On The AMTRAK Again

So, what was life on this AMTRAK trip?

First off, each train trip is different. You have the day trips, where you get a chair and watch the scenery. You pay for your food and a some of the time, you try to get into the lounge car, for the views.

Our second trip from St. Paul to Chicago, was like this.

Our first trip was a 2 day journey in the Family Room. We had a window on each side of the train and couches throughout the entire room. My side was actually 2 chairs for kids and what I ended up doing, as you can see in the second photo, is that I had my feet up on the opposite chair. My daytime viewing was excellent. It was the night, that was a problem for me.

I didn't realize when I booked the family car, that the side bed is substantially smaller then the adult bed. As in, a person needs to be 4' 9" or less, to be comfortable. I am nowhere near that height, so most of the time, I ended up curling my feet onto my husband's bed. To say the least, I slept a lot during the daytime part of the journey. Well, it was only Montana and North Dakota's flat dry prairie anyway. :-)

When you book a room, you get all your meals (for free) in the dining car. You are treated like royalty and they even have coffee and cold drinks available in the sleeper car, at all times. I just had the water, but Hubby did partake of a cold drink, as you can see in the first photo.

I was having a problem with my eye, that started when we were in Portland, so I did not do much reading and ended up sleeping quite a bit, to help it heal. I had brought some cross stitch with me and totally gave up on that within a few seconds. My eyes could not take the close up work, on a moving train. No biggie, I am of the opinion that it will never get done.

I will recommend a few things.

The Roomette: It looked much more comfy, if it was occupied by just a single person, instead of a couple of adults. I saw one of them set up with the bed down all the time and the person seemed to be sleeping, most of the time we were moving. I saw a 94 year old lady who had the roomette to herself and spent her time making little crosses for presents, or maybe for selling. The conductor in our car was always worried when she wanted to walk the 6 cars to the dining car, but she seemed to make it just fine.
The Roomette is very crowded with 2 people and you spend all your time, rearranging things, as you move from day to night or just from viewing to wanting to read or watch a movie. I enjoyed it, but it was tight quarters.

The Bedroom: It has a larger bottom bed (probably a little tight for 2, but you might be able to swing it) It also has an overhead bed and a chair. It also has a restroom and shower of your own, which is kind of nice. Though I would definitely bring air freshener along. :-)

All in all, a fun way to travel and explore this land of ours.