We chose the right day to leave Chicago as it was the first day of a hotel strike. Our hotel was functioning as normal, but there were picket lines and distruptions at several establishments.

Grabbed a fast lunch and waited in the Metropolitan Lounge for our train. Sleeper passengers are considered First Class, and at some stations there is a nice lounge just for them. We weren't there long before the boarding call, which was organized chaos.

Would this trip be better?

We made our way to the roomette. See the picture above. The wide angle lens makes it seem larger than it is.

Our roomette is in a transition car, which sits between the baggage and regular sleeper cars. Since all of the passenger cars connect on the upper level, but access to the baggage car is on the lower level, this car provides the, well, transition. It also houses some crew members. Embarkation/disembarkation is on the lower level of each car. There can be plenty of stair climbing involved!

The train got underway on time at 2:00 PM, and Chandler, our attendant, came by to brief us on the train. We had already made a reservation for the 5:00 dinner seating, so there was nothing to do but wait and watch the scenery go by.

Scenery is the reason for the California Zephyr. Scheduled for 52 hours, the train goes slower during the day for the scenery, and then faster at night when there's nothing to see but the occasional train station.

The train also has a full kitchen, so the food was served up fresh and piping hot. We recommend the Chocolate Spoon Cake! Dinner also comes with a complimentary alcoholic beverage, and hey, it was a vacation, so we indulged. Sleeper accomodations include meals. If we wanted snacks we could visit the cafe under the Observation Lounge and purchase them.

The first night was bumpy due to track issues.

We did get to wave at Princeton, Illinois, birthplace of Julie's Great-grandparents.

 

(Go to the next day)