Amtrak California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco

welcome aboard the most scenic train in the united states

amtrak

california

zephyr

hello jet set and railroad fans i'm jeb brooks from greenergrass.com right now i'm in

chicago

it's time to head to san

francisco

and i'm traveling aboard the most scenic train from the united states this is the

california

zephyr

this train passes through seven states over two thousand four hundred thirty-eight miles in fifty-one and a half scheduled hours, we will climb to almost ten thousand feet and spend two nights on board after a departure at two o'clock on wednesday from the windy city we planned to arrive at 4 25 on friday afternoon to emeryville outside san

francisco

we were traveling in late april 2021 when the weather in

chicago

can be predictably unpredictable, a sign of what was to come on this trip I was not traveling alone my enthusiasm for

amtrak

piqued the interest of some of my friends who you will meet over the course of our trip west, that is shawn craig and alan and we all headed to union station To begin our journey, we start at this beautiful and historic train station.

Walking into this train station, it's a real sense of occasion, it feels so magnificent as this journey will really be the right way to start something like this. While looking at this absolutely magnificent room, our first stop was the Metropolitan Room. All passengers booked on sleeper services have access to this lounge which is really nice, a great place to settle in and prepare for your journey. plenty of seating for children and adults, there are showers and even bag storage, there are also places to recharge and do some work, unfortunately during our visit no food was offered, the first meal on the Zephyr is dinner, so let's go Grab a quick bite to eat here at the station so we have some food before we start the journey.

Fortunately, Union Station has plenty of options for hungry travelers. We each had a bite to eat at different restaurants and then found a table to sit together. A nearby convenience store to visit before the long trip to Union Station is fantastic. I could have spent a lot more time here exploring. Here's the waiting area for coach passengers, but it was this map of Amtrak's root network that really caught my attention. It really caught my attention. a sense of the vast swath of country we would be traveling through we returned to the lounge just before boarding began again train five is boarding track 18 here we go it's about to begin the anticipation is real this is uh I mean Boarding anything is exciting, but a long distance train is something special, unlike my previous experiences on Amtrak, there were many employees there to show us the way to our rooms.

Now we had each reserved our own room. Two guys chose small rooms and two of us chose rooms. We'll explore both room types on this trip, and that brings up one of the biggest benefits of a sleeper: our dedicated sleeper attendant. Ours was fantastic. He was very kind and enthusiastic, willing to support us in any way he could without much effort. I found my room, I see in the sleeper car closest to the dining car, it made it smooth as silk, I just got settled in here and then once we move forward we will have a look at the room, but I feel at home, it's amazing How many moving parts and pieces are required to make one of these huge machines work.

A successful trip depends on many things, but when I noticed that our 2 o'clock departure time passed, I thought maybe one of them was not cooperating, there is a leaky shower and they are having to move the people who are in the room with the shower facing forward, but the worry is that we'll run out of water, uh, because they don't know how to stop the leak, so hopefully they'll fix all of this, but your guess is that Well like mine at this point, probably About 10 minutes late due to the shower mishap, but I guess they fixed it.

Hopefully, we won't run out of water. Time will tell, but we are headed out of Chicago. Zephyr's name derives from Greek. god of the western wind zephyr, so it felt good to leave the station on our journey west. Now seemed like a good time to familiarize myself with a room. Amtrak offers several sleeping options on these long-distance trains. together a video highlighting the pros and cons of each let me know for now this room can easily offer enough space for two adults to sleep now the four of us were comfortable hanging out here during the day the couch converts on a bed that is a little wider than a double and the top bunk folds down but is not as wide.

There is a closet which was ideal given the changeable weather conditions we would experience on this trip. It was great to have easy access to my coat. It is possible to adjust the height of the room. temperature here where there is also a plug and a reading light Amtrak has rooms with several pillows, but I still brought mine from home there is a chair, a mirror and space to store luggage right here there is also another light call button, a setting for the speaker in the room next to the couch, the bedroom also includes a sink along with a million other tasks you completed.

Our room attendant kindly emptied the trash can each day and the table made me grateful for the extra disinfectant wipe from United Airlines. I picked it up on my trip to Chicago. This was quite unpleasant. There is still another reading light above the chair. There is a bathroom and shower in the bedroom. As far as I'm concerned, this is the number one reason to select this space out of all of them. the others available on amtrak having your own bathroom is great, that said don't forget your toiletries. Amtrak only supplies towels and soap and with that I settled into the Amtrak flexible dining room that was offered for this trip.

We were able to try almost all the dishes, so. Keep watching to see Amtrak's Jeb Score Award-winning Flexible Dining Plate of the Year. I'll give you a hint: it's not the meatballs. As we drove through the Chicago suburbs, we received some helpful Amtrak tips from the speakers above, please be sure. you turn on the toilet one more time when you use the bathroom make sure you lock the door just 30 minutes after leaving Chicago we arrived at our first stop in Naperville and with Naperville in the dust I decided to go out and find the boys. Hi Jeff Brooks, which one is it?

What's happening, you know, what surprises me is that we've only been 30 to 35 miles outside of Chicago and we're always coming into a fairly unpopulated area, which just highlights how expansive the United States is and speaking of expansive, we're in a bedroom and there's room for four, uh, for grown kids to hang out and, as Sean would say, chat, uh, uh, but uh, but yeah, it's actually pretty comfortable considering what we have here, a roommate room. We'll take a look at that a little bit later, I think it's best suited for one of us, uh, to be in at a time, but we'll try it with as many people as we can in a room and go through the next several. hours just taking in the scenery telling stories and jokes we all agreed this was the most relaxed we had been in a long time we marked landmarks like Interstate 35 we imagined what the menus were like at restaurants like the family restaurant but most of all We just enjoy Mutual company is one of the great benefits of traveling by train.

Those of you who have seen my previous videos will know that I am a big fan of consuming prunes because food on the train tends to hold me back. Alan seems really offended. Faced with the thought of eating prunes, so let's find out why it's time to prune, we decided to go up to the observation car to take advantage of its wider views, which meant stopping by the dining car first. More on that in a moment, dinner is approaching. Seats in the observation car will soon be available on a first-come, first-served basis and will be available to everyone on the train no matter what class of service you are in.

That said, as the train became more crowded and the views more impressive, the driver imposed a two hour time limit here, in the middle of the car you will find some stairs, if you go down you will find food and drinks available to purchase at the cafeteria, like the observation car, the cafeteria is open to everyone on the The Galesburg train marked our first outdoor break. This is always a highlight for me. It's the first stop that gives me my true impression of the train's range and this one was big. There were three coach cars, an observation car and a dining car.

Three bunk beds. and two engines it was a great time to get on board this was galesburg traveling by train has this really strange power it somehow warps time what would seem like an eternity in the real world passes effortlessly on board here on amtrak it seems like time is marked mainly by meals but there are certain landmarks that retain a significance that everyone on board appreciates and along this route there are several rocky mountains, moffat tunnel donner lake and we will see them all but the first was crossing the mighty Mississippi. I have flown. over this river more times than I can count and I've always thought of it as a long river that stretches 2,320 miles between Minnesota and New Orleans, but it's also an enormously wide river and this train really highlighted that fact for me.

It took us 90 seconds to get from one end of this bridge to the other. Crossing the Mississippi also marked the border between Illinois and Iowa. We have just entered the second of seven states. Each stop tells a story. Mount Pleasant Iowa, for example, is home to America's Iowa Wesleyan College. The oldest coeducational college west of Mississippi, sleeping car passengers were invited to make dinner reservations with the dining car attendant. We had set ours for 6:30 and as the sun set on the horizon, we headed to dinner, which included a small salad. some bread, a main dish and a dessert, here's the chicken fettucini with Asian noodle bowl and the ever present meatballs and to be honest there's not much difference between the three, well it's time for another meatball, just as I remember it while we were having dinner. via ottumwa iowa is the home of actor and comedian tom arnold after dinner we went back to allen's room to hang out some more it was really cool to have this space to ourselves that was that was really cool i just caught a swedenburn like we were traveling for Iowa, which is pretty impressive.

This is one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. There's no doubt that traveling on Amtrak really gives you the opportunity to enjoy such beautiful views and shortly after sunset I returned to my own room for what I hoped would be a good night's sleep tomorrow morning. I guess I'll wake up with an hour of time difference and hopefully even more interesting scenery, so it's time to sleep. See you in the morning, ladies and gentlemen, good night once again. I'm Johnny, your assistant here at 531. I'll leave the car for the night while you sleep.

We passed through Nebraska. I woke up around 5:15 Mountain Time near Brush Colorado. It was a great night's sleep. I really feel incredibly well rested. I slept almost all night. I'm looking forward to a beautiful day today. I understand the views will be incredible. The coffee should be ready in about 45 minutes. We could start the day just as the sun was peeking over the Horizon, I decided to head to the observation car to wait for that coffee, however luckily our car attendant, so I got up early and offered to pour me a cup, I'm I'm sure he was grateful.

Attendance at the tip room is appreciated, but not expected, but what do you think? What is the appropriate amount? If you do this at the beginning or end of a trip, let me know below as we head toward Denver. Two things happened: first we started seeing snow and second we headed to breakfast. Reservations were not necessary for breakfast. First come, first served and we were first at the breakfast of champions. The breakfast omelet with spinach, tomato, onion, mozzarella, provolone and parmesan was new to the menu and I can only describe it as crunchy. We had arrived in Denver, but first we had to return to the station.

Now this was also going to be a service and refueling stop for the train, which meant we could get off and stretch our legs. Welcome to Denver. We have a little bit of a longer stop here on this endeavor, up to an hour, I think I'm going to go check out the station, let's explore excited to be here at the Denver Union station apparently the really good stuff is about to begin. Incredible views the rest of the morning as we go. I went up into the rockies and had enough time to grab a quick shot of espresso, so man, that's good, let's get back on board and get this show on the roadfueled by that shot of espresso I was ready to post. in the observation car for what would turn out to be some of the most incredible views I have ever seen in my entire life, just take a sip, cover your lip and enjoy your ride, we are here to help people, but we have that policy that We need to enforce it and with that out of the way, let's leave the city behind and head up into the rocky mountains.

As I think about this trip, it's the views we encountered here on the morning of our second day that really come to mind. I have driven through the Rocky Mountains. I've flown over the Rocky Mountains, but there's something about experiencing them from the train that is just different in almost an instant after leaving Denver, the show began. It's no wonder so many passengers board in Denver for a day trip around this part. of the country, I must tell you that I am having a lot of fun reliving this while editing the video. I definitely hope you enjoy watching it too and if you do, maybe you should consider hitting the like button or maybe even By subscribing for more videos like this, we found more tunnels than we could count, it was impossible not to think about the people who built this amazing track.

This is amazing. What we are seeing here through the window is almost as if it is not real because it is so impressive. It has to be the most scenic train in the United States by a mile because the train was so full that the conductor asked everyone to limit themselves to two hours in the observation car and after about an hour and a half we returned to our seats. rooms and the views from there were equally stunning there is no way around it this is incredible these are some of the most beautiful scenes I have seen anywhere on the planet let alone from a train which I mentioned in a previous video traveling by train through The weather is really relaxing and right now there's a little snow storm and it's nice and comfortable to sit here in this room, stretch out, have space to yourself and drink it in and I'm lucky enough to be able to hang out with Sean, he It's there and we're just hanging out and enjoying some peaceful relaxation.

The stunning views would soon be cut off, although our driver announced that we had to stay where we were for the next one. 10 minutes or so because we were about to go through another landmark on this trip, the Moffat Tunnel, so you're just reading in the Moffat Tunnel and it opened in 1928, it saved like 176 miles off the trip between the Pacific and Denver. which was not profitable because the snow removal efforts were very complicated. Now I will show you what it looks like as we travel through the Moffett Tunnel so you can experience exactly what we ourselves are experiencing and it continued like this.

For another 10 minutes we had to stay where we were because opening the doors between the cars while we were there would have let in noxious fumes and no one had time for that. Our next stop was Winter Park, where we had just enough time to get out and stop. in the snow, what do you think of uh colorado snowing in april I love it we found ourselves in the Fraser Canyon following the Fraser River we arrived in Granby Colorado the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park we just received an announcement the train is uh, I think the driver? pretty much said, almost full, uh, with 200 passengers on board, it's really exciting to see Amtrak come back.

This is a wonderful way to see the country, a wonderful way to cross the country, so I think there are a lot of people who are here for There are even more people here because they need to go somewhere, the snow turned to rain when we got to the Gore Canyon, offering the wildest whitewater commercially available in Colorado. I decided to skip that and head to lunch. The only reservation available was at 2:30. so we opted to have lunch delivered around 11:30. Craig opted for another new item on the menu, the cod, Sean tried the shrimp and lobster sauce and for me it was the red wine braised beef, due to Craig's enthusiasm for its flavour. as if cod could use more research, on hold, so this is the halfway point of the trip here, we have reached the halfway point to san francisco, this is glenwood canyon, a popular destination for outdoor sportsmen and apparently the anti-train crowd, oh my gosh, look at this, they're joking, we just got the zephyr salute, uh, I think it's a salute here in the california zephyr, uh, I gotta tell you, no, it's not my Favorite greeting, but I like these views, we had reached the roaring fork confluence. on the colorado rivers at glenwood springs, which marked another opportunity to get off the train and stretch our legs, but it wasn't a long stop and we got back on board on our way to grand junction and the nearby utah state line, the california zephyr Amtrak takes its name from the original train that was operated jointly by the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railway, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway and the Western Pacific Railway, it was inaugurated on March 19, 1949 and since its inception marketing and advertising for this route have focused on the spectacular views along the way i think you can see why in 1983 the original zephyrs operators chose to join amtrak, which eventually led to the train's current route and service later Leaving Grand Junction we headed to Utah and the spectacular Ruby Canyon whose red rocks impressed us as we looked for the promised jackalopes in the bushes now, despite our best efforts, we never saw any of those rabbit-like animals with antlers.

Dinner came up to Shawn and it was with the chicken marsala. I chose the chicken fettucini and the cod grew in popularity with Alan jumping on it. bandwagon and craig opted for it a second time it was a coincidence or a trend to come and this was not going to be a night for me, unfortunately I slept in Utah and part of Nevada, but after a long night of sleep I woke up nearby. Winnemucca, Nevada, around a quarter to six Pacific Time, just as the sun was rising, and like the day before, I headed straight to the observation car and stopped long enough to get a cup of coffee, which was a very good night's sleep, in fact, I slept better. that last night and now I'm just enjoying some coffee in the car watching shawn is doing some work and getting ready for breakfast in just a few minutes it's important to know that there is no wifi available here so we are well served to use this trip as an opportunity to unplug and relax before we knew it, the sun was out and breakfast was on the table.

I started with yogurt and followed it with a breakfast sandwich. Both were exactly what you expected. To be okay, Craig chose the omelette and offered an interesting description, a bit like a prison breakfast, not that I knew that and with questions still floating in my mind, I decided it was time to head back to my room, well, Suzanne , your creative director, my My fiancee is joining us in San Francisco, so that means it's time to do something I've never done before. This is the first time I have taken a shower on a train. Here it goes, not only were the instructions intimidating but also the tips for trying it.

Sitting was made even more unpleasant by the fact that the seat was a toilet. I secured the curtain. I turned the knob and almost froze to death. It was very cold. Well, it was tight and cold. And difficult, but now I can say that I have taken it successfully. a shower on a train I feel much more refreshed and ready to go, so it's still morning, I mean, it's only 7:35 and we don't get to Emoryville until later in the afternoon, like 4 o'clock, more or less. more train to ride I wondered how many of the passengers up there knew what they were missing down here it was time for my first and only game of euchre and in a classic example of beginner's luck I won our next stop was the biggest little town in the world a station, sorry to say I found it a little disappointing, I had never been to Reno and would have loved to see at least a street or something, but this station is about 30 feet below and under threat of being left here forever the driver discouraged us from going too far oh well there were some interesting historical artifacts inside when we left I asked to check out Shawn's room as you can see with his suitcases it's a little tight now there's also a place to keep the bags in the ground floor, as you can see.

FYI, but we decided to invite Alan over to see how comfortable the two of them would be. Not bad, you really feel your feet up. You feel comfortable. Yes, with a person. That's great as it seemed to work. Why not try it with three people? I will say three people in a roommate is a little tight three three three grown men in one room which is probably too much and having gone our separate ways to get another breath we were En route to the California border, first stop Golden State Truckee . You know, I don't think there's anything as relaxing as listening to a good audiobook and enjoying the scenery.

We are passing through the Donner Pass, which in the winter of 1846 to '47 the Donner party passed through here they were trapped due to a number of factors a bad winner they left too late they took a wrong path many reasons unfortunately some of those who survived had We have to resort to cannibalism, so it's a pretty dark chapter in our history. Anyway, it's interesting being here at Donner Pass. We crawl at an endless pace. Pulling this machine across the Sierra Nevada is no easy task, but there's no need to rush it with constantly changing views the clip It didn't really matter, soon it was time for lunch, the train was much emptier between Grand Junction and Emeryville so we didn't need a reservation.

I've heard a lot about this module so this is the time and I wasn't the only one. The four of us ordered it, the moment of truth, it tastes like fish sticks and we have our winner, Amtrak's Flexible Meal of the Year award, winner of the Jeb Score award, it goes to the cod we are slowly making our way to, uh to Colfax, California, whose name Vice President of us Grant, Skyler Colfax, is a little known fact there and I really wish Amtrak would contact us about what's going on. I don't know if we're on time or late.

The train track feature on the Amtrak website seems to be down right now, so I'm not sure what the schedule is or what's going on, so it would be really nice if Amtrak was a little more proactive with their communications. There's a big difference between this and the southwest boss and that's it. this third day, so if you take the southwest boss from Chicago to Los Angeles, you will wake up on the third day pretty much in Los Angeles with this particular train, however, you will wake up on the third day, basically you will have a full rest of that day to get through because We don't get to Emeryville if everything is on time until four in the afternoon, so it's really a very different travel experience.

In that sense, you must remember to think about how you are going to use it. I had a great time today just hanging out with my friends getting some sleep and looking out the window but this third day is a consideration if you are thinking about the zephyr if you don't want to spend 52 hours on board I would recommend taking the train at Denver for the drive to Grand Junction, which is a real highlight, but we're not done yet; After a long time, the Sacramento skyline came into view and we headed outside to stretch our legs one last time.

At some point we seemed to be gaining speed or maybe we felt time was moving faster for some reason the Bay Area was moving quickly, there is no doubt that the Zephyr lived up to its reputation as the most scenic train in the world. United States that this trip has had. It was impressive practically from the first second we left Chicago. The views are like nothing I've ever seen from a train from the great plains through the rocky mountains, the Sierra Nevada, I mean, up here to California, northern California, it's a breathtaking drive. We still have a little time before we reach Emeryville and then San Francisco.

The last stops came quickly and I gathered my things here. We're in Emeryville. Last and last stop. Everyone left. Let's go thanks to some. Amazing engineers and talented dispatchers We arrived in Emeryville 40 minutes early. Getting to San Francisco requires booking an Amtrak bus or having your own independent transportation. After 52 hours and 19 minutes, we arrived from Chicago to San Francisco and had an incredible adventure. From now until next time look on the rails hey, let's go by train you guys are really making some progress with your suitcases, I hope to be a little more elegant. I'm reading about the rules of euchre because I know it.

You are very interested in the game that was developed in the Napoleonic era and then it passes. It begins with the benefit of passing through your fingers. Have you ever seen a baby kitchen? If you've seen it, could you leave a comment so I have more time? on board this isgalesburg you said des moines oh that's how they were supposed to be faced uh but there's not much to see so instead you're looking at me you lucky bastards so this is grand mesa this is grand mesa the world uh The mountain taller and flatter, there's no way to be sure, but Alan seems to think it's the Big Table, but he said that about every table we passed, but I think at this point we're going to go with that Big Mason, you know?

Don't think it was a big nap. A big shout out and thank you to Alan Craig and Sean for joining me on this journey and an even bigger thank you to you for watching us until the end. This was the most ambitious project of my life. It started with five and a half hours of content and boiling it down to this was incredibly challenging but a lot of fun. Let me know what you think from now until next time. See you on the way.