LOS ANGELES — Looking for a roomy and relaxing alternative to the road trip? Amtrak's Coast Starlight carries you across 14-hundred miles in about a day and a half. This week my 14-year-old son, Cooper, and I will take the scenic route home to Seattle.
Our journey begins at one of the last of the great American railway stations, Union Station in Los Angeles. It's a little after 10 AM on a Tuesday as our train pulls away.
For a nearly four-hour stretch, the train hugs the California coastline.
“I see beautiful oceans, some breaking waves, some seaweed and some fog banks rolling in,” says Alan Melrose of Kent. He and his wife Beverly are celebrating their 50th Anniversary in the observation car. We still have 30 hours to go.
“I'm retired,” says Melrose. “She is almost retired, and time is not the issue anymore.”
That’s probably a good attitude when it comes to taking the train. Cooper and I are sharing a roomette in a Sleeper Car. The chairs can be lowered and turned into a bed. My bunk is up above. The bathroom is down the hall and so is the shower.
The scenery is always changing. We pass a prison at 4 PM and a marine reserve full of wild birds and otters three hours later.
At 8 PM, 10 hours into the trip, we stop in San Jose, the largest city in Northern California. Some of us may feel like we’ve been on the train all day but we still have 24 hours to go before we get to Seattle.
The bunks are lowered during the stop. I actually fit in the upper berth and I'll get some fitful sleep. When the train stops in Sacramento at midnight, a noisy family moves into the bedroom next door. My son groans out of exasperation as the new kids play on their creaking beds, but eventually, the whole car falls asleep.
The next morning we cross into Oregon and I meet a Terry Young and his wife Kitty Connolly of Pasadena. They’re using up their Amtrak credit card miles on this vacation to Seattle.
“I am on the train for the experience,” says Connolly. “I want to slow down. I want to be out of touch.”
You can hang out alone as much as you want to, but at meals, you'll sit down across from fellow passengers.
“Here you get to meet a variety of people,” says Connolly. “Pretty much everyone is in a good mood. They are having a good time. We've met a lot of interesting people already on the train.”
It’s true. I met a professor, a professional musician, a pastor, a nurse and a couple of pilots at meals.
Not quite 29 hours into the trip, everything begins to look familiar. That’s when I hear the announcement “Next station stop coming up in a few moments will be Portland Union Station,”
Home is just a few hours away. After another scenic stretch, passing Steilacoom and beneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, we race along my commuter train corridor, entering King Street Station on time, just before 8 PM. Your results may vary.
This is when you get off the train and you say goodbye to everybody that you have met. After 34 hours of making friends and enjoying a very relaxed vibe, I've decided I'd do it again.
And when I do, Cooper says he wants to come along.
“It was a great trip,” he said. “Very relaxing. Great scenery.”
Thinking about doing the trip yourself? It will cost you as low as $98 for a coach seat. A roomette like the one I slept in costs as little as $378 and comes with free meals in the dining car. You can even upgrade to a bedroom with a shower which will cost as low as $700.
Travel and accommodations provided by Amtrak. KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.