I woke up early to the now-familiar swaying of the train as it sped along the tracks. I slipped down off the bunk bed in our little sleeper compartment, dressed as my husband snored on the lower bunk, peeked in at my sleeping teenage son in his own compartment and headed down the narrow hall to the dining car.
There, as I sat with other early risers (an older man and his young grandson, a couple in their 20s wearing baseball caps), with a cup of pretty good coffee and a warm croissant, I watched as snow-covered, 14,000-foot Mount Shasta appeared in the early-morning sunlight. The couple pulled out their cellphones to take photos.
I don’t like to fly. So when my husband, Daniel, and teenage son, Charlie, and I planned a vacation week in Seattle to visit some colleges, I was thrilled to discover we could get there by the Amtrak’s Coast Starlight.
The advantages of train over plane – no lines, no stress, no being squeezed elbow to elbow in cramped seats – are obvious, but this 33-hour trip provided more relaxation, entertainment and encounters with nature than any of us expected.
MEETING OTHER TRAVELERS
“I love the train,” said Roger, a retiree from Anaheim who sat with Daniel and me that first night for dinner. “Every year I take this train to visit my daughter in Olympia, Wash.”
When you eat in the dining car, you’re seated with other passengers. I watched with interest as a businessman was seated with two young men with ponytails and they politely began to chat. Likewise, we fell into easy conversation with our tablemate, who looked to be in his mid-70s.
The dining car attendant named our dinner choices – salmon, steak or a Greek salad – and we placed our orders. Surprisingly, vegetarian choices were always available.
“Back in the day,” said Roger, “this train was always very late. But in the last three years, it’s been remarkably on time.”
Turns out, Roger is a member of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, an advocacy group that pushes for a wider rail network and a revival of popular routes.
After dessert (vanilla ice cream or tiramisu), Roger said good night and headed back to his sleeper.
It had been a busy day on the Coast Starlight. A National Park Service representative had come onboard to give a short presentation about the natural surroundings. This is part of the “Trails & Rails” collaboration between the NPS and Amtrak, and we were treated to several such talks from knowledgeable volunteers.
Then there was the afternoon wine tasting given by a crew member in the parlor car, where for $7.50 adults were offered a selection of California and Oregon wines.
The Coast Starlight also had a screening room where “Edge of Tomorrow” was being shown. When I peeked in, all the seats were empty. But the observation car was packed with passengers – a Boy Scout troop on its way to a camping trip in Oregon, families with small kids, couples and groups of friends.
As the train wound up the coast, beachgoers turned to wave, and campsites near Santa Barbara appeared like little villages. Then we passed Pismo Beach, part of the 104-mile stretch of spectacular coastal views.
I needed some water and found this stamped on the side of an Amtrak cup: “Rail consumes less energy than cars or air travel.”
Good to know. By now, though, I didn’t need any more convincing that we’d made the right travel choice.
VIEWS OF THE VALLEY
The Coast Starlight makes this trip between Los Angeles and Seattle just once a day, each way, with more than 25 stops in small towns and large cities (San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento and Portland among others).
At bigger station stops, the train doors remained open for 15 minutes or longer, though the conductor admonished passengers who stepped out to stretch their legs not to wander off. (“On just about every trip, at least one passenger misses the train,” a crew member told me, and another confirmed it – a mistake that usually results in a taxi ride to the next stop costing hundreds of dollars.)
When the train eventually turned inland, the track curled through small mountains and tunnels, then slid through California’s Central Valley, giving passengers views of green fields of produce, vineyards and stands of tall eucalyptus trees, as the sun began to set.
As we rolled into the evening, we passed the silver waters of inlets near Salinas. And then it got dark.
An attendant handily transformed our comfortable sleeping car seats into bunk beds. A shared bathroom and a shower were at the end of the hall. We had opted for two roomettes across the hall from each other, for the sake of comfort.
(Amtrak offers a discount for families traveling for college visits, but only for coach accommodations.)
We settled in happily with our books; Charlie plugged into his iPhone. We fell asleep to the clacking wheels and the intermittent train whistle.
The next day, after traveling out of Northern California, we were treated to vistas of the vast forests, blue-green lakes and river views of the Willamette Valley in Oregon – slicing right through dense, fairy-tale groves of towering pine and cedar trees.
We arrived in Seattle right on time, and were met by friends who drove us through the city. We toured a slew of colleges, explored Pike Place Market and the waterfront, visited friends and walked around the lively Capitol Hill neighborhood.
At the end of the week, we again boarded the train for the long ride home.
We knew what to expect as we settled once again into our seats: hours to wind down, decompress and talk about all we’d done and seen, as the gorgeous West Coast landscapes rolled by our window.
