From Sea to Shining Sea: Our First Four Days

Monday, June 28—Day 1

Somehow we made it out the door this morning—four people, four suitcases, four backpacks, one dog (complete with kennel, toys, and food for two months), and a small lunch box with amoxicillin. Whew! We dropped off Nicky at Aunt Peggy and Uncle Alan's house for his "doggy spa" vacation and then drove to Emeryville to board the California Zephyr for our trip to Chicago.

After all the stress and excitement of getting ready for our two-month trip from California to Newfoundland the sense of relief and giddiness of actually beginning the trip is almost overwhelming.

We settled into the train quickly. The girls are in sleeper room 4 and we're in number 9 just down the hall. The seats are comfortable and the sleeper car is quiet. Our traveling companions are varied and interesting. One woman is celebrating her 102^nd birthday by taking the train to Washington, D.C.! Okay. I want that for my 102^nd birthday, too. The girls have already explored the train from one end to the other and declared the train not just suitable, but fantastic!

It's so peaceful to watch the world go by—gliding past the bay and delta seeing the large ocean-going ships off-loading their cargo in Martinez. Seeing the Carquinez Bridge and crossing the Benecia Bridge as we travel along the Carquinez Strait. The Mothball Fleet floats in the delta and it appears that they are preparing to remove one of the ships. Most of the ships date back to World War II, but some of them were used in Vietnam and as recently as the 1991 Gulf War.

We leave the delta and pass through the Suisun Marsh. Thousands of cattails wave in the wind as snowy white egrets and great blue herons dine and cormorants spread their wings to soak up the warmth of the sun.

As we approach Sacramento we pass through rice paddies. The Sacramento skyscrapers shine in the distance. Pulling into the city we cross the Sacramento River, which is running high from the extra rain and snowfall that fell in the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the winter.

After leaving Sacramento we pass through Roseville. Looking along the side of the track we see tent cities where the homeless are taking shelter. These tent cites are reminiscent of the Hoovervilles of the 1920s and are a humbling reminder of how blessed we are to not only have a home, but to be able to take this long family vacation.

On the eastern edge of Roseville we weave through the complex Southern Pacific rail yards and pass a locomotive maintenance yard and see no fewer than 50 engines!

Leaving Sacramento we begin the ascent into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As we climb, the dry, golden grasses give way to cool pine-covered slopes. In the dining car as we are eating lunch we watch the tracks become steeper and more curved. Just after lunch we approach Cape Horn, which is the steepest slope on the Zephyr's route. The Chinese laborers who constructed this route were lowered on ropes to carve out the rocky railroad ledge.

Olivia, tired from her ear infection, is taking a nap in her sleeper as we travel. Hilary, ever the social butterfly, is enjoying talking and playing checkers with the other passengers. Marshal and I enjoy the view from the scenic car and visit with two couples on their way to Reno for a few days.

We climb further reaching Emigrant Gap with a beautiful view of Lake Spalding then pass through Norden where the snowfall averages 34 feet a year. Long snow sheds were built near Norden and at one point reached a length of 37 miles. Today only 4 miles remain. In this area the trees are sparse and the mountaintops are rounded granite carved and polished in the last ice age. There are still patches of snow near the tracks and the higher mountains have a blanket of snow along their ridges.

Eventually we reach sparkling Donner Lake cruising along the tracks 700 feet above the lake. Sailboats float across the lake and the water is so clear we see the large boulders submerged in the water. Once pass Donner Lake we begin the horseshoe-curved descent toward Reno.

The landscape begins to change, shifting from rounded granite with large boulders to fractured rock and brown grass. Passing through Reno the landscape becomes low-rolling brown hills and sagebrush. The train zigzags along the Truckee River, where there is green grass and groves of trees. The Humboldt Mountains are in the distance to the North and the Trinity Range is to the south as we move out toward the Humboldt Sink.

When we sat down to dinner, the light suddenly changed from bright and golden to grey. We headed straight into a sand storm. The sand was so thick that we couldn't see the mountains on either side of the train. After about 15 minutes the sand storm calmed and what remained was sand blowing low to the ground causing the horizon to look foggy. The blowing sand looked like snow as it fell on the fields around the train.

It took a couple of hours to travel past the storm, but once we did the evening light over the mountains was beautiful—the golden light was infused with green, red, and purple. We continued east and watched the Humboldt River's serpentine path through the lush marshes outside of Winnemucca. When sunset came a brilliant pink, blue, lavender, purple, orange and deep red light backlit the high clouds over the mountains.

When we got back to the sleeper car our beds were made and after tooth brushing and face washing I tucked the girls into bed. Olivia was very tired and said she was ready to be rocked to sleep by the train just like she was rocked in her cradle as a baby. Hilary, weary, but not wanting to admit it, slept in the top bunk after securing the safety netting to keep her from rolling out of bed during the night.

Before going to bed ourselves, Marshal and I went back to the scenic car and sipped a glass of wine while we watched the darkened landscape roll by.

Tuesday, June 29—Day 2

As we slept we passed the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Great Salt Lake. At one point I awoke and looked out across a flat white landscape glowing under a three-quarter moon. We lost an hour during the night as we changed to Mountain Time. Before rising for breakfast we passed through Salt Lake City and Provo. The mountain ranges of California and Nevada behind us and we are now in mesa territory. The mesas range in color from tan to brown to gray to pink. There are low, rounded gray hills that are dry, cracked and eroded.

While eating breakfast we saw several antelope grazing in the cultivated fields around Green River. At Green River (elevation 4075 feet) we reached the lowest point in our route between Salt Lake City and Denver. Traveling along we gradually gain elevation as we begin the climb into the Rocky Mountains. The scenery is at times desolate, but the rich ochre, purple, gray and white sedimentary layers that make up the mesas are like an artist's palette. This part of Utah is rich in uranium and is not far from Arches National Monument and Canyonlands National Park.

Olivia spends the morning reading and then she and I try to make friendship bracelets using a bracelet wheel. Unfortunately, I appear to be completely incompetent when it comes to using the bracelet wheel. Olivia falls asleep while I struggle to make sense of the directions. Why is it that 10-year-olds have no problem making friendship bracelets and I can't make sense of the process?

Later on I have more luck helping Hilary start a lanyard bracelet. When she finished the bracelet it looked really nice! The fact that it glows in the dark makes it even cooler. I'll tackle the friendship bracelets tomorrow and try making them without the bracelet wheel.

Passing through Ruby Canyon before lunch we see three sets of moki steps on the red, sheer rock cliffs. Moki steps are depressions that were carved in the rock by the Anasasi to help them ascend and descend the cliffs.

We continue past Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs as we follow the Colorado River and the canyon walls grow steeper. Highway 70, on the north side of the river, is a double-decked highway with a broad bicycle path following the river below it. We pass through Red Canyon, which the Spaniards called "Colorado" and from which the state gets its name.

After Red Canyon we continue through narrow Gore Canyon, which is accessible only by train (or white water river raft) because the sheer rock walls go straight up 1,500 feet on either side. I can't imagine being the work crew that cut into the rock walls to lay the train track! The Gore Range towers to 13,000 feet to the south of the canyon.

Just past Granby we begin to follow the Fraser River. It's a smaller river than the Colorado and is clearer. We see people wearing tall waders fly fishing for trout along the side of the river.

Approaching Fraser Canyon and Tabernash we see the snowy Continental Divide to the north. Past Tabernash and Fraser we enter 6-mile long Moffat Tunnel (completed in 1928). The tunnel is the highest (9,239 feet) and longest tunnel in the Continental U.S. Before the Moffat Tunnel was built the route between Salt Lake City and Denver was 65 miles longer and took 5 hours longer to complete because the trains had to take on extra locomotives to cross James Peak (13,260 feet) using switchbacks. It now takes only 8 minutes to pass through the tunnel and when we emerge we are on the eastern side of the Continental Divide! To keep the exhaust from entering the train cars while we are in the tunnel all the end doors are closed and no one can move from car to car.

Hilary is working on her first needlepoint project and is doing a wonderful job. Marshal is helping Olivia complete a lanyard bracelet.

We make the descent into Denver from the high Rocky Mountains and switch from the Rio Grande tracks to the Burlington Northern line to Chicago. The descent from the Rocky Mountains is a two percent grade on S-curves that allow you to see the engine around one curve and the last rail car around the next.

After the magnificent crags of the Rocky Mountains the sudden shift of scenery to the flat plains stretching east from Denver are a shock. It looks as though a giant rug has been pulled flat on one side while it is still bunched up on the other end.

The Denver skyline glints in the early evening light. The Denver station is historic and we take a quick look around to stretch our legs and get a breath of fresh air before once again boarding the train. As the train leaves Denver the sunset over the Rocky Mountains is a stunning deep red. We pass the Denver stockyards and head east into rolling farmland.

During the night we cross into Nebraska and loose another hour when we enter the Central time zone. We sleep as the train goes through Lincoln and Omaha.

Wednesday, June 30—Day 3

Marshal and I awake early and head to the dining car for breakfast before the girls are up. On either side of the train are cornfields as far as the eye can see. Nestled in the cornfields are the towns of Creston, Osceola, and Ottumwa.

Exiting Nebraska we cross the Mississippi River on a 2,000 foot steel bridge and enter Illinois. For the next five hours we see beautifully groomed farms and miles of corn and soybeans. The houses are simple, clean, and all-American. Most of the structures are white, but once in a while the landscape is punctuated by a red barn or green roof.

We arrive in Chicago at 5:30 p.m. (two hours later than scheduled) and dash outside to see the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower) before boarding the Capitol Limited for the last leg of our trip to Washington, D.C. Sadly, we did not have time to see the Great Hall in Union Station because the California Zephyr was so late arriving in Chicago.

Leaving Chicago we see the skyline and pass through Chinatown. A short time later we cross into Indiana and see the massive steel mills of Gary. Miles of coal cars line the tracks in front of the steel mills. We have a quick view of the Lake Michigan behind the steel mills. Once we are past Gary we're quickly back in the countryside and farms reappear and the landscape is filled with rolling hills.

We have a late dinner around 9:00 p.m. We pass Waterloo, Indiana, while eating and lose another hour as we cross into Eastern Time. Once I get the girls tucked into bed, Marshal and I stay up to talk and watch the towns go by. In Toledo around midnight we go to bed after seeing the lights of the beautiful suspension bridge crossing the Maumee River near where it enters Lake Erie. While we sleep, the train passes Sandusky and Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, PA, and crosses the Mason-Dixon Line from Pennsylvania into Maryland.

Thursday, July 1—Day 4

I awake a little after 8:00 a.m. and head to the scenic car with a cup of coffee, the newspaper and my book. Marshal and the girls are still sleeping and I get to enjoy the green and rugged Alleghenies as the train approaches the Cumberland Gap and the city of Cumberland, Maryland. The farms scattered through the Alleghenies are small and isolated, but are picture-postcard beautiful. When the train pulls into Cumberland I count five churches within easy walking distance from the station. All of the churches have tall, thin spires and are made out of brick and local stone. There are many beautiful mansions on the hillsides of Cumberland built by the coal, canal, and railway barons of the 1800s. Just outside of Cumberland we enter the Potomac Valley and travel alongside the Potomac River.

Marshal and the girls get up around 10:00 and we have a late breakfast in the dining car. While we eat we pass through the town of Hancock, which bears the great distinction of being in three states—West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania!

After breakfast we pass through Martinsburg, Maryland, where the oldest working train station (built in 1847) in the nation is located. By the end of the Civil War the only building left standing in Martinsburg was the train station.

An hour after Martinsburg we come to Harper's Ferry and see the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. This spot is where Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland meet. The ferry went out of business after the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad built a wooden bridge across the Potomac in 1836. During the Civil War there were nine bridges built and destroyed in Harper's Ferry. As we cross the bridge we see the remains of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Just past Harper's Ferry the Potomac River widens considerably.

In a little over an hour we reach Washington, D.C. and disembark at Union Station. We transfer to the Metro and head to our hotel. By the time we reach the hotel it's time for a late lunch and then some down time by the pool. Tonight we will get a good night's sleep so we can have fun in Washington, D.C. tomorrow.