Round Trip in 30 Days

[David]

Hi,

My wife and I are intending to travel on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago about the 10th March and thought we might stop off somewhere for a day or two to break up the trip and also see a bit more of the country.

We would welcome any suggestions on any places that might be suitable.

We have 30 day rail passes and hope to continue on from Chicago to New York and Boston on the Lakeshore Limited, then down to Florida on the Palmetto -Silver Service, then take the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles and maybe the Coast Starlight to San Francisco. We intend to spend a few days at various places of interest on the way, timing the trip to get us to Los Angeles by the end of the 30 day limit.

We need to be in Los Vegas for a wedding on the 12th April before flying back to New Zealand on the 15th April.

Any suggestions or comments would be much appreciated.

 

[had8ley]

Hi,My wife and I are intending to travel on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago about the 10th March and thought we might stop off somewhere for a day or two to break up the trip and also see a bit more of the country.

We would welcome any suggestions on any places that might be suitable.

We have 30 day rail passes and hope to continue on from Chicago to New York and Boston on the Lakeshore Limited, then down to Florida on the Palmetto -Silver Service, then take the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles and maybe the Coast Starlight to San Francisco. We intend to spend a few days at various places of interest on the way, timing the trip to get us to Los Angeles by the end of the 30 day limit.

We need to be in Los Vegas for a wedding on the 12th April before flying back to New Zealand on the 15th April.

Any suggestions or comments would be much appreciated.

Some neat places come to mind: lunch on the 95th floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Layover one night at the Isaac Walton Inn on the Empire (a flag stop.) New York and Washington have endess lists of places to see. You will never cover them all in a short period of time. I always start out in Washington with lunch or dinner at the Old Post Office Musuem which houses a quite upbeat micro-brewery and is directly across the street from the main entrance to Union Station. We have also found that you can avoid the long lines (and large ticket prices) by taking the Staten Island ferry (FREE!) which passes right thru New York harbor and affords some excellent photo ops of the Statue of Liberty at the right time of day. Good luck on this most ambitious Amtrak trip and I hope your Amtrak rides are all you expect them to be. There are many hints, on this site, as to what to bring and what to expect.

 

[Everydaymatters]

Minneapolis, Minnesota, is near the Mall of America, which is the largest shopping mall in the U.S. Chicago has world class museums and great theaters. Metromix.com is a good site to see what's going on in Chicago. Washington D.C. has a multitude of museums, which are easily accessible via the DC metro transit system. Albuquerque is unique with it's American Indian museum, as well as other terrific museums.

 

[jamesontheroad]

I'd actually recommend the restaurant and lounge atop the Hancock Center in Chicago over the Sears Tower. It's also on the 95th floor, but because the Hancock Center is set back from downtown by about ten blocks or so, you get a great view towards the Loop and all the other skyscrapers.

*j*

 

[AmtrakWPK]

One small bump in the road for you is that Sunset Limited currently only runs from L.A. to New Orleans. It does not run all the way to Orlando at the moment. They stopped running that part of the route due to hurricane damaged track, but even after CSX did a surprisingly expedited effort and restored all the trackage, Amtrak did not restore the train East of New Orleans, and refuses to give anybody a rational explanation. They claim they haven't abandoned it, but when they are (repeatedly) asked about it, there's a deafening silence.

So if you take the Silver Meteor South to Charleston SC, tour that day in Charleston, take the Palmetto that evening to Savannah, spend the night in a hotel, and take the Meteor the next morning (or a day later if you wanted to tour Savannah for a day) to Miami, spend two or three days there, including a drive down to Key West (DON'T miss the Florida Keys, it's like another country, and incredibly beautiful!). Of course, you could also stop off either north-or-southbound for the Orlando theme parks, Disney World, Universal, Sea World, Disney-MGM, etc., but they are all quite expensive, and as somebody that lives there, I'd much rather take in the beauty of the Florida Keys. As we say down here in Florida, if you get some Florida sand in your shoes, you'll come back.

From Miami, take the Silver Star North, that way you can do a quick tour of the restored Tampa Union Station during the 20 minute stop there for a crew change and passenger stop, then take the Star North to Raleigh, spend most of the day there, catch the Carolinian South to Greensboro, and catch the southbound Crescent there just after midnight, taking it to New Orleans to catch the Sunset Limited out to L.A. As a plus, this means you would have traveled both of the Silver Service routes, and all three East-Coast LD trains.

Anyway, thats a suggestion or two for the southeast U.S., and a workaround for the Sunset Limited being AWOL east of New Orleans.

 

[gswager]

Hi,My wife and I are intending to travel on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago about the 10th March and thought we might stop off somewhere for a day or two to break up the trip and also see a bit more of the country.

We would welcome any suggestions on any places that might be suitable.

We have 30 day rail passes and hope to continue on from Chicago to New York and Boston on the Lakeshore Limited, then down to Florida on the Palmetto -Silver Service, then take the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles and maybe the Coast Starlight to San Francisco. We intend to spend a few days at various places of interest on the way, timing the trip to get us to Los Angeles by the end of the 30 day limit.

We need to be in Los Vegas for a wedding on the 12th April before flying back to New Zealand on the 15th April.

Any suggestions or comments would be much appreciated.

You might want to stay at the lodge on either Glacier National Park stops (Essex is a flag stop and East Glacier Park) that is being served by Empire Builder. East Glacier Park is a seasonal stop so it is closed during your travel date.

 

[Railbender]

I'd double the Izaak Walton recommendation. Great place. As well I have considered overnighting in the Wisconsin Dells. Red Wing, Minnesota is a great old downtown along the Mississippi River worthy of spending some time. Nice train station, too.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Whitefish, MT and wished we could have stayed longer...

 

[David]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. It's all good stuff and we will definitely take note of it when making the final decisions.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. It's all good stuff and we will definitely take note of it when making the final decisions.

I'd also recommend Whitefish. It's a nice little town, close to Glacier National Park- lots of great day hikes there. Also, see the glaciers before they disappear!