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In January my wife will be in Phoenix with her parents. I will be following later - by train. My goal is to take a circuitous route to San Diego where I will then hop on a cheap Southwest flight to Phoenix.
The catch is I need to do this inexpensively, so I will be in backpack and Levis mode. I will be using my pass that provides half rate in coach but reservations cannot be made until 24 hours before train time. I may upgrade to sleeper if I can get a cheap room on board for a couple nights. What route and trains should I take? We have taken the Builder and Sunset within past couple years so like to try something else. I want to build in a couple hotel overnights enroute to recover from the joys of coach travel. I have a seminar in FL and will then fly to New Orleans to start the trip. My tentative thoughts are:
City of New Orleans NOL-CHI Eagle CHI-STL (overnight there) KC Mule STL-KC SWC KC-LAX (I want to check out the KC terminal) Surfliner LAX-San Diego (overnight in SD?)
I am not locked into this, so I would welcome other ideas and places to stay enroute. The trip can take no longer than 1/21 departure from NOL to 1/26 departure on Southwest from San Diego to Phoenix.
Thanks for any suggestions from all the veteran train riders out there.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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I like your initial thinking to work in a visit to Kansas City.
Time permitting, I would be tempted to get off the SWC in Raton, NM, catch the bus to Denver, spend a night there, and then continue westward on the California Zephyr.....perhaps spending a night in Sacramento at the Vagabond Inn as well.....before heading down to San Diego.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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David Interesting idea as I do like the Colo. rockies. But Amtrak schedules no longer show a morning bus connection with the SWC. The connection now leaves at 6pm. Not sure I want to sit in Raton for 7 hours in mid January.
However, Greyhound does show a bus from Trinidad to Denver 2 hours after the SWC arrives. Any idea on how far that is from the train station? Might work although I would need to fly to Phoenix from Sacramento, which is ok.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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If you haven't tried the SWC before, the route between Trinidad to Santa Fe is quite scenic and at mid-day (a plus in the short days of January).
To me the SWC rivals the CZ scenery through Colorado, but that is just my taste. You will still go through the Rockies and will still see snow covered peaks and beautiful canyons as well as vast plains in between. New Mexico has a higher probability of sunny days, and the colors are vivid in the low light of winter. The days are a little bit longer the further south you are. The Sandia mountains (12,000 ft) just east of Albuquerque take on a beautiful watermelon color about the time the SWC speeds in. And you get an hour to roam Albuquerque in dry warmth.
To me the CZ is a better spring or summer trip when the rivers are unfrozen and the sun shines more onto the canyons. And then there is the unusual behavior of the rafters.
Also the timekeeping is a factor if you don't want to give UP the opportunity to really screw up a connection for you. The SWC is usually right on time and you get to see so many fast freights on the transcon.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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Trinidad is a small town with the AMTRAK station situated beneath I-25 so the bus station must be nearby, perhaps the same location. Or get off at La Junta and connect. Interested in Gallup? Lots of Navajo Indian culture there and should be inexpensive to stay. Or Flagstaff with altitude of 6900+/- but lots of mountain scenery.
Posts: 467 | From: Prescott, AZ USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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I love the Zephyr, but I think at that time of year you are better off on the Southwest Chief, which has some very nice scenery too. I found it gorgeous from the time we went through the Raton tunnel and entered New Mexico but especially lovely west of Albuquerque. Albuquerque might be a nice town to stop in, too, if you are going coach and want another stop around midway to California.
I have never been on the City of New Orleans but everyone has told me it is nicer southbound. Perhaps you might want to skip the northbound journey, fly from Florida to Chicago, and start your trip there?
And then perhaps you can also work it so that you spend more time in California, where the weather will be pretty nice, even in January. I did esp love stopping in Santa Barbara and San Diego (including seeing Coronado).
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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If you do stay with the SWC (and there is certainly nothing wrong with that), I would have an interest in spending a night off the train at the LaPosada (a former Harvey House) at Winslow, AZ.
Haven't done that yet but it's on my 'to do' list.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Thanks for the ideas. Even though, based on RRChina comments, the Trindad bus connection sounds doable, not sure mid winter is a good time to deal with that. So I think I'll stick with the SWC and get to warm weather sooner. Twin Star and Sojourner did a good sales job. The last time I was on it was early Amtrak when it was still called the Super Chief, and then I went only to Flagstaff.
Sojourner, I think you are right about the SB City of NO being a better trip, but I'd like to ride it before the lounge comes off and seems like a good excuse to see New Orleans again - not that you need a good reason to go that great city.
I like the idea of a stop at LaPosada but think I will also save that for warmer weather. That leaves me in LAX at 0830 with my only deadline a flight to Phoenix from there, San Diego, or the Bay area by the next afternnoon.
While San Diego is a great town, after thinking about it, my wife and I spent some time there a couple years ago and so new territory might be more fun. Is there a reasonably priced place to stay in Santa Barbara or how about San Luis Obispo? Which is better for a walking tour? Another option might be the Bus-train to Sacramento as I have never seen the San Joaquin valley. So much to see, so little time.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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The Santa Barbara hotels will cost you more but staying there offers a lot more too, and lots more walking opportunities. You have the beach right there, gorgeous, with lovely views of the mountains too, with walks along the shore and by Stearns Wharf. The old part of town in and around State St is also gorgeous and historic and excellent for a walk; at the visitors center at the foot of Garden St (805-965-3021, www.sbchamber.org) we got a self-guided walk called I think the Red Tile Tour, i.e., lots of the historic adobes on Victoria, Santa Barbara, De la Guerra, and State streets, inc some fine little museums open to public. We also stopped at the Courthouse and went up top for the view, and at the old fort (presidio) nearby, and then we also walked up to the Mission, a longish walk but very lovely, passing the pretty little Alice Keck Memorial Garden and many fine homes. When we came into the train station we had gotten the advertised free pass for Santa Barbara transportation and so used it to take a bus back down from the Mission (though it wasn't expensive anyways, probably $1.50 or $2, I forget).
There is also lots of upscale shopping, but for a town with Palm Beach-like shops, it is very laid paid and friendly, with a lot of college students. We also had an absolutely fantabulous lunch at the Palace Grill, 8 E Cota at State, 805-963-5000, a place with Cajun and some Caribbean food. I had their delicious crabcakes, shared some to-die-for bread pudding with whisky sauce for dessert (you must order it with your main dish so they can prepare it), and there were excellent, really unusual muffins in the basket at the table too.
The inn we stayed in, Inn at the Beach, was affordable because I was sharing with a friend; otherwise $200 a night would be way too much for me. Still, that was high season; I imagine in January rates are much much better. It was walking distance from the train, and to the beach and State St area, with very nice rooms and a pleasant porch for a truly EXCELLENT continental breakfast, oh and the grounds were even nicer at their sister property, Brisas del Mar Inn, around the corner. And in January you might even get a good buy at the Best Western Beachside, near these but an even better location, or perhaps at the Hotel Virginia/Holiday Inn Express, nearer State St area, which Frank from SBA had recommended.
San Luis Obispo is much more of just a small town, and it's not right on the ocean. But it's a sweet little town, with a lovely mission that for me had a real sense of peace, and you can walk on the upper and lower level by the SLO creek outside and on the streets thereabouts, though it's a small area. I also liked their old art deco movie theater; and their many used book stores (it too is a college town). And we had a nice meal at the Big Sky Cafe; and the best chocolate ice cream I ever had in the chocolate shop downtown.
The hotels here are mostly inexpensive and motelly, we stayed in a Days Inn for $99 Triple A rate, and remember that was in August, presumably high season. It was perfectly nice, with a nice pool, ho-hum continental breakfast, but big room that even had a kitchen. But none of the hotels/motels are right downtown; they are located on a bit of a strip on either side, several blocks walk into the main part of downtown and several more to the train station; so in fact we took a taxi to and from the train; there was a $10 minimum (a bit of a ripoff there). And walking in from the Days Inn to the main part of downtown was a bit tiresome, trafficwise, not really scenic like the beach-front walk in Santa Barbara!!! OTOH a big bargain was the #12 public bus to San Simeon/HEarst Castle, which went through Morro Bay, where you couldn't see the beach part, and then Cayucas and Cambria, where you could, very very nice esp that Moonstone Beach. I imagine you could get off the bus here for a big walk on the beach but the bus doesn't run so frequently so you'd have to work it out based on bus schedules. We just went up to Hearst Castle on the bus that left SLO at 12:30ish (from by the government building), having reserved and paid for our San Simeon tour in advance a couple of days before (it's very busy; also a bit pricey) and saw only part of the movie (which was enough) before catching the 5ish bus back. There was a street market that day (Thursday) back in SLO, pleasant and lively.
Still, if you can go only to one, I'd spend the money and stay in Santa Barbara. We stayed 2 nights and I wish we'd stayed longer; we never got to the botanical gardens, for example! But that is because we took a wine tour, which was overpriced and not really my cuppa, though the rides through the Santa Ynez Mts were lovely.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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I've taken the train and bus many times from Lamy to Denver. The Greyhound (TNM&O) buses stop at a convenience store just off I-25. From the maps it looks like it's just a few blocks from the Amtrak station. Trinidad isn't very big, anyway, and it has a neat downtown. Some TNM&O drivers announce something interesting about Trinidad.
January would be a fun time to take the California Zephyr to Sacramento. You get to do the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada during the day. From there you could take either the San Joaquin or the Coast Starlight.
Sounds like you'll have a good time regardless of which way you go.
-------------------- Kiernan Posts: 155 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Apr 2005
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Sojourner I think I'll try Santa Barbara if I could find a room within my price comfort level. Thanks for the great comments. You should consider writing a guidebook for the wandering train traveler - seriously.
Santa Barbara train times are a little better than SLO for my next day return and when I saw it from the Starlight, it looked like a place I wanted to see more of. The only problem is my wife will be jealous she missed it!
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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I would be remiss if I didn't suggest a night off the train to recover at the Depot Inn in LaPlata, MO. Mention Trainweb for a 10% discount!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Guess I'll have to save that for the next trip since I'll be headed to KC on the Mule. I had never heard of it so I'll check it out. thanks
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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