# California Zephyr, Coast Starlight June-July 2009



## sunchaser (Jul 14, 2009)

California Zephyr, Coast Starlight June-July 2009

A trip of a lifetime!

This is a train story written by a first time train rider. Please excuse me if I sound overly excited!!!!

Please feel free to skip this first part if it's overly boring!! Start with June 30th.

After many years of marriage, 3 kids & lots of grandkids, we finally decided on taking a trip together. The reasons for this trip were many. We never had a 'honeymoon'! Ralph had rode a train when he was a small child, but I have never been on one. We wanted to visit with his cousin in Olympia, who we hadn't seen for more than 30 years. We wanted to see other relatives from Canada. There are added bonuses of going by train. Since we will be going through Mount Shasta, we will be passing right by the house we lived in! (If it's still there.) So we started this process at least three years back. Originally, we talked about flying, but even though we both love to fly, it seemed like there was more down sides except for the speed of arrival. It would be cheaper, but they charge extra for each suitcase, gas surcharges, etc. Besides when you are on a plane, you really have a limited space if you need to get up & walk around. I know even though we like to fly, I think the rushing around & extra security would make us both anxious than necessary. I want the trip to be enjoyable, not a pain. I was mainly concerned that my hubby would feel too confined, we felt it would not be the best choice. We talked about driving, but our van is pretty old and would need major work before we could take it. Plus, the drive would be uncomfortable, and too long. We would have to stop alot, and then still find lodging along the way, as well as food. So by the time we get to our destination, we would be tired, achy & probably cranky. Since we are not real concerned about how long it takes to get there, the train seems the best choice. Besides, then we leave the 'driving' to someone else! We kept trying to arrange a trip, & circumstances would come up to prevent it. So finally, praise God we will be taking this trip. We are really looking forward to it (along with all the amenities)!

We have decided to leave Salt Lake City, Ut on June 30th (Tuesday). We are scheduled to depart at 11:30 pm, on the California Zephyr, to end in Sacramento, Ca at 3:13pm on Wednesday. (16 hours, 43 minutes on the train) We will have a layover of approximately 8 1/2 hours in Sacramento, then board the Coast Starlight going north at 11:59 pm on Wednesday.

On the Coast Starlight, we are scheduled to arrive in Olympia at 6:22 pm on Thursday. (18 hours, 23 minutes on train) We will stay until the following Saturday, July 11, leaving at 11:21 am to head south to Sacramento. We will arrive in Sacramento on Sunday, at 6:15 am. (18 hours, 54 minutes) We will have another layover of approximately 5 hours, then board the California Zephyr for Salt Lake City at 11:09 am, to arrive in Salt Lake City on Monday at 4:05 am. (15 hours, 56 minutes)

We have chosen to have a bedroom on each train, going out & coming back. We looked at the 'roomette', but it seemed to be a little too cozy for us. And we are so used to sleeping in the same bed, we are going to try to sleep in the bottom bed together. According to amtrak, it can hold 2 'small adults'. Based on the bed measurements, it's 20 inches smaller in width than our bed (a queen). I will talk with the the 'Sleeping Car Attendant' for advice to see if we will need the upper bunk.I may have them make up both beds the first night, but I don't expect we will need the upper bunk for sleeping. It seems like it will have ample space to stretch out on the sofa & chair. The outlets, and the added bonus of a sink, bathroom & shower, sounds perfect for us!! Plus, all meals are included when you have sleeping accomodations (not appetizers & alcohol). You can bring your own 'private stock' to drink in your room, as well as food if you want. They will not store, heat or handle your food for you!

If you go on Amtrak's website (www.amtrak.com) under sleeping accomodations, for the details.

Since our destination station does not have checked baggage, we will be using all carry on. If you need to check your baggage, they allow 3 per person without any extra fees. I will also pack for late night snacks. My husband is a serious late night snacker! Plus we will have the two layovers, which means we'll have stuff available on our excursions in Sacramento . And after reading many comments by other travelers about the trains tending to run late, I thought it might be a good idea to bring a few goodies. We will also carry a 'wine tote' to hold our bubbly safely in the suitcase. I found it online at keepyourcooler.com. After contacting Amtrak, I found out that a cooler is counted as a carry on, which is kind of odd- even though I explained it was very small. I got more complete responses from the members from Amtrak Unlimited Forum, they were very helpful. I may tuck the small cooler into my purse. It certainly will fit. I plan on using gel ice packs & then suppliment with ice later.

There are some trains that have extras, like the Coast Starlight's Pacific Parlour Car. Depending on the trains you ride, they may have a cafe car, lounge/sightseer car, as well as a dining car. Have fun looking at all the extras. You can find those under the 'Routes' link, which lists all the trains. Click on the link, locate your train, click on that & there will be a description of the train cars, plus a printable route map. I collected together tons of info from amtrak.com about our trip. I like to have as much info as I can get. I basically constructed our 'itinerary' & printed it out. I also made copies of info on meals & dining, sleeping accomodations, the stations we will use, the route guides, the schedules. I then compiled them, starting with Salt Lake, then Sacramento, ending with Olympia, separating them with paper clips. I even printed out activies & restaurant info for Sacramento, based on closeness to the train station. If you are taking children, you may want to print out a copy of the route map for them to mark off the cities as you go through them.

Feb 18, 2009- My husband recieved a worriesome call today. He had gone into the ER complaining of pain in his left side about a month ago. They called it 'Pleuresy', but said he had a small spot on his lung. He was retested w/ct scan last week & they said there were more spots, needing more tests, & mentioning the 'C' word. We have an appt for him on Feb 26th, with a Pulmonologist. I have been upset at times about the bad possibilities of this, but am praying that God will spare his life again. He still wants to go in this trip, & so do I. If at all possible, we will still go, even if we have to change the date.

Monday, Feb 23-The 'plan' is to purchase the tickets this Friday, the 27th. The total cost was $2,133.50, until I checked this morning. One of the bedroom prices went up again, so now it's $2,229.50. We can still afford it, but I am not impressed with the way Amtrak changes their prices with the 'bucket system'. The only way I can figure to get a better price is to plan and purchase11 months ahead. I noticed that all of the 'family bedrooms' are already sold out, which doesn't affect us, but tells me others have planned this far ahead too. We still have 4 months & 1 week before the trip. We don't have any credit cards, so we have been saving for the trip.

Wednesday, Feb 25th-Last night I got some pretty bad news. My brother apparently has cancer. It has spread to Lung & Liver, and they have given him 3-4 months. It seems like the world is crashing in around us, but I know that God is still in control, whatever & whenever things happen.

Thursday, Feb 26th-Had the Dr appt for hubby. They didn't seem to be overly concerned. They did not order any tests except TB. They think he might be aspirating food into his lungs..I'm hoping they're right. We go back for another CT in 6 weeks.

Friday, Feb 27th-Purchased the tickets with bedrooms for each train online. The countdown has begun!

Train #5, California Zephyr, will depart from Salt Lake City, Ut. heading west (if on time) 11:30 pm, Tuesday night, June 30. We are in Car 531, bedroom E. We are scheduled to arrive in Sacramento, Ca July 1st, at 3:13 pm (Wednesday). We will have a layover of approx 8 1/2 hours. There is the California Railroad Museum within walking distance of the station, as well as stores & places to eat.

http://www.csrmf.org/ (museum website)

Now where was I? Back to the itinerary. We will the board #14, the Coast Starlight from Sacramento, Ca, going north at 11:59pm (I see a pattern here) on Wednesday night. We are in Car 1431, bedroom D. We should arrive in Olympia, Wa, around 6:22pm, July 2nd (Thursday).

We will then spend 9 days there & reverse the train trip. Going back it will be:

#11 Coast Starlight, leaving Olympia on July 11, at 11:21 am Saturday. We will be in Car 1131, bedroom D. We should arrive in Sacramento on July 12th, at 6:15am (Sunday). We will then have another layover of approx 4 1/2 hours, then board the #6 California Zephyr at 11:09 am. We wil be in Car 632, bedroom E. We will arrive back in Salt Lake City July 13th, 4:05am, Monday.

April 9th- My brother passed away this evening. He hid how very sick he was from me & even my mom. I will still have to wait until hubby has his Dr appt to see if he is ok. Mom has decided to cremate rather than get a coffin & stuff-cost was the major issue.

April 16th-Went to the Dr with hubby; whatever was going on in his lungs is gone!!!!!! The Dr. was worried that it was an atypical type of cancer that responds to antibiotics, then comes back.

April 19th- my mom says that my brother's daughter won't be back until the 7th, I have a feeling this memorial for my brother will be on my birthday. After talking to mom several times over the past few days, I confirmed that the memorial will be held at the Veterans Cemetary on May 15th, (my birthday). Mom said that was set up by the funeral director & Cemetary. Oh well, I get to go to So Cal for my birthday.

May 18th-Back from California. It was a nice memorial, his kids, one ex wife, mom, hubby, me & the neighbors. They did the flag folding, taps, but no gun salute. It was good for hubby, first funeral he has gone to since Viet Nam. He even got up & spoke a little. It was also a good dry run on packing & reaffirmed why we don't want to fly anymore. The train rides willl be so much nicer. He is starting to get excited about the trip.

June 14- 16 days until the trip. There will be a detour on the California Zephyr starting July 1st, but it won't affect our train trip at all. The detour happens from denver, co & detours thru wyoming, ending in Ogden, Ut, not Salt Lake. Most everything is bought & packed.

June 30th-The day has arrived! I know I have over packed (what's new), but I also know that I will use most of it. Some will stay in Washington, with the relatives because they are gifts. We brought some books, a dvd, & some local wine for them. I am trying to keep from being impatient while waiting. The suitcases are full! I was not able to get an immersion heater for the french presses, so I will try to get hot water onboard.

Got to the station at 10:00pm, the westbound California Zephyr is running 20 minutes late. Not bad considering it has been up to 5 hours late recently. Hubby went & got the tickets, and we waited. The train showed up at 11:20pm, we boarded about 15 minutes later. Hubby did get video of the train arriving. We will post them as soon as I can. Upon boarding, I apologized to our attendant, Isaac, for having so many bags. He was fine with it, even ok with carrying two of them up to the room. Our bedroom was all set up by out attendant, Isaac. Nice guy. 30 year veteran with Amtrak. I would find this to be the norm on Amtrak. I asked Isaac about hot water & he said we could get it in the diner when it opened up at 6:30. We settled into our bedroom for the first leg of the trip, bedroom E. We had some cheese, watched the scenery for a bit in the dark & went to bed. The bedroom was a bit smaller than I expected..no matter. In the morning I moved the two big bags into the bathroom for storage. I've nicknamed this bedroom the velveteen rabbit.. It needed just a little tlc, the door curtain was shredded close to the upper bunk and should be replaced. The toliet had been sealed/repaired previously but the repair needed to be done again. In our rush to get on, we did not write down the consist. I'm pretty sure it was a Superliner I, there was no orange inside, but it was the older design as far as cabinets, fixtures, etc. In the middle of the night, I noticed a smell I could not quite identify. :huh: More on that later. Our sleeper was pretty full, so Isaac seemed to be pretty busy most of the time. He was really prompt about getting the coffee going the next morning. We woke up, & they announced the first stop. The first stop was Winnemucca. It was a fresh air/smoke stop/crew change. We were all warned to make sure we board promptly, and not to make a mess with the cigarette butts. After we reboarded, we grabbed some coffee & grabbed some, & had a nice conversation with a couple of guys around the Coffeemaker, got dressed. then made reservations for breakfast in the diner & wandered down to the Sightseer Car for a bit to wait to be called. It had paint peeling off the walls! It was a little while, then we went to breakfast. We sat with a couple who were in the sleepers too, but they lived in different states! She lived in Nevada, he in Oklahoma(?). Hubby had the breakfast burrito, I had egg(s), sausage, grits, biscuit & potatoes. There was only one egg on my plate, & hubby never did find any chorizo in that burrito. We did get Mt Dew to go. We went back to the bedroom to recover from breakfast, but the beds were not set up to the daytime configuration. Isaac said he didn't know we had gone to breakfast yet. Isaac, even though he was busy, checked on us regularly & there was always ice available in an ice chest right outside our door.

Watching the scenery go by was very relaxing, & the next thing I knew, hubby was dozing on the sofa. It was good to see him so relaxed!! The next stop was the trench in Reno & another smoke/fresh air break. I could get used to this, I was thinking. I learned later it would be the last smoke stop of our journey. When we reboarded, I peeked in the downstairs shower. The shower stall was also covered with what looked like peeling paint, like the sightseer car. They started taking reservations for lunch soon after. We did ours at 12:00, knowing that the Zephyr was on it's last leg of it's journey across the country, & would be running out of some selections. I had the tropical chicken salad. It was good, & filling. Hubby had the hunter's special over rice. The couple seemed nice enough until hubby accidentally spilled his pepsi. Then their friendly attitude disappeared. :unsure: We finished up & returned to our room. I packed all our stuff up & waited for the final stop. I visited the bathroom near the coffee station, & identified the odor from the night before. It needed cleaning! :huh: I had packed some febreze & sprayed it, that helped some. I did not pull out the disinfectant spray, which would have been better. We pulled into Sacramento one hour early! 

We were able to store our bags at the station, but it was so hot & hubby was pretty overwhelmed, so we got a hotel room across from the station at the Vagabond, took a nap & shower. We then went around the corner to a Denny's for dinner, collected our stuff, & headed across the street to the Amtrak Station to wait for our second train, the northbound Coast Starlight! 

I really wanted to go over to old sacramento & cruise around, but it was too hot & hubby was a bit overwhelmed. But that's okay, it was still fun. Overall, the first trip was pretty good except for the condition of the sleeper. I think that the sleeper attendants really have their hands full, especially when the sleeper is so full. They really should have two attendants per sleeper car. Thanks for reading, stayed tuned for the rest of the story!! Thanks to all of you here & trainweb.com for your advice & info!!! :lol:


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## jackal (Jul 14, 2009)

Awesome!! Glad your first trip went comparatively well! I will be waiting for the second part!!


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## pennyk (Jul 14, 2009)

Thank you for your interesting post. I am curious as to whether the bedrooms were in the front of the car or at the rear of the car on the CZ? I will be taking the CZ next year and I understand it is the luck of the draw - but I hope to determine which is more likely.


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## the_traveler (Jul 14, 2009)

Great report! It's always good to hear from someone taking Amtrak for the first time, or for the first time in a long time.



pennyk said:


> I am curious as to whether the bedrooms were in the front of the car or at the rear of the car on the CZ? I will be taking the CZ next year and I understand it is the luck of the draw - but I hope to determine which is more likely.


It really is the luck of the draw. When I was on the EB last year, there were 3 sleepers. One had roomettes first, while the other 2 were bedrooms first!


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## JayPea (Jul 14, 2009)

I enjoyed your report. I took the CZ from Chicago to Sacramento in March and stayed at the Vagabond Inn too. Didn't eat at Denny's though they had a good seafood sale going on at the time and I love my seafood.

I'm looking forward to your second part!


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## sunchaser (Jul 14, 2009)

pennyk said:


> Thank you for your interesting post. I am curious as to whether the bedrooms were in the front of the car or at the rear of the car on the CZ? I will be taking the CZ next year and I understand it is the luck of the draw - but I hope to determine which is more likely.


They were towards the front, the sofa was facing forward, the direction we were traveling. I forgot to add that to the report. It will be included in the next ones. It was so fun!


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## pennyk (Jul 14, 2009)

sunchaser said:


> pennyk said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you for your interesting post. I am curious as to whether the bedrooms were in the front of the car or at the rear of the car on the CZ? I will be taking the CZ next year and I understand it is the luck of the draw - but I hope to determine which is more likely.
> ...


Thank you. 

I am looking forward to your next post. How hot was it in Sacramento?


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## sunchaser (Jul 15, 2009)

pennyk said:


> sunchaser said:
> 
> 
> > pennyk said:
> ...


It was 95, but it seemed hotter. I think it was because we were tired & bit wound up from the first ride. It wasn't really stressful, I think it was the build up & all the stuff that happened before we went.


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## Shanghai (Jul 15, 2009)

Super report. Thank you.


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