San Francisco

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Taking the Train Across America


I have taken the train across the United States, Boston to San Francisco, both ways twice.  It is a trip like none other.  You do not have to be a lover of trains to truly enjoy the trip either.  There are not a lot of such cross-country trains, but they do exist.  You can leave from any large city in the Northeast to start your trip.  It is necessary, with one exception, that you go through Chicago to make a connection for the rest of the trip.

That one exception is a train that runs from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, and from there onward across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Los Angeles.  The only difference with this train, the link that goes from New Orleans to Los Angeles only runs three days a week while all the routes departing Chicago daily including all holidays.

One of the routes leaving Chicago heads in a southwesterly direction taking you through Las Vegas before reaching Los Angeles.  The next route, leaves Chicago for Denver, and thence through Salt Lake City before reaching the outskirts of San Francisco.  The fourth train takes a northern route traveling Chicago to Milwaukee, Minneapolis and then across the northern states to Seattle.

My trip started in Boston.  At the time the train left in the late afternoon and is named the Lakeshore Limited.  It travels through Worcester and Springfield Massachusetts before reaching Albany New York.  At this point the train is linked up with another train from New York City.  From there the train travels through Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Toledo before reaching Chicago.  Unfortunately, the lateness of the day keep the beautiful upstate New York scenery from view, however that is remedied on the return trip where the train enters western New York in the early dawning hours.  This train is equipped with a diner, sleeping accommodations, along with regular coach cars.  The sleeping accommodations give one a private compartment for daytime travel.  Service aboard the train is friendly and the food is really pretty good, far better than anything any airline has to offer.

Once reaching Chicago you have a layover of several hours while you wait for your next train.  The Chicago station is an entirely renovated facility that is very clean and offers good restaurants and other places for people to shop or just lounge.

The San Francisco leg of the trip leaves Chicago early in the afternoon.  As with the previous train accommodations include coaches, a diner, and sleeping facilities.  But unlike its eastern brother, it also has several high level cars from which one can enjoy a 360 degree vista of the passing countryside.  This is particularly attractive after the train leaves Denver early the next morning and follows the Green River valley through some remote territory.  You go a long time with no road in site as you hug the side of a river with the valley walls sweeping upwards on either side.

The next morning as you depart Nevada you enter the eastern edge of the Rockie Mountains.  One stop, Colfax, is particularly close to Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful lakes anywhere in the U.S.  During this portion of the journey the train slips through numerous short tunnels before re-emerging in the gorgeous mountainous countryside.

Unlike air travel, people on trains recognize they are going to be in each other’s company for quite some time, and there is a certain friendliness that arises from these circumstances.  Even if you are making the trip alone, you will find many people who are more than happy to pass the hours in interesting conversations.

Also, as good as the food on the train is east of the Mississippi River, it is that much better to the west of it.  AMTRAK has worked hard to maintain some of the old-time romanticism of rail travel and its good food and friendly atmosphere.  On these trains, because of space limitations, you may well find yourself sharing your table with a stranger but that becomes an opportunity to meet someone new and interesting.  The waiters are polite and efficient, and you never feel rushed.

I cannot recommend that everyone try this at least once in their lifetime.  It is well worth the investment.

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Visiting Northern California


When people hear about California I think their mind tends to go to the Los Angeles area and all its glitz and glamour.  I have visited there a number of times and frankly, I am not all that impressed.  Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty to see, really good things, but it all still leaves me a little wanting.

Northern California is like a totally different state.  It in no way resembles the south.  Where Southern California is hundreds of square miles of urban sprawl, Northern California, even with its cities, allows you to quickly escape to the countryside.  My observations come more from all the time I spent out there on business than vacation time.  There was a stretch of four months were I stayed in Sacramento for the majority of the days during any given month.  That gave me a lot of time to explore and visit.

San Francisco is the gem of the west.  As different as it is from my home town city of Boston, it also has much of Boston’s quaintness and charm.  You will find lots of great restaurants, historic places of interest, and activities to keep you entertained for at least a week.  Just to the north of San Francisco is the city of Sausalito.  This is an artist community situated just across the Gold State Bridge.  From there you need drive only a short distance to John Muir Woods where you will find a wonderful redwood forest.

Redwood National Park is in the southeastern part of the state and a bit of a drive.  Although you cannot get all the wonderful sights of Redwood National Forest, John Muir Woods still gives you plenty of redwoods to marvel over.  The woods have any number of trails you can stroll along and enjoy the aromatic and scenic delight of the forest.

You might from San Francisco venture northward to the Napa Valley.  The Napa Valley is one of the premier wine growing areas of the United States.  It extends from Napa northward to Calistoga along route 29.  En route you will encounter many wineries most of which are open to tourists and offer you a free taste of some of the wines they make.  One thing, do not swallow the wine!  You will get drunk.  The wines are  really good but these wineries all offer you a place to spit out the wine you have tasted.

From Napa you drive about an hour and a half to the state’s capital, Sacramento.  Sacramento is an absolutely delightful little city to visit.  I highly recommend visiting the “Old Town” district.  This is the old portion of the city as it sat along the banks of the Sacramento River.  It gives you some of that old city flavor but there is also the State Railroad Museum at the site.

From Sacramento take U.S. Route 50 eastward to Lake Tahoe.  It will take several hours but the scenery along the way is really good.  En route, look for the famous Folsom Prison.  And the highway, even though not offering the speeds of an Interstate, still allows you to average over 50 MPH to Tahoe.  Upon reaching the area of Lake Tahoe you will have traveled through 3 very different regions: the coastal mountainous area, the inland plains, and finally the Rocky Mountains.

Lake Tahoe is truly one of the most beautiful regions in the entire state.  The lake is an extremely deep crystal clear lake that is surrounded by chalet style houses.  Lake Tahoe itself is actually intersected by the states of California and Nevada.  Route 50 travels along the southern edge of the lake into Nevada.  If you were a fan of the western t.v. show Bonanza, you can see the actual set on the eastern shore.  There is also a road leaving the western edge of the lake at route 50 and going northward around the lake.  I highly recommend this beautiful route.

I am obviously a fan of Northern California but in this short article I have not even scratched the surface of all the many wonderful sites you can see there.  With just a little planning you can have a vacation like none you have had before.