turns a relatively quick trip into a month(s)-long adventure. Hence, we had always figured that any cross country journey by rail would have to wait until Sheila retires and we have more free time. 

But, really, would it have to wait that long?

            Courtesy Amtrak

Since Adam recently moved to California, we started talking about travel options again and, naturally, travel by rail was at the top of our list of options. I used to fly a lot in my career but my health and all my medications makes getting through airport security frustrating, time consuming and difficult. Airline travel is an absolute last resort option for me today.

We've traveled a lot by rail and we both enjoy it. Truthfully, it is probably our favorite way to travel. Now, with both of us struggling with some rather poor health, travel by rail looks even more appealing to us. There are many advantages to traveling by rail... sitting in wide, comfortable seats in our own private compartment on a train... watching the scenery pass by out our window... relaxing... eating good food... having a few cocktails... having a glass enclosed observation/lounge car to get panoramic views of the passing scenery... being able to nap, comfortably, whenever we want... not having to stay awake to drive... not having to deal with hectic airports... and the list of advantages goes on and on.  We truly enjoy traveling by rail so this was definitely the mode of transportation to choose for our cross country trip to California and back.

copyright David Gubler            

As a cost comparison, we checked airline costs... the costs were absolutely crazy. The only advantage to traveling by air would be the time saved. The biggest disadvantage of traveling by air as opposed to traveling by train is missing out on all the scenery from one coast to the other. For this trip to visit Adam, we chose to travel by train and to say we're a bit excited is an understatement. Actually, I wish the trip was tomorrow!

There is one compromise we had to make though. Whenever we envisioned this journey across the country to the west coast, we always talked about stopping at various cities along the way, doing some sightseeing, and then moving on to the next city. Plus, we always said that if we ever made it to the west coast, we would travel up and down the coast by train too. This type of trip would eat up some significant time and, unfortunately, Sheila is short on leave time away from work. For this trip, we'll need to limit our stops and layovers and stick to a pretty rigid schedule just to get out there and back while taking only two weeks off from work. We could always do another more relaxed rail journey with more layovers after Sheila retires, right?  

            Courtesy Amtrak

Adam is now living in the Sacramento area so the plan is to visit with him for a few days and that is what prompted this trip. Sacramento is about 90 miles from the west coast and the Pacific Ocean. Even though we are a bit pressed for time on this long scenic journey, it really would be silly to get that close to the west coast without actually going to the coast though, right? 

The more we discussed it, I knew I would always regret it if we didn't at least go that extra 90 miles to the coast. Actually, it would be absolutely absurd to go all that way across the entire country and not visit the coast so we added an extra night or two to our trip so we could continue on the very short distance remaining on our California Zephyr route which takes us to the beautiful San Francisco bay area. 

As much as we want to also travel up and down the Pacific coast by train, we decided that anything farther than this short diversion would have to wait for another cross country journey. Even though we are trying to stay in control of the time spent on this journey, at least we will be spending a short time in San Francisco and getting to the Pacific Ocean.

Courtesy Amtrak          

This one day diversion will take us to San Francisco and allow us to do a little bit of sightseeing. San Francisco has always appealed to me... hilly city terrain... the historic cable cars... historic railcars... Lombard Street... the Golden Gate Bridge... Fisherman's Wharf... and a lot more. I often refer to the city of Burlington, Vermont as "Little San Francisco" because of the hilly terrain leading downhill to the lakefront just like San Francisco overlooking the bay. Burlington should have an historic cable car too but, unfortunately, does not at this time. We could easily spend a week in San Francisco but we need to keep this visit to a minimum this time around.

While in San Francisco, we're planning on staying in an inn on an old Army Post right at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Naturally, I'm hoping for some good photo ops during our stay in San Francisco and this seems to be a great location. The bridge is actually visible from the Inn and only a short walk away along a footpath. This historic Army Post is now a National Park and the Inn is listed on the National Historic Register. Adding a little bit of historic architecture while adding some military tradition and history is certainly appealing to me! 

Our cross country journey will begin by hopping on the train right here in Waterbury, Vermont and heading down to Massachusetts. We're stuck spending a night in Massachusetts due to the timing of route schedules but, on the positive side, this breaks up the long journey a little bit. Besides, we'll be staying over in a city we enjoy and visit a couple of times each year so it is quite familiar to us. The following morning we start our trek westward on 'The Lakeshore Limited' which is the same route that the New York Central railroad made famous in the heyday of passenger rail service. We'll have our own sleeper roomette from this point onward. 

              Union Station in Chicago

The Lakeshore Limited will skirt across the northern tier of the eastern US taking us into Chicago. We've been to Union Station in Chicago before but the first class lounge has been completely renovated since our last visit so we're looking forward to seeing it again. This is a beautiful station too (photo left). I've always been a student and admirer of architecture and this station is quite impressive (that is Sheila, Will and Sue in the photo at left).   

In Chicago, we board the famed California Zephyr. This train follows an historic route winding through the Rocky Mountains, national parks and historic locations. This route will take us through Denver, the six mile long Moffat Tunnel, along the Colorado River through the Rocky Mountains, through Ruby Canyon, Book Cliffs, Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake City, the Great Salt Lake, the Salt Flats, the Toano Range, tunnels under the Pequot Mountains, the Forty Mile Desert, Truckee River, Donner Pass, Yuba River, Emigrant Gap and into the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay area. The panoramic vistas afforded by this route are spectacular and touted as some of the most scenic views of any rail journey in the United States. 

Sheila is currently educating herself on this historic route by reading some books about this particular train. As I was researching this trip, I stumbled across a novel entitled "The Ghost in Roomette 4" and immediately thought of Sheila. Also, Roomette 4 is actually the very roomette we had booked for our journey! Sheila is into these types of novels so I immediately directed Sheila to this book and she quickly devoured it... followed by the other books in this series about the California Zephyr. 

We've also watched a few documentary-style videos about this train and its scenic route to the west coast. It is interesting listening to the stories of the history of this route and this train. As one would expect, this gets us even more excited for this trip!

As always, I plan to shoot a lot of photos and do a lot of writing during our trip. I'm currently trying to come up with a list of camera gear that is lightweight yet will still allow me to get the photos and videos I hope to capture. I know what gear I'd like to have with me but the trick is finding the right combination of minimal gear so I can keep my gear as light as possible. My extensive spinal injuries will thank me for keeping the gear to a minimum and as lightweight as possible! I have a pretty good idea of what to pack in my one camera bag but you'd be surprised how tough it is keeping this type of gear to a minimum when you enjoy photography. I'm really looking forward to capturing some great photos and video though.

As more plans are firmed up, I'll write more...