Back in February I made a blog entry entitled Rail Trip Vacations. Any Recommendations? The general consensus was that the western half of the U.S. provided the best scenery. Nothing too surprising there!
Regardless, my wife and I decided on a trip to Chicago and will be leaving this July 3rd returning about nine days later. The leg between Ft. Lauderdale and Washington D.C. (both ways) is on the AMTRAK Silver Meteor. We have a Viewliner Roomette which includes a small washroom. The leg between Washington D.C. and Chicago (both ways) is on the AMTRAK Capitol Limited. We have a Superliner Roomette which has NO washroom facilities. You have to use the facilities down the hall!
From what I understand Viewliners are older and not quite as high. They are used mostly on the east coast where Superliners are, apparently, too high for some of the the tunnels.
The trip from Ft. Lauderdale to D.C. is twenty-two and a half hours with a little over eight hours of layover in D.C. (We both know D.C. pretty well having lived there for 13 years; but we are still not sure how we will spend those eight hours!) The trip to Chicago is seventeen and a half hours. Since we have a roomette on all legs we also have access to AMTRAK's Club Acela lounge in D.C. and Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago.
The Silver Meteor consists of two engines, a baggage care, three Viewliner cars, a dining car, a cafe car and three coaches. These pictures were taken when I went to pick up the tickets.
It is my intent to take our laptop with us and to write a (sort of) journal to this blog with the emphasis on train related stuff. Pictures will hopefully be included. It will all be dependant on the availability of (free) WiFi connections! I am reasonably certain they will be available in the two lounges and the hotel. On the train, I'm not so sure! As a result they not be too regular!
We are looking forward to the trip, both to see Chicago (never been there) and to the train ride itself. Assuming we enjoy the ride we hope to do a west coast trip in another year or two.
Bryan C Alligator Lines
Congratulations on the trip
Congratulations on the trip Bryan. I hope you enjoy yourselves and can keep up updated with blog entries and pictures. Looking forward to hearing from you when you return.
See ya
Ron