Day Two
Amtrak First Class ~ Lake Shore Limited ~ Enroute through Ohio, Indiana & Illinois ~ Arr. 1010a
Amtrak First Class ~ California Zephyr ~ Chicago, IL to Emeryville, CA ~ Dep. 230p

When I awoke we were cruising along at what felt like the maximum allowable speed of 79 mph. We dashed past fields as trees and telephone poles flashed by. Way up ahead I could hear the distant wail of the horn as we sped past the flashing lights and clanging bells of various road crossings. It felt really cool to be lying in bed feeling the vibrations associated with our high speed transit while watching the land rush by and at the same time listening to the unrelenting clickety clack as we raced down the tracks.

It was approaching 7:30am and if I didn’t get going soon I’d miss the last call for breakfast. We’d been advised the night before that the sit down service would end after 8:00am so that the crew could prepare for our arrival into Chicago. The café however would continue to serve until 8:30am.

Eh – what’s the rush? I’m on vacation here. I can always buy a sandwich in the café or later at Chicago’s Union Station. In the meantime, complimentary coffee and juice were available in the service area of my car. Additionally, I had a couple of granola bars stashed somewhere in my daypack. That’d get me started. That – and a hot shower.

I was just getting ready to pad down to the service area for that first cup of coffee when Terrell stopped by with a cheerful “Good Morning”. He said it would take him less than two minutes to convert my roomette to its daytime configuration, so I threw on some lounge pants and left him to it while heading down the hall to fetch that coffee. A shower followed about a half hour later and as things ultimately played out I was satisfied enough with my comfortable seat, coffee and granola bars that I decided against the six-car long trek up to the one working café/lounge car.

Arrival into Chicago was on a sunny but otherwise blustery day. I watched as the wind blew through the distant trees, thankful for the warmth of my climate controlled roomette. We pulled into Union Station about five minutes early and once again I was faced with a long walk down the length of the train to get into the arrivals area. Terrell helped me off with my bag and, having noticed my uneven gait throughout the trip, asked if I’d like a ride into the station on the electric cart. Sure, why not?

I thanked Terrell for his fine service and left him with a nice tip. Given the minimal amount of service I typically require in the sleeping car, I usually tip about $10 to $15 per day for sleeping car attendants but since all I had in my wallet were some twenties and a couple of ones, Terrell got the big tip. I suppose I could’ve asked for change but he really did do a great job and as one who works in a tip-able capacity and has enjoyed many a $20.00 gratuity on my job, well, if only for the benefit of good karma I reckon it’s good to return the favor now and then. My pair of spare one dollar bills went to the cart attendant who was kind enough to drop me off at the entrance to Amtrak’s Metropolitan Lounge.




This lounge opened in June of 2016 and as with other Metropolitan Lounges is available to sleeping car and Business Class passengers only. Though not as ornate as its counterparts in Boston and Washington DC, it’s a considerable improvement over this station’s old Metropolitan Lounge with its low ceilings, pale green carpet and beige chairs. This new lounge is also more than twice the size of the old lounge at 13,500 square-feet with seating for 360. Here are a couple of pictures from the Amtrak website which look much better than mine.



Chicago’s Metropolitan Lounge
Photo courtesy of Amtrak


Chicago’s Metropolitan Lounge
Photo courtesy of Amtrak



Chicago’s Metropolitan Lounge
Photo courtesy of Amtrak


An Amtrak customer service representative inspected my ticket and welcomed me in. Baggage storage was available but unlike the old lounge was not in a staffed facility. You simply leave your bag in an open dedicated storage room and hope for the best. Of course, this approach is standard in most airline lounges but the difference is that they are on the other side of security. Still, I elected to roll the dice and take my chances, a decision which ultimately worked out just fine.

My first attempt at visiting this lounge was last year. Unfortunately, upon entering I discovered that my wallet was missing. It had either fallen out of my daypack or was pickpocketed (likely the former) but either way I was left with nothing but a train ticket and $1.25 in my pocket along with First Class tickets on a train departing in less than an hour. The result of that situation was that I spent the rest of my visit to Union Station trying to see if my wallet had been turned in (Good luck with that! ) and chatting with the police. Ultimately, I boarded my train (where meals were included) and when I went through Denver the next morning I was met by my nephew who brought me $300.00 and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Just the basics, thanks!

This time things went much better. A quick inspection of the lounge revealed two levels offering a variety of rooms and seating areas, some with high ceilings and large picture windows that provided a view directly into Union Station’s Great Hall. Modern light fixtures had replaced the uninspired recessed can lighting of the old lounge, and a variety of comfortable chairs and sofas provided much improved seating. An island in the food service area was stocked with fresh vegetables, cheese and the usual Amtrak packaged snacks. A wine tasting was offered later in the afternoon. Clean and spacious bathrooms were located down a side hallway and I was told that a shower room was also available though I did not take advantage of it.

I had no plans to meet anybody during my four hour layover, but I did have one chore I needed to accomplish. With a fifty-two hour train ride ahead of me, alcohol would be required. Across the street from Union Station is a CVS Pharmacy where beer and/or spirits can be purchased at very affordable prices. Now certainly, Amtrak sells liquor on board, but at fairly inflated prices. A single 50ml bottle of liquor will set you back $7.50. Throw in a $1 tip per transaction and three daily cocktails will cost you just over $25.00. Meanwhile, a 750ml bottle of Jack Daniels purchased at CVS can be had for just $29.00 with tax (less if it’s on sale) and that breaks down to fifteen 50ml cocktails for considerably less than the aggregate cost on Amtrak. That said, I’ve had many a trip where I’ve left as much as half an unfinished bottle of whisky behind in my room. No matter – I’ve still come out ahead compared to buying drinks individually.

In any event, I decided to have lunch first and so walked a couple of blocks to a nearby Chipotle Mexican Grill up on Monroe and Clinton. Afterwards, I stopped by the CVS, purchased my whisky and a couple sleeves of mixed nuts, and then made my way back to Union Station to await departure of my train – the westbound California Zephyr.


* * * _  _ * * *


The California Zephyr is far and away my favorite train in the Amtrak system. The name alone suggests a gentle Western breeze carrying you all the way out to The Promised Land. For many folks, this is a prospect as comforting as it is exciting. By comparison, an airline flight between Chicago and San Francisco provides a seat aboard a nameless Boeing or Airbus. Indeed, when it comes to train names, the railroads have it all over the airlines. I mean, consider the prospect of a trip aboard the “Twentieth Century Limited”, the “City of New Orleans” or the “Coast Starlight” as opposed to a ride on an “Airbus” or a “767 Luxuryliner” upon which debatable luxury is extended to only a small fraction of its total passengers. A ride on a train can be an integral and enjoyable part of the journey whereas a flight on a plane is usually just that - a flight.

My first ever long distance train ride came aboard the original California Zephyr back in 1969. I was on my way from Denver to a river rafting camp outside of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The Zephyr was in its final year of independent operation prior to the nationalization of the nation’s passenger railroads and the arrival of Amtrak. The six hour 190 mile ride up through the Rocky Mountains and the canyons of the Colorado River was a magical experience that only served to reinforce in me a passion for train travel that still burns hot to this day.



The original California Zephyr climbing into the Rocky Mountains


Since that memorable day in 1969, I’ve logged an additional 23 rides totaling over 35000 miles specifically aboard the California Zephyr. To me the major attraction of this train is the spectacular landscape it travels through. I can think of no other long distance train in North America – including Canada’s famous streamliner The Canadian – that offers such stunning and varied mountain scenery along its route. Be it the rolling plains of the Midwest to the dramatic mountains and canyons of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and California’s Sierras, the California Zephyr has it all.

Here is a map of the Zephyr’s route:



The route of the California Zephyr


I should note here that because I’ve ridden the California Zephyr and Coast Starlight so many times before, I have at least a couple hundred photos from past trips. Rather than add more pictures that would be essentially near duplicates of those I already have, my focus for this trip was more toward enjoying the ride than taking pictures. As such, most of the pictures I’ll use for this part of the trip will have been taken from other rides aboard these two trains. The scenery and even the weather conditions depicted will be almost identical to what I experienced on this trip.

Boarding for the California Zephyr was announced in the lounge about twenty minutes prior to departure. An electric cart was made available for those who might need it, while an Amtrak employee would provide an escort from the lounge directly out to the train. Amtrak sleeping car accommodations are popular with elderly travelers, many of whom have infirmities that are well served by the electric cart service. The initial cart filled up fast with the promise that another would be along shortly. Meanwhile, the escorted group was ready to make their way out to the train so I just got in line with them and hobbled along on out to the train.

Sleeper cars are located toward the front of the train on most of Amtrak’s bi-level Superliners and today’s train was no exception. I found myself wishing I’d waited for that second or third cart after all as we were led past three coaches, the Sightseer Lounge Car, the dining car and two sleepers before arriving at my car, the 532 Sleeper.



California Zephyr – All Aboard!


Standing at the door with a clipboard bearing the passenger manifest was my car attendant Maria. She had a pretty face and a ready smile as she checked my name against her manifest and then welcomed me aboard. As we stepped into the downstairs entry area, she offered to take my bag and show me to my room. I thanked her for the offer but let her know that I was a veteran of many rides aboard Amtrak’s Superliners – enough so that my assigned room - #11, located downstairs and to the left – was actually my longtime favorite aboard Amtrak’s Superliners.



Roomette 11 – First door on the left


Each Amtrak bi-level Superliner Sleeper is outfitted with 14 Roomettes, 5 Deluxe bedrooms, 1 Family bedroom and one Handicapped bedroom. Four roomettes along with the Family and Handicapped bedrooms are located downstairs. Although most people are excited about the prospect of a seat or bedroom high on the upper level of Amtrak’s Superliner fleet, I prefer a lower level room for two reasons. First, the downstairs rooms are quieter because there is much less foot traffic passing by your door. All the inter-car traffic is upstairs. Secondly, riding in the lower level of the car results in much less tilt motion than is experienced on the upper levels. Like a fulcrum point on a seesaw, the ride is smoother down closer to the tracks.

The roomettes measure 3’6” by 6’6” and are accessed via a sliding glass door. During the day they offer two wide opposite facing seats that fold together to become a bed at night. Above them is a fold-down upper berth. Other amenities include four separate lights, an electrical outlet, a tall mirror, a fold out table, a small open closet with hangers and a thermostat which I immediately turned to its lowest level. Best of all, each compartment has its own huge window, approximately 2’ X 5’, through which to view the passing scenery. Toilet and shower facilities are down the hall. For a single traveler, I think these roomettes are quite sufficient and comfortable which is a good thing because they would be my home for the next three nights.

At my seat were two big fluffy pillows and two hangars. On the center console where the table is stored were two bottles of water and a variety of pamphlets about the train. There was a route guide, a timetable, Amtrak’s excellent magazine The National and a brochure describing the train and its various services and attractions. Also provided was a safety card much like you’d see aboard an airliner.



Roomette in daytime configuration


I hung my jacket and then grabbed my camera and stepped off the train for a couple of photos. Train travel is exciting stuff with plenty of sights, sounds and smells to stimulate the senses. Amtrak’s bi-level Superliner cars are huge, towering above those of us standing down on the platform.



Huge Superliner Car


Stepping back onboard the train, I headed upstairs to take a few pictures of the upper level facilities and accommodations. The best time to take pictures onboard a train is when it’s standing in the station. There’s no vibration which definitely contributes to some better quality photographs.

At the top of the stairway is the service area for each car. In the morning, juice and coffee are available from this area. Ice is occasionally available depending upon the car attendant, although they’ll always be happy to bring you some upon request as well.



Service Area


On one end of the upper level are ten more roomettes. On the opposite end are the deluxe bedrooms. I paused to take a picture of one.



Deluxe Bedroom


Returning downstairs to the lower level, I fired off a couple of photos of the family bedroom and the shower room.



Family Bedroom


Shower Suite


Shower Suite


As more passengers continued to board, I headed back to my roomette and began to prepare for the long journey ahead. I unpacked my blanket, kicked off my shoes, rearranged my pillows to provide some enhanced lumbar support and then pulled out my book and one of the magazines. Now comfortably ensconced with my seat nicely reclined, I settled in and awaited our departure.

It wasn’t long before the “All Aboard!” call rang out, the doors were closed, the step stools stowed and with a slight shudder we slowly accelerated out of the station. Emeryville was 2440 miles to the west, 52 hours away.


* * * _  _ * * *


Rather than get into a mile by mile accounting of all the enroute scenery through Illinois and Iowa, I’m going to instead focus on the onboard experience of riding First Class on the Zephyr.

Shortly after we’d rolled through the Chicago suburb of Naperville, the dining car steward - a rather brusque no-nonsense type named Jesse - came through the sleeping cars taking dinner reservations. Due to popular demand, dinner is always by reservation on Amtrak’s diners. Luncheon occasionally is if the passenger load warrants it while breakfast is always first come first served.

Aside from the privacy of your own compartment and a bed to sleep on, the best thing about traveling First Class on Amtrak is that all meals in the dining car are included in the fare. This means you may order anything you want, from the most expensive steak dinner to a side of breakfast meat with your morning omelet. Dessert and non-alcoholic beverages are also included. Beer and wine are extra, however.

Dinner tonight was offered in three settings – 5:30pm, 6:15pm and 7:00pm. There’s also a last call at about 7:45pm for anyone that for whatever reason didn’t make one of the first two seatings. This includes people who boarded late in places like Burlington, Iowa. I opted for the 7:00pm seating and was handed a voucher with the time written on it. I’ve never had anyone demand to see that voucher upon my arrival in the dining car but Jesse’s demeanor suggested I’d better not lose it and I’d better be on time.

Scheduling of the California Zephyr is designed to provide passengers with optimal viewing of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada Mountains during daylight hours. The plains states and the deserts of Utah and Eastern Nevada are crossed at night. Although many consider the scenery between Chicago and Denver boring, I’ve always been impressed by the many picturesque hamlets we passed while rolling through western Illinois. These settlements reminded me of folk art pictures of life in the 1800s. I’ve not seen anything quite like them anywhere else in America. Thanks to the longer days of late spring, the sun sat low in the sky as we crossed a 2000 foot bridge over the Mississippi River. During the winter months darkness obscures this view.



Iowa wetlands at sunset


Shortly after seven, the call rang out over the train’s PA system advising those with 7:00pm dinner reservations to please make their way forward to the diner. I put my shoes on, dragged a brush through my hair and my way to the diner located two cars back.



Amtrak Superliner Dining Car


I was initially seated at a table by myself but was soon joined by Horst and Michael, two guys from Germany who were traveling around America on a rail pass. The fourth seat remained empty as did two empty tables across from us. Clearly, most passengers had opted to eat earlier. I generally do as well but I’d had a late lunch in Chicago and given that this was the first of two nights on the train I wasn’t worried about any food items running out.



California Zephyr Menu


Menus were presented and I was thankful to see that some of the culinary austerity measures implemented by current Amtrak president Richard Anderson (Formerly of Delta Airlines) have not yet been seen on the long distance western trains. Hopefully they never will. I was also pleased to see that this menu incorporated some new dishes previously unseen aboard Amtrak diners. One of the downsides to Amtrak’s menus is that they haven’t really changed much over the past fifteen years. Breakfast, lunch and dinner have all revolved around the same four or five main courses with only a few regional exceptions, such as those offered aboard trains like the Coast Starlight or the City of New Orleans. This menu however offered some nice new dishes such as the Chef’s Special of Indian Spiced Shrimp Biryani or a vegetarian option of Butternut Squash Risotto. I applaud this culinary diversity and can only hope that it might contribute to enhancing the overall quality of travel aboard Amtrak enough so that people might spread the word and consider riding the train more often.

While guys like me who actually like the slower, relaxed pace of rail travel will always find a way to enjoy the trip regardless of food options, for many others a meal in the dining car goes a long way toward breaking up what for them is the monotony of rail travel. Be it a good meal or the social interaction of the shared travel experience, dinner in the diner is one of life’s great travel experiences.

So overall I think this is a good menu offering a decent variety of foods. The prices do seem a bit high relative to portion size, though. Case in point would be the Thyme Roasted Chicken Breast. It used to be that $18-22.00 would get you an entire half chicken. I saw one of the wait staff pass by with a chicken breast dinner and it didn’t look all that large. The steak is only about 8oz and for $14.00 more, all you get with the Land & Sea entrée is a 3” wide crab cake. I was thankful that the cost of the meals was included in my fare. Alas, Horst and Michael were not as lucky as they were traveling in the coach section. Then again, Michael explained that given the value of the Euro against our U.S. dollar and compared to what they would have paid for similar fare aboard a European train, these prices were not so bad.

I had tried the Surf & Turf option while riding the Empire Builder last year and had found the crab cake to be a bit bland by my tastes. This time around I went with my old stand-by - a simple steak accompanied by a side salad and an iced tea. Horst ordered the Black Bean & Corn Veggie Burger from the luncheon menu while Michael opted for the Norwegian Salmon. It’s worth noting here that both the Black Bean and the Angus Beef burgers can be ordered as dinner entrées. They are the only items off the luncheon menu that can. Horst knew this from prior experience aboard Amtrak’s Capitol Limited which the guys had traveled aboard from Washington, DC into Chicago three days earlier.

I always enjoy trading travel stories and experiences with others and it’s harder to imagine a nicer setting than tonight’s dinner table as we sped westward through the twilight of a pretty evening in east-central Iowa. Horst and Michael had both grown up outside of Hamburg in northern Germany. They had known each other since their teenage years and were making their first big trip outside of Europe. Well, at least Michael was. Horst had been to Canada and America once before with his parents back in the late nineties, but as he was only eight years old at the time it felt like another lifetime, especially since he had little to no say in their day to day activities.

My salad was delivered, along with a basket of dinner rolls. I was pleased to see the salad included onions, tomatoes and croutons. Our conversation continued while I buttered a roll and applied a packet of Paul Newman’s zesty olive oil and Balsamic vinegar dressing to my salad. The guys were heading to Colorado for five days and then continuing on to California where they’d rent a car for a week and drive to Yosemite National Park and then down to Las Vegas before returning the car in Los Angeles. Michael explained that their original plan had been to drive California’s famous Highway 1 through Big Sur and on down the coast to LA but last May a huge landslide had deposited about six million tons of rock and dirt along a quarter mile section of the coastal highway in the Big Sur region and the highway was still closed.

From Los Angeles they’d booked seats on the Coast Starlight up to Seattle where they’d rented another car for a week of as yet undetermined travel around the region. They were thinking about the possibility of driving up to Canada. I recommended a drive around the Olympic Peninsula and/or perhaps a visit to Mt. Rainier National Park, but I assured them that the entire area is pretty enough that they’d have a great drive whichever route they took.

Our meals were presented and we wasted no time in tucking right into them. My steak was perfectly cooked, nicely flavored on the outside and reddish-pink throughout the inside. Michael’s salmon looked pretty good as well while Horst’s Black Bean & Corn Veggie Burger never fails to please. It is my favorite luncheon entrée, typically made that much tastier with the addition of a side of bacon.



The Amtrak Signature Steak


Dessert offerings included a chocolate raspberry tart with whipped cream, a pecan tart similarly adorned or a Greek yogurt cheesecake with a cinnamon graham cracker crust. They all sounded delicious but – diminutive 8oz steak notwithstanding – I was satisfyingly sated. So too were my dinner companions. I must be getting old because years ago I could have polished off a 16oz steak with salad bar, a full sized baked potato and dessert. Oddly enough, when flying International First Class I tend to eat a lot more – not so much because I’m any hungrier but rather because I want to try out as much as possible.

As dinner came to a conclusion, we discussed heading back to the lounge car for a bit. I have thousands of pictures from my travels loaded onto my laptop, including many from my drives around the American West. Given some of the driving that Michael and Horst had coming up along with a couple of suggestions I had that might enhance their travels (such as driving from Yosemite to Las Vegas via US 395 and Death Valley National Park rather than their projected route via Interstate 5), I asked if they’d be interested in seeing any pictures from some of the areas they might potentially be driving through. They were. It was only about 8:00pm and with the lounge car located just one car back, I suggested we meet there in ten minutes as I had to fetch my laptop (and Jack Daniels) which were back in my roomette.

Amtrak’s Sightseer Lounge cars are the finest modern day railroad lounge cars I have ever traveled in. In terms of lounges open to the general public, they are substantially better than anything I’ve ever experienced in Europe, Australia, Asia or South America. In fact, out of those aforementioned countries, Australia is the only whose trains even provided a dedicated lounge car on any of its trains.

Large glass windows along the sidewalls start at knee level and rise up a good five feet or so. Along the outside edges of the ceiling, curving down to the wall, are more large panes. Be it daylight or starlight, the view available through all that glass is impressive. This is especially true in mountainous terrain where the upper windows allow excellent viewing of the peaks or canyon walls above the train. Individual seats and small couches are available on one side of the car, while buffet style table seating is available on the other. In the middle of the lounge is a stairway leading down to a snack bar offering a wide variety of sandwiches, light meals, snack foods and beverages. More tables are also available down here.



Passengers enjoying the view in the lounge car


A close up of the swivel seats


Half of the upper deck is buffet seating


We found an empty booth at one end of the lounge. Each of these booths are outfitted with a/c outlets and good overhead lighting. On my way up to the lounge from my car, I had asked for a glass with ice from the dining car staff. As I discreetly poured myself a glass of whisky from my glass of as yet unopened Jack Daniels, I asked Horst and Michael if they’d like some. They both declined in favor of beers. Amtrak serves Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as its regional craft beer and they’d both liked it a lot during their trip from Washington DC to Chicago. That’s high praise coming from two citizens of a country as highly regarded for its beer brewing prowess as Germany. For many years mainstream American beer was some the weakest most watery swill on the planet. These days we have over 6000 microbrews – some of them as good as any beer on the planet. When I was in Australia last year I was surprised at how many Australians were unfamiliar with American beers outside of Budweiser and Miller. I say now to one and all visitors to our fair shores – it’s safe and worthwhile to try American beers again. Cheers!

Time flies when you’re having fun and before long it was time to call it a night. I had a good time chatting with Horst and Michael and hopefully provided them with some additional ideas and more importantly the confidence to get off the interstates and onto the smaller roads where the heart of American scenery and culture beats far stronger.

I arrived back at my compartment to find that Maria had already reconfigured it for nighttime use. The mattress was neatly laid out with blanket and pillows ready to go. The lower bunk mattresses measure 28” wide by about 6’6” long. The mattresses are not particularly thick and yet I’ve always slept really well on them, with the operative words being “on them”. I don’t get under the sheets and blanket. On a smaller mattress like that, getting under the sheets is too confining for me. I prefer to sleep under my big wool blanket which has plenty of space beneath it and keeps me supremely comfortable.



Amtrak’s Roomette Lower Bunk


I was thankful to see that Maria had also replenished my water bottles, one of which I opened to use for brushing my teeth. The car was comfortably cool but even so I turned my thermostat to its lowest setting before crawling under my big wool blanket. Amtrak’s roomettes have plenty of lights including a good bright reading light which can be adjusted. I polished off a couple chapters from my book of the week before turning the lights off and calling it a night.

I love being able to lie down in my own bed aboard a train that’s speeding through the night. It’s a very sensory experience where you can hear as well as feel the rhythmic cadence of your car’s motion as it rolls down the tracks. The occasional distant wail of the locomotive’s whistle is a lullaby that in combination with the aforementioned motion related sensations combines to create an environment surprisingly conducive to sleep. Here’s hoping that all of you who have read this far will get to experience this same luxury someday.