A is for Amtrak
Amtrak is the common name for The National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Amtrak began operation on May 1, 1971, is publicly funded, and provides passenger service to more than 300 destinations in the United States and Canada. They are best known for their commuter routes in the Northeastern United States, but my husband and I fell in love with their long distance routes in the west.
In 2012, we planned and completed Grand Tour 2012. We traveled from San Antonio to Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited. We spent a few days in San Diego and Los Angeles. We boarded the Coast Starlight to Seattle. We spent a day in Seattle, then boarded the Empire Builder, getting off in Sandpoint, Idaho, to visit with friends for the weekend. From Sandpoint, we boarded another Empire Builder to Chicago where we caught the Texas Eagle back to San Antonio after spending a few days visiting my folks in Wisconsin.
Grand Tour 2015 took us on the remaining Amtrak Western routes. We boarded the Texas Eagle to Chicago, visited with my folks in Wisconsin for a few days as well as touching base with a few of my friends from the early military days. We returned to Chicago and boarded the California Zephyr to Reno. We spent the day in Reno, visiting a museum and meeting up with friends, before getting back on the California Zephyr to it’s final destination in Sacramento, CA. We spent a few days in Sacramento sightseeing and visiting with friends before boarding the Coast Starlight (Amtrak’s flagship line) to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, we took a tour of Paramount Studios and visited Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland (we’ve both had measles, so we felt safe) while also getting together with a friend for dinner. After that very busy few days, we boarded the Southwest Chief, eager for an uninterrupted ride back to Chicago to catch the City of New Orleans to New Orleans, where we plan to enjoy my husband’s birthday tomorrow.
Wow! What an adventure! Looking forward to hearing more about it! 🙂
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary – Epics from A to Z
MopDog – 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Sounds like a marvelous way to travel – very civilized!
I’ve never ridden on a train. That’s on my Bucket List. Ride a train.
I dislike trains in the UK because I had to travel to school on one every day for seven years and standing on cold stations eventually puts you off :). I’d love to try a long distance train journey though.
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
What did you see out the windows? How was the food? Did you get motion sickness? Did you meet any interesting people on the train? Am I too curious?
I’m so glad that you chose this theme for your blog challenge this year.
I’ll see if I can work those answers in over the next few weeks, Lyn!
I love traveling over this beautiful country of ours, too, but I haven’t tried Amtrak yet. I’ve heard that Amtrak gives writers free passage, if they request it and write during the trip. I’m not sure of the details, but I did see an article somewhere. Happy Birthday to your husband.
This is my first article in the challenge: http://marypurpari.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-is-for-articles-of-faith.html
They do have a program called “Writer in Residence.” I remember reading about it last year and just read an article written by one “winner.” I hadn’t heard if it was ongoing or not. I should look into that.
Why is “Riding on the City of New Orleans” playing in my mind now. It seems Chicago is their “hub” for every destination.
Life & Faith in Caneyhead
I am Ensign B ~ One of Tremp’s Troops with the
A to Z Challenge
Chicago is a major hub. LA and DC are also significant hubs.
My husband and I always wanted to travel by train. After he retired we too a 32 day cruise vacation to Sydney Australia and Bangkok, Thailand. Then we planned our train trip. Sadly my best friend (whom we were going to see) had a massive heart attack and died so that trip was put off. Once again we started to plan. Then my husband had a stroke. He recently (July 2014) died so no train trips were ever taken. I am going to follow along with you and take the trip through your eyes. Thank you for sharing.
Such an unhappy ending, Paula. I’m so sorry for your loss.
Of course you could travel alone or with a friend or grandchild. You have so many options available to you. We met a woman who got on the train with her grandchild in Dallas. They were riding to Fort Worth and were eating lunch on the train. So there’s a quick excursion (it helps to live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for that one, though) idea.
I love riding the train by myself, but, of course, it’s good to have my husband with me, too.