Travel Tips

This is why I love the train!! The people (and the lounge car!) Notice the Amish man in the background? He's from INTERCOURSE, PA! That's where we had the VT meeting earlier in May! :-)

When I went to Alaska last year, I decided to take the train across the country. Going out to the west, I took the "Empire Builder" which goes from Chicago (I took another train from Pittsburgh to Chicago) and through the North US. It took a couple days and went through Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington state to Seattle (from there I flew to Alaska) This year, I picked it up at Whitefish, MT and took it to Chicago. Then the Three Rivers to Harrisburg, PA

Flying over the Great Plains is interesting because you can see the exact plots of farmland in every geometrical shape. Cultural Landscapes of the US are fascinating because they change so dramatically. On train, it takes much longer, but you can appreciate it more.

We went into Glacier National Park on the train right before sunset and through the Park at sunset...where we saw a huge herd of elk running by the tracks. That Park is beautiful and it was a relief to see some mountains, finally.

After being in Alaska for 6 months, and having flown home for a week during the summer (14 hour flight from AK to Washington DC w/ 3 connections), I decided the train was the best option again. However, a friend of mine and I decided we would go to Seattle by plane and spend the night, then to LA on the "Coast Starlight" and then through the Southwest (on the "Southwest Chief") then cutting up North back to Chicago. We went through Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illnois again...back to PA from there.

We finally got to LA and to our hotel which was pretty nice. I spent time in California before but never a couple days in LA. LA is okay, I would go back, but of all the cities we went to on this trip and even of all the cities in the US I've been to before, it's my least favorite. Good advice: take the subway/bus if you can. it's a good system. Walking is impossible. Taxis are very expensive. Driving is just an annoyance.

From there, we went to Arizona (at night) and then to New Mexico. Again, very nice how the vistas changed.