Summer Train trip out West

August 3rd - September 19th, 2018

We had long been planning a train trip around the US and finally were able to make it happen. How did we choose the places? By geography, train route, and those friends weʼd been promising to come visit and never made it out there.
Would you believe that like half of them were remodeling their bathrooms? That was just one of the challenges with coming up with the route but all the pieces fell into place just in time for us to leave Erie, PA at 3am that Saturday morning. We were just wrapping up our time with Neilʼs family on our annual trip to see all of them and weʼre quite familiar with the Erie Amtrak station since weʼve frequented it the most of all the Amtrak stations.

Many times during college we made the 12 hour trek across all of NY state riding the Amtrak and it seemed like such a great way to travel. Then we rode the rails around California but for much shorter 4-6 hour jumps. Have you ridden the Amtrak recently? We love how much room there always is. Not to mention that you can arrive at the station 10 minutes before it leaves and just hop on, no TSA and much less headaches. Thereʼs also the matter of luggage. Do you dread having to fit everything into one giant bag just so you donʼt have to pay for all of them individually, well thatʼs not the case with the train! If there were going to be something that we didnʼt like about the train, we would know by the end of this trip!

We ended up spending 80 hours overall and despite a couple delays, and the one day when we had to eat in the snack car and have it sustain us all day, it was terrific! Weʼve got the overnight routines down to a system now. Bring your sleep mask, earplugs, comfy clothes and a blanket or sheet to cover up and youʼll sleep pretty ok. Iʼd say thatʼs accurate, the sleeping part is a bit rough but the seats recline, the curtains close, itʼs dark and thereʼs no announcements at night. If this doesnʼt sound like something youʼd be up for, thereʼs always the roomettes where you can have a bed!

Concerned about eating? Those of you who know me, know me as the Food Goddess. Not only because I truly love food and eating but also Iʼm pretty excited about taking photos of my food and sharing it with others. The train has you covered! Many of the lines have “dining cars” and you can order steak, salmon, risotto, wine, much more than you can find at the snack bar. The prices are pretty on par with regular restaurants too. And yes, it tastes good.


Our Itinerary:
Date we left | Starting Location | Destination | Departure Time | Arrival Time | Total trip time (hours) | Cost (for both of us) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8/4 | Erie, PA | Chicago, IL | 148am | 945am | 8 | 166 |
8/7 | Chicago, IL | Minneapolis, MN | 215pm | 1003pm | 7.75 | 140 |
8/14 | Minneapolis, MN | Oceola, IA | 12pm | 7pm | 7 | 148 |
8/14 | Oceola, IA | Grand Junction, CO | 810pm | 4pm | 20 | 240 |
8/19 | Grand Junction, CO | Salt Lake City, UT | 4pm | 11pm | 7 | 66 |
8/20 | Salt Lake City, UT | Long Beach, CA* | 1120am | 1216pm | 2 | 184 |
8/22 | Long Beach, CA | San Jose, CA | car | 255 | ||
9/12 | Emeryville, CA | Lamy, NM | 745am | 1pm | 29 | 286 |



Once we were in Southern California, we decided it was time to drive up the Cali coast again. We had done it once before when we moved to California back in 2013 but this time we could stop in multiple grape growing regions and check out some of our favorite scenes from the movie Sideways. (Of course, this turned into a pretty giant #WineAndCheeseFriday entry, so check out all of those details here!) Just as a note though, there are tons of Amtrak routes in California so we could have done a pretty similar route by train as well.
So have we convinced you to take the Amtrak on your next adventure? We’ve given you some great reasons why you should try it out. And as you can see from the prices, it’s a pretty good deal for two people to travel all around the US. The argument we’ve heard from others is that it takes too long compared to a flight. It really doesn’t when you add in TSA and all that time you spend around the airport in addition to your flight time. Also keep in mind you get to walk around whenever you feel like it. Ok I’m jumping off the soapbox now.

