{"id":34,"date":"2006-10-19T07:13:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-19T06:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/?p=34"},"modified":"2007-06-01T08:37:53","modified_gmt":"2007-06-01T07:37:53","slug":"amtrak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/19\/amtrak\/","title":{"rendered":"Amtrak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday<\/span>
\nWoke up early and after coffee started to pack. Got everything into the two bags (who got all this crap?) and was ready to go quite early. So sat and talked with Karen.<\/p>\n

We got to the Metra train station early in plenty of time for the train we needed and rode into Chicago to get our Amtrak tickets and get sorted. Had a lunch, sort of Chinese Cajin, at Union Station before going to the first class lounge to wait for our train (can you believe we’re traveling first class? Neither can we.) We got lead to the train from the lounge.<\/p>\n

Our little roomette is, well, little. It’s two seats facing each other and there are roomettes either side of the central corridor. If you ever decide to do this trip, and are in a roomette (we aren’t sure about the bedrooms), we recommend packing a small day sack for the three days and checking your larger bags. There is luggage storage in the carriage but it’s by the door and I’m not sure how well attended it is. We’ve managed to fit in our two rucksacks but it’s a bit of a juggle. At night the two seats fold down to form one bed (a mattress even gets put on them) and the other bed drops down from the top. The seats are comfortable and as we’re on the top deck we have as good a view of the scenery as the lounge car. We have coffee and water in our carriage and a very nice attendant. It’s just freezing cold and the heating in the roomette doesn’t seem to be working.<\/p>\n

We leave Chicago station and guess what our very first stop was? The very same Metra station we’d left from that morning. So Karen you were right, we probably could have caught the train there!<\/p>\n

We mainly sat in our little room and watched the scenery go by. Lots and lots of corn fields and little farm houses. The Mississippi River was lovely although it was rainy and cloudy as we went over it. In fact it was rainy and cloudy the entire day.<\/p>\n

Dinner was by reservation and being in a sleeping car our dinner is included. It wasn’t the finest of cuisine but it was good. Then to bed.<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/span>
\nIt was freezing while trying to sleep. It is probably the coldest train I have ever been on and, yes, even Joe thinks it’s too cold. [Joe: not too cold, I’ve been on colder.] He even got out of the top bunk, where the cold air was blowing on him, to crawl into the bottom bunk with me. Not enough room really but it was warmer that way. The toilet is the only warm space and I’m very tempted to sleep in there tonight!<\/p>\n

We stopped in Denver quite early so have an hour here. Was hoping to find a wireless signal but no such luck so everyone will just have to wait for the update. That is if we don’t freeze to death first!<\/p>\n

Joe: I popped out of the train and walked down the platform to the station. Poked my head out of the station onto the main street. Nothing amazing to see from there.<\/p>\n

Later Tuesday:
\nLeft Denver in grey overcast weather and started the climb into the Colorado Rockies. Joe and I headed for the lounge car for the view. Lovely climb though the dim light and grey clouds meant we couldn’t see much. We went up into the clouds and it started to snow. Blowing horizontal snow. So really couldn’t see far at all; but it was pretty, rocks covered in snow and the river. Through loads of tunnels and finally to the Moffat Tunnel, 6.2 miles and about 15 minutes to go through. Went into the tunnel with clouds and fog and snow and came out the other end into bright sunshine – everyone in the lounge car clapped. Went through Winter Park and stopped in Fraser. Beautiful weather and great views of the Rockies. Following the Colorado River for about 200 miles now and I’m typing while enjoying the view.<\/p>\n

Actually we were following the Fraser River. Stopped in Granby and now we’re going to follow the Colorado into Utah. Have a while between stops now and are losing the sun. Still have some blue sky but also have a lot of clouds. Hopefully we won’t go back to a dreary sort of day.<\/p>\n

No such luck. Got gradually more clouded until it started raining. But we still saw lots. I’ll let you fill in loads of boring descriptions of lovely mountain scenery. The scenery also changed from granite grey stone to the red and pink stone. Very pretty. We even saw some wildlife – lots of ducks and deer, some buffalo (which probably weren’t wild actually) and lots of birds, some of which may have been bald eagles. Joe was in photo heaven though I don’t think he actually got much. We also saw lots of farms including horses, cows, and llamas!<\/p>\n

When the rain really started we left the lounge car and sat in our room for a while. Ended up taking a nap. The train stopped for a while due to a broken signal. It was quite funny to us as the car attendant went through the carriage explaining what that meant; we also got the conductor on the PA system explaining what a broken signal was (‘like a broken traffic light’). When our attendant asked if we knew what it meant we just laughed – how often am I late because of broken signals?!<\/p>\n

And we finally have heat! Don’t know what the attendant did, must have kicked it or hit it with a hammer, but it is finally warm! Hurray!<\/p>\n

Even later:
\nJoe: More scenery. Saw the sun set over Utah and the mesa. Lovely colours and shapes. The lounge car attendant explained that the VCR was broken (for the second time) in his unique style by saying ‘The video tonight *was* going to be; did you get that *was*?’. So we watched the sun set in the west [Kathleen: be funny if it set in the east.] and got called to dinner about 7.45pm (for a half 7 reservation). [Please note, if you ride the train that the dinner reservation times are a suggestion only as they seem to be very short staffed.] Returned to the room to sleep – this time with heat. [Kathleen: yea boy! It’s warm!]<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/span>
\nSlept better last night as it was warmer. Woke up quite early and opened the curtains to watch the stars; Joe came down and watched the sun rise with me. Very pretty, though overall Nevada is a bit flat and boring. The train is now running very late. As the rails are maintained by the freight companies the freight trains have right of way, so Amtrak is always running late. One person said it always runs between 2 and 7 hours late. Someone else said they send managers over to Europe to learn how to run the system. I guess they’ve been sending them to Britain.<\/p>\n

And the train was only about 4 hours late into Emeryville!<\/p>\n

Top tips for traveling Amtrak:<\/span>
\nIf you are traveling in a roomette pack a small bag for the three days and check larger luggage as the roomette is very small. Bedrooms are slightly larger and coach seats are large but there isn’t much storage at all there.
\nBreakfast gets crowded in the dining car. Joe and I would just get something from the cafe in the lounge car. If you really want a hot breakfast get to the dining car for the time they tell you the night before – there aren’t any dining call announcements for breakfast until the dining car is full.
\nTake snacks. The food on board is very expensive.
\nDon’t smoke. You can’t smoke on board the train and smoking stops are very infrequent. Combine this with the late running of the train and you’ll probably find yourself giving up smoking.
\nTake shoes that are easy to put on and off as you have to wear shoes all the time (except in your room or by your seat). Slippers are probably ideal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday Woke up early and after coffee started to pack. Got everything into the two bags (who got all this crap?) and was ready to go quite early. So sat and talked with Karen. We got to the Metra train station early in plenty of time for the train we needed and rode into Chicago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4T97-amtrak","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/20\/san-francisco\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":0},"title":"San Francisco","date":"Friday, 20 October 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Right, the California Zephyr was a bit over 4 hours late. So we packed our stuff, checked our little roomette, and made sure we were ready to leave. The train stops in Emeryville and you then get a coach over to San Francisco - our driver told us that in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":148,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/10\/a-room-with-a-view\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":1},"title":"A Room with a View","date":"Thursday, 10 April 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Well we made it and for some photos check out Joe's Panoramio section. Or his Google web album. First stop St Pancreas which is lovely. I had my first real walk and gawp around the station since it's been redone and it is quite nice. We also got to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":298,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/16\/last-day-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":2},"title":"Last day","date":"Wednesday, 16 September 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Slept in again (we are on holiday) but up early enough to have breakfast at the hotel. We were at the end of the breakfast rush and it was a zoo. Not a lot left after the hordes had cleared it out for their lunches! But we had coffee and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2825,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/17\/training-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":3},"title":"Training","date":"Saturday, 17 September 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So up yesterday and off to the station. Had breakfast at the station, found our platform, and settled in to wait for the train. Which didn't come. Due to a 'technical fault' it was running half an hour late. So panic, because that meant we'd miss our connection at K\u00f6ln,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Frog Blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":438,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/13\/a-rib-too-far\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":4},"title":"A Rib Too Far","date":"Tuesday, 13 September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"And we're back and traveling again. Though not far - just Amsterdam and, hopefully, Delft. Up far too early this morning for the very full train to Brussels and onward to Amsterdam. Nifty train from Brussels - one of the old style with compartments and corridor and seats that slide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":514,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/08\/sunshine-and-rain\/","url_meta":{"origin":34,"position":5},"title":"Sunshine and rain","date":"Sunday, 8 July 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We planned for a later train to Esbjerg - 12.25. So up and coffee at the hotel then checked out and headed out to the station. Got there in plenty of time to have a danish while waiting for the train. Then found the proper spot on the platform to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}