Trip Itinerary
Day 1: Depart Chicago
America from Coast to Coast travelers will meet in Chicago Union Station this afternoon. At 8:00 p.m. we’ll board the eastbound Lake Shore Limited. A reception will be held in the dining car. Departure is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Eastern tour members depart tomorrow for Albany.
Relax in your included Viewliner Roomette. There are two comfortable reclining seats on either side of an eye-level picture window. At night, your attendant converts the two seats into a lower berth. An upper berth pulls down from the ceiling. There is a 6’ x 18” high window next to the upper berth. The Roomette includes a sink and a commode. A shower room is nearby. Bedrooms are available for an additional cost.
All dining car meals are included. You’re free to explore the train. Go to the lounge car for snacks, sandwiches, and beverages.
Day 2: En Route
During the day our train will roll across beautiful upstate New York. The trip down the Hudson River with the Catskill Mountains in the background is equally beautiful.
Upon arrival into New York’s Penn Station at 6:35 p.m., we’ll transfer to the San Carlos hotel for the night.
Meal(s): B & L
Day 3: New York City
This morning we’ll embark on a sightseeing tour of New York City. We’ll drive through the most famous uptown and downtown neighborhoods: Harlem, Museum Mile, Central Park, Times Square, the Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, Lincoln Center, Grant’s Tomb, United Nations, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and many more.
At 2:15 p.m., you’ll be departing New York on the New Orleans-bound Crescent. You again will be enjoying the Viewliner accommodations.
Meal(s): CB & D
Day 4: En Route
We’ll be passing through Atlanta at 8:00 this morning and traveling through Alabama and Mississippi during the day. At 7:30 p.m. we’ll arrive in the fascinating Crescent City. Our hotel, the Hampton Inn, is located near the French Quarter.
An option for this evening would be a Night-Sightseeing tour.
Meal(s): B, L & D
Day 5: New Orleans
A Continental breakfast is included at our hotel this morning. We’ll transfer to the Amtrak station where our travelers will prepare for a 2,000-mile trip across five states to Los Angeles. We’ll travel first-class on the Sunset Limited. Relax in your comfortable private Roomette or Bedroom sleeping accommodations.
Departure is scheduled for 9:00 a.m.
All tastefully prepared full-course dining car meals are included. Lunch will be the first of our six included dining car meals.
After lunch, options include visiting with new friends while watching the famous swampland of Louisiana (known as the Bayou) from the all-glass Sightseer Lounge car. How about a post-lunch nap in your comfortable private-room accommodations? Soon we’ll be passing through the sugar cane fields.
We’ll arrive in Houston shortly after 6:18 p.m. You’ll have about a half-hour to enjoy a train-side stroll.
Meal(s): CB, L & D
Day 6: En Route
During the night the landscape changed drastically. You’re now in the sparsely-populated Rio Grande Valley of West Texas. Tumbleweeds and arid lands surround our train. Just west of Del Rio we’ll cross the Pecos High Bridge spanning a magnificent canyon cut to the Pecos River 321 feet below. Further on we pass by Langtry where Judge Roy Bean enforced his own “law west of the Pecos.” This area was dealt with in the TV Series “Lonesome Dove.
Plan on a train side stroll during our late afternoon stop in El Paso. The rest of the day we’ll encounter the stark, desolate—almost hostile—land of southern New Mexico and Arizona. If you’re still active when we arrive in Tucson at 6:45 p.m., enjoy another walk.
Meal(s): B, L & D
Day 7: En Route / Coast Starlight*
Palm Springs . . . Ontario . . . Pomona . . . Los Angeles Union Station. Enjoy your final morning on the Sunset Limited as the train rolls along the lush California countryside.
Arrival into Los Angeles Union Station is scheduled for 5:30 a.m. Enjoy the station’s atmosphere and its famous throne-line seating until we board Amtrak’s premiere train, the Coast Starlight. Departure for Emeryville (San Francisco) is scheduled for 10:20 a.m. Since you will have a first-class Roomette for the 469-mile daytime journey to Emeryville, you will be entitled to enjoy the exclusive Pacific Parlour Car’s overstuffed furniture, library, games, and afternoon wine tasting. A delicious dining car lunch and dinner are included.
The scenic highlights of the day will be the traversing of a number of mountain ranges and about 100 miles of rolling along the awesome Pacific Ocean coastline.
Our arrival in the world-famous “City by the Bay” is scheduled for 11:00 p.m. Our home for two nights in San Francisco is the attractive Hilton San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf.
Meal(s): L & D
Day 8: San Francisco
You’re free this morning to ride a cable car or just wander through Union Square enjoying the great shops and galleries.
At 1:00 p.m. we’ll embark on a three-and-a-half hour sightseeing tour of San Francisco, including Chinatown, Golden Gate Park, Jackson Square, the Mission District, Telegraph Hill, the Presidio and Fisherman’s Wharf. Our tour will end at the world-renowned Fisherman’s Wharf, with its picturesque sights and pungent smells. It attracts millions of visitors annually. You’ll have several hours to discover the excellent restaurants, markets, import houses and souvenir shops. Return to our hotel or spend more time at this marvelous attraction. Choose one of the many fine restaurants in Fisherman’s Wharf near our hotel for dinner.
Meal(s): B
Day 9: California Zephyr
This morning we’ll transfer to the nearby Emeryville Amtrak Station where we will board the California Zephyr for our 2438-mile journey across seven states to Chicago. Departure is at 9:50 a.m. Look forward to the same accommodations and amenities you enjoyed on the Sunset Limited. Lunch and dinner are included in the dining car today. Lighter fare is available in the glass-walled Sightseer Lounge car. You’ll want to spend time in the Sightseer Lounge.
As we travel eastward we leave the lush green landscape and palm trees of California and enter the rugged terrain, dotted with pine trees, of the high Sierra Nevada mountains. We will pass through the famous Donner Pass this afternoon.
Meal(s): B, L & D
Day 10: En Route
Make sure you take the opportunity to view the spectacular Colorado Rockies scenery from the Sightseer Lounge car as we make our way toward Denver. When we leave Glenwood Springs, we will begin to climb through the awesome Rockies toward the Continental Divide. We’ll encounter the famous 6.2-mile long Moffat Tunnel and, literally, go under the Continental Divide. The mountain vistas will continue throughout the afternoon. We’ll arrive in Denver at 7:18 p.m.
Meal(s): B, L & D
Day 11: En Route to Chicago
The California Zephyr will roll across Iowa and Illinois and arrive in Chicago at mid afternoon. Some tour members will change to trains bound for Midwest, Eastern, and Southern home cities. Others will spend the night in Chicago and fly home tomorrow.
Meal(s): B & L