From San Jose, California to Portland, Maine and back

I’ve been planning this for a while now and I’m really close to booking now. It’s about high time, too - since they dates are set: March 18 - April 2. That’s only about a month from now!

So it looks like the routing will be as follows:
* San Jose to Portland/OR on the Coast Starlight
* (stay overnight in Portland/OR)
* Portland/OR to Seattle on a Cascades Talgo
* Seattle to Chicago on the Empire Builder
* (stay overnight in Chicago)
* Chicago to New York on the Cardinal
* (stay overnight in New York)
* Excursion to Montauk on the Long Island Rail Road
* (stay overnight in New York)
* New York to Boston on the Acela
* (stay overnight in Boston)
* Excursion to Portland/ME on the Downeaster
* (stay overnight in Boston)
* Boston to Chicago via Albany on the Lakeshore Limited
* (stay overnight in Chicago)
* Chicago to Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief
* (stay overnight in Los Angeles)
* Los Angeles to San Jose on the Coast Starlight

Those overnight stays are there to provide some “cushion” in case of Amtrak delays … and also so I can sleep in a real bed from time to time. In addition to that, I hope to have some spare time to ride some local commuter rail and transit.

Posted in: Uncategorized | February 14, 2006 11:27 pm

3 Comments »

adron_bh, on February 16, 2006 @ 10:42 am

I’ve been planning something of that sort too. I just hope I can get around to it before something (if it ever does) happens to Amtrak’s long distance trains…

But then of course if they’re replaced with American Orient Express style stuff… I wouldn’t complain about that either… as long as I get to take the train. Otherwise I’m not taking a trip around the country.

adron_bh, on February 16, 2006 @ 10:44 am

…Matter of fact I’m going to post some of my prospective trip ideas online sometime.

…and btw - If you haven’t ridden the Cascade Talgo Trains yet you’ll most likely like em’ a lot. They’re awesome. If only they where aloud to run at their true capabilities!!! (120mph!)

Ben, on February 18, 2006 @ 8:37 am

Your Cardinal trip from Chicago to New York will take you through my hometown, Charlottesville, VA. Unfortunately, the Cardinal is a bare-bones long distance train–no lounge, no dining car, no on-board entertainment. And the sleeper cars, because there are so few, tend to be more expensive.

The rest of your trip sounds amazing. I recently rode the Coast Starlight from San Jose to Portland, and although we were delayed 4 hours on the “to” trip, it was amazing. Nothing like looking at Mt. Shasta while you eat breakfast.