Miscellayneous

Midwest Lifestyle + Travel Blog

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I'm Layne · 30 · Chicago
Out here traveling, listening to Post Malone, and trying to slow things down a little bit.

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03 Feb 22

Leavin' My Heart in San Francisco · Amtrak's California Zephyr

California . travel

 Part One: The Train Ride

I'm going to split this up into two posts because I've got photos from SF and photos from the train. Plus, I have some tip and such for taking the ride and I thought sharing them could be useful.

This trip was conceived by the conversation of wanting to take a cross country train ride, and my cousin Gabby, shared the sentiment, so we planned it out. This post is going to be broken down into the pros and cons of the Amtrak based on this singular experience. On a scale of 1-5, I'd rate the trip a solid 3.8.

A few notes to know about the trip:

· We were leaving from Chicago and heading into Oakland with a bus transfer to San Francisco.

· It's an estimated 51 hour trip.

· Gabby and I stayed in Coach, so we didn't not have beds, we slept in our seats. Due to CoVid restrictions, people in Coach also could not eat in the dining car, so we were restricted to whatever food was in the cafe below the viewing car.


We left from Chicago around 1pm, and our Union Station was a little difficult to navigate when it came to figuring out which train was boarding. Nobody really knew where they were going and none of the directions were very clear. Many people were irate, but things settled. If you've been to Union Station in Chicago, you can attest to what a commuting hub it is.

Our first few hours on the train were pretty quiet. It seems like there is an unspoken rule in coach that everyone stays respectful of each other and there isn't a lot of talking or walking around. Everybody stays to their seats or to their groups, which is really nice, because time seems to not exist on the train. People are sleeping at all hours, people get on and off at almost every stop, and Gabby and I lucked out with the back pair of seats, so we had nobody behind us for about three rows.

We investigated down in the cafe and there wasn't much there to eat, and what food they had was more expensive than you'd anticipate. There were individual sized frozen pizzas, Mac and Cheese, and Ramen cups for us vegetarians. The next morning was our first hour-long stop at Denver, and we decided to stop at a Whole Foods to save ourselves some money and get food we actually wanted.






If I remember correctly, there are only two hour long stops: Denver and Salt Lake City. After Denver, we continued our ride through Colorado where the train rode parallel to the Colorado River and through mountains a duration of the trip.













I have never been our west, so to have the opportunity to travel mountain side and through tunnels in the mountains was surreal to me because it's so different from the midwest. 
There are a handful of stops that last about ten to fifteen minutes where you can get off the train, stretch your legs, and people take smoke breaks. Above is a photos from our last Colorado stop before we hit Utah.

While we're talking about breaks, this would be a good time to bring up the bathroom situation. There are showers available in some sleepers, but not in Coach. Coach has two bathrooms big enough to stand up and sit down in, and one larger bathroom made for changing clothes in. 
I'd recommend a couple different changes of undergarments, deodorant, baby wipes, and dry shampoo in your bags. Gabby and I both brought two bags with us and we kept them both near us on the overhead racks. I never felt that our belongings weren't safe in our seats, but you can bring a lock to lock your bags to the rack if you'll feel safe.

Salt Lake City was our next hour long stop, but we hit it in the middle of the night both there and back, so we didn't see much of it. There's also nothing near their Amtrak stop, unlike Denver that had shops.














I don't think I've got any Nevada photos, or I do and they're above mixed into the Utah photos. A lot of our Nevada time was spent in the observation car although there wasn't much to look at out the window because it got us out of our regular seats and it was quiet because there wasn't any spectacular view like when traveling through Colorado. 

Aside from the observation car, we spent some time in the cafe car because it's less busy than the observation car and there are still huge windows. Gabby and I spent a lot of time writing on our laptops because there is no WiFi on the train, which is a little relieving to unplug and just enjoy our time. It was also time dedicated to writing, which I haven't had since I was in graduate school.

On to the last leg of the train ride: California.












I think the photos speak for themselves, but I could move and never look back. The views, the hills, all of it was breathtaking and it's such a wonderful change from the flat, flat, flat midwest.


Why I docked points:

  • We did hit a delay on the train both to and from, but it took us so much longer to get home due to fires in Utah, a mudslide in Colorado, and a power outage. Due to the power outage, there was no AC, so we were just roasting in the train car for about two hours. We were due back into Chicago around 2pm and we didn't get in until around 9pm. 
  • Within the first few hours of the train ride home, our car's toilets were clogged, so we had to use the next car's bathrooms and our car smelled most of the ride home. If you read the first point, you'll know our train car also was HOT so it smelled even worse.
  • It's a wildcard of who is going to sit near you, and at one point we had two ladies across from us who weren't great company to have. Masks needed to be worn the entire time, and I had gotten off to stretch my legs and came back on and was taking a drink of water, so my mask was pulled down, and the one started policing my mask wearing when I had only taken it off to eat and drink which was allowed. These two ladies were also down in the cafe car and asked a girl to turn her music down, or talk quieter on the phone, or something like that. There was also a group in front of us with kids climbing over their seats. But, that's the risk you take in coach!
  • The train makes stops at night. People are coming on and off at night. Our lights didn't turn all the way off, and although there are curtains, light from the station will still come in while you're trying to sleep. Time is lawless on the train, get some sleep whenever you can.
  • The dining situation was really stupid to me. Everyone from the train can eat in the cafe car, but people in coach can't eat in the dining car. So, the cafe car was running out of food for people who in coach who could only access the cafe car, while people who had access to the dining car had both options. The cafe was basically out of food by the third day of the trip, so I'd recommend a grocery stop.
California . travel

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