I’ve always wanted to rent a sleeper car and take some sort of long train ride across the U.S.. Maybe even take a shorter trip through Oregon and then over to Montana. Has anyone done anything like this? I priced the trip on Amtrak, it sounds so fun. Schedule your own trip here.
love.boxes
February 28, 2007
I’ve heard about some fun trips. One is a wildlife train trip that goes accross the US / Canada border and the other is an Autumn leaf trip that I think goes through the mountains and ends up in Denver, but I don’t remember where I heard about these.
MissEm
February 28, 2007
From here to Seattle is supposed to be really fun. My parents did that. I think it’s called the “Starlight Express”
Nicole
February 28, 2007
jordan – you either love the train or hate the train. but a sleeper is the best way to go. i just usually feel really confined on the train. i would opt for the shorter option for the first time.
Steph
February 28, 2007
Paul Gruwell just did this over Christmas. You should talk to him.
ali
February 28, 2007
I took the Amtrak from Salt Lake to San Francisco when I was in like third grade, and though it wasn’t the best experience, I’ll always remember scooting across the edge of the Great Salt Lake in the moonlight. I was mesmerized.
I tried to take Amtrak from Wyoming to Lake this summer, but it would have taken me something like four days, four hundred dollars and two really long bus rides. I’m happy to know more fun-oriented (and probably scenic) rides are available!
Great recommendation.
jared
February 28, 2007
liz and i took a sleeper from malaysia to singapore one night, NOT A FAN. It was kind of cool to take a shower moving, the whole time thinking “if the train hits the skids right now i’m effed” but other than that I would rather fly somewhere fast or else drive.
k8
February 28, 2007
i had a friend visit me in Boston who rode the train there from Idaho. He had a swell time but when it came time to go back, he was really wishing he could just fly home.
michelle
March 1, 2007
I’ve taken it as a kid from Anaheim to San Diego and loved it (because I was a kid and had never been on a train before).
A couple of years ago, I took it from Seattle to Portland and it was great – then again, that leg is a fast trip.
Amtrak is not like the trains in Europe – a lot of stops at a lot of random places, not super speedy and typically, more pricey than airfare.
I have heard there are a few good ‘scenic’ routes – maybe take the train there and fly home? Like Carrie and Samantha in SATC.
Kathleen Frances
September 4, 2010
When I was 12 I traveled from Harrisburg, PA to Portland, OR…..by coach class. I spent four days on a train without a bed, without an ipod, without a friend, without much of anything at all. For a 12 year-old it was misery.
Funny thing is sometimes I think it would be cool to do it over again….not by coach of course. Even though I was twelve and bored to death I have to admit there were some really cool sites. The train had a special car made entirely of windows. It was like riding in a bubble. I remember traveling through the Cascade Mountains, over the famous Gassman Coulee Trestle bridge, along the Mississippi, across endless North Dakota wheat plains and through Montana Canyons.
As a 12 year old it was novel to eat spare ribs in a moving restaurant and sipping soda in a downstairs bar and being able to roam freely from car to car….I also watched Back to the Future II for the first time ever. So it wasn't all bad.
If I were to do it again, I'd DEFINITELY get a sleeper car. Oh and and ipod;)