Part I
- Empire Builder, Day One
It may not have been exactly what Horace Greely had in mind,
but had Horace known of the beauty of Seattle and the fun of getting there,
he may in fact have coined a different phrase…
One of life’s great mysteries is why,
when I tell people – and this includes members of my immediate family – that
my wife and I have booked a train trip, the resulting look and general
reaction is one of incredulity. After telling them where we have planned to
go (this time it was a trip to Seattle), the first question after “the look”
is always: “So why in Heaven’s name are you taking a train – doesn’t that
take a lot of time – why not just fly?”
Long ago I gave up trying to explain our
rationale regarding the fact that it’s more about the journey than it
is about anything else…especially the time taken to arrive at one’s
intended destination. And so it was the case once again as we decided to
ride the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. And as the miles fly past
on what is an absolutely stunning first day of October and the incredibly
flat terrain of North Dakota is finally ready to give way to Montana, I
thought that perhaps it might be a good time to share the highlights of the
trip.
A little background...
I have forever been fascinated by the
sound of a train whistle; since about the age of ten, I have known that
two
long blasts, followed by a single short blast and another long blast,
indicates that a train is approaching a grade level crossing. Also
known in railroad rulebooks as rule "14L", this is a safety signal used to
warn motorists and is blown at every grade level crossing, except where
local noise ordinances prohibit it. Whenever I hear that, or
other whistle signals -- especially in the night -- I always begin to
daydream about the far-off places that trains can go and the places to which
it can carry its occupants. As a very young boy, I eagerly awaited our
annual trip to Chicago for the purpose of seeing all the incredible
Christmas decorations at Marshall Field's and of course a visit to Santa!
Now it is to journey to an occasional baseball game or simply for an
excursion to a museum or to marvel at the marine life at the Shedd Aquarium.
My first cross-country trip was back in
2000 when we took the California Zephyr to San Francisco. We
de-trained in Glenwood Springs for an overnight stay that included an
incredibly relaxing soak in the hot springs pool there, as well as a
marvelous dinner at a local restaurant and a superb evening at the Denver
Hotel before catching another train the next day to finish our journey.
The seats were huge and amazingly comfortable, the scenery jaw-dropping, and
It was my first real taste of the fun that is possible when using rail
transportation. Although we took advantage of the Amtrak to St. Louis
last year (another great ride), I have waited patiently for the next
opportunity to cross the country.
We started planning in June of this year
and had decided to take the Empire Builder, which crosses the northern tier
of states. One of the compelling reasons? Neither of us had been to the
state of Washington before and we were both wanting to see first-hand the
Pacific Northwest. While trying to determine whether or not we wanted
to stop for a night as we had done on our other west coast trip, we decided
to upgrade a bit for this trip and selected a "roomette" for our journey,
rather than to travel coach-class as we had done previously. Although
somewhat limited in space, the roomette will accommodate two medium-sized
adults, offers far more privacy and the ability to covert the two reclining
seats to a bed for a comfortable night's rest (a second bed drops from
above, bunk-style). Also included are
electrical outlets, reading lights, a fold-down table, Fresh towels and bed
linens, soap and shower amenities, personal service (turn-down, coffee,
paper, make-up bed), bottled water and a daily newspaper. The next step up
from that option is a bedroom; it will be my option of choice for our next
trip -- mostly because it also offers an in-room shower and bathroom
facility and a bit more room for changing. Meals are also included --
more on that later...
The Journey begins...
We live only about a mile or so from a
Pace Bus Stop, and decided to walk to it for a bus ride to the Metra
station, rather than take a taxi. The
weather promised to be non-threatening and besides, we had a lot of
seat-time ahead of us; the walk was easy and pleasant on the cool,
end-of-September morning as we departed on "leg one" of our journey.
The bus was right on time and we quickly arrived at the
Metra Station in
Geneva. Leg two was by rail as well, and we arrived at the Ogilvie
Transportation Center in Chicago with hours to spare. Amtrak departs
from
Union Station -- only about four blocks from Ogilvie -- and we rolled
our suitcases along behind us beneath an azure blue sky, wondering how large
a crowd would be assembling at Daley Plaza for the Cubs rally prior to their
playoff game against the Dodgers... We seized the opportunity to have a
quick bite to eat (our next meal -- dinner -- wouldn't be available until
that evening) and to take some pictures of the City and of the people taking
advantage of a beautiful Fall day.
Descending the escalator to the
below-street-level terminal, excitement mounted as we watched hundreds of
people scurrying about, trying to locate their departing trains or arriving
friends. After a quick stop at the kiosk for our tickets, we passed through frosted-glass doors and
into the Executive Lounge (reserved for sleeping car passengers only), where
we checked in, dropped our bags and enjoyed the complimentary snacks, soft
drinks and quiet television as we relaxed prior to our departure. I
was amazed at the number of passengers who were traveling with first-class
accommodations -- in the sleeping cars -- but I was soon to discover that
the comfort and amenities are well worth the upgrade and the likely reason
for the crowds!
Our train was scheduled to depart at
2:05 pm, and promptly at 1:30, we were called for boarding the Superliner
Empire Builder to Seattle. The train was a long one but we easily
located car # 730 and made our way to room #8 on the upper level. We
quickly settled in and exactly at 2:05 pm, after two short
blasts of the whistle, our ride to the coast eased out of the station on its
long trek west. Our conductor Manuel soon appeared at our door,
displayed the huge smile that never left his face and offered two splits of
champagne to begin our voyage. We gratefully accepted and quickly
opened them, toasted our good fortune and smiled too as the train gained speed and
headed north to
Milwaukee, the first of about forty stops between Chicago
and Seattle. Many times the whistle sounded the familiar two longs, a
short and two more long blasts as we sped through the northern suburbs.
We were on our third leg, rocking gently back and forth and headed for
Seattle!
Meals on Wheels...
The opportunities to purchase food on
the train are many. There are always snacks, sandwiches, pizza
and other goodies available, as well as a wide variety of beverages -- with
or without alcohol. but one of the things that had swayed our decision
to secure sleeping car accommodations was the fact that meals were included
as part of the price. And the meals were top-notch! We had a
choice of breakfast selections -- scrambled eggs, omelets, chef's special or
continental -- along with hash brown potatoes and sides of bacon or sausage.
Lunches consisted of a sandwich, another chef's special or a build-your-own
burger (made with black angus beef), and dinners offered a choice of a
flat-iron steak, rock-cornish game hen, baked salmon, vegetable lasagna or
another of the chef's specials of the day. All meals also included
beverages such as coffee, tea, milk juices or sodas; wine was also
available at a very reasonable price.
Considering the number of folks on the
train -- both in sleeping cars and coach (the train had been pre-sold out!) --
and the number of meals served, I was truly amazed at the quality of both
the food and service. Our meals included the steak, salmon, turkey
salad sandwich and both scrambled eggs and omelets; all were served hot and
tasty. And since the kitchen/food preparation area was on the lower
level of the dining car, the servers were constantly running up and down the
stairs, literally hundreds of times per day, in order to get the meals to
the diners. It was the hardest working crew I had seen in a long, long
time... and they did it with smiles always on their faces. Incredible!
On the second day of our trek, the wait-staff/crew even put on a wine and
cheese party, in between lunch and dinner service. Their
combined service record with Amtrak was a total of seventy-two years!
Our conductor -- Manuel Walton -- had been with the company for over thirty
years! I wanted to mention his full name because, even though the rest
of the staff was smiling, helpful, adept and hard-working, Manuel really
stood out as an example. Should you ever have the privilege of riding
the rails and Manuel is working that route -- you'll know it immediately and
know why Amtrak is quite proud of him and the service he provides to its
passengers.
