What I was looking forward to:
- The scenery - we saw a lot of really incredible scenery as we traveled about. The best were the mountains - the Cascades in Washington and Oregon were spectacular. Even the more boring areas like the fields across North Dakota or the deserts of Texas had their own beauty (but maybe a little less of them would have been nice!). One regret is that the Empire Builder was running far enough behind schedule that we completely missed Glacier National Park. That's supposed to be a really pretty area to go through. Overall, the Coast Starlight had the best scenery in my opinion.
- The sounds and motions of the train - I like them, there is something soothing about the train swaying and the whistle of the train.
- Seeing lots of family - I really enjoyed all of the family we saw. Next time, we need to spend more time in Chicago since there is so much family there. Seeing the California contingent was really nice too, since I don't see them often at all.
- Visiting Seattle - It's a great city, and I think there is a lot we missed out on. It's a bit more hilly than I was expecting. The summer weather was absolutely perfect. And the best meal I had on the entire trip was in Seattle - that steak was fantastic.
- Cheese and wine tastings on 2 trains - We actually only attended on the Empire Builder. I'm not much of a wine drinker and really needed to choke down one of the glasses of red wine. The cheeses were ok, but they were never identified, which I thought was a little odd. But I did win my very own free bottle in a trivia contest (of one of the white wines). I left it in California since dragging wine I wasn't likely to drink halfway across the country wasn't my idea of fun. We skipped out on the wine tastings on the Coast Starlight - one was enough.
- Father-daughter bonding time - Dad and I got along remarkably well. There were no major fights and we generally had a lot of fun. I know this will be one of those experiences I will always remember and I'm glad I got to share it with my train-crazed dad (even if he did sleep through every single state except Delaware - and that was only because he was eating when we passed though).
- Adding lots of new states to my list - I added seven states, bringing my total to 42.
- Probable lengthy delays - This didn't really happen nearly as much as I thought. The Lake Shore Limited got in only an hour late. The Empire Builder was the latest, but only ended up about 4 hours late. The Coast Starlight and the Sunset Limited were both on time. And the Crescent actually got in early. I was prepared for much lengthier delays all around, so I was pleasantly surprised.
- The same meals over and over again on the train - it did get a bit old. Breakfast was always either scrambled eggs or French toast. Lunch was generally a hamburger, but one day I did have a pretty decent mac & cheese (but it was only offered on one train). For dinners, I was able to switch it up a but more, but did have the steak numerous times. Generally it was fine. The one day I went for the chicken, it was so dry I had trouble eating it.
- Train bathrooms - Not the roomiest of bathrooms. And let's just say that air freshener is your friend.
- Dad snoring - and oh boy, does he snore. He slept a lot, which inevitably led to snoring. On the train, I could generally tune him out between the train noises and my ipod. The snoring was a much bigger problem in the hotels. Since we were sharing a room, I had a lot more difficulty blocking it out at night. It doesn't help that he falls asleep in about 2 seconds, whereas it takes me much much longer. It also doesn't help that I'm a light sleeper. I tried not to get too mad since it's not really something he can control (but I do admit to feeling an unnecessarily large amount of anger at times).
- New Orleans humidity - wow, it was hot. I have never been than hot in my entire life. I would get out of the shower and already feel like I needed another. It was just gross and I marvel at the people who could live there year round.
- Too much father-daughter bonding time - It wasn't as big an issue as I thought. Yes, there were moments, but that was really to be expected.
- My stress level rising due to the timing - I have to say that I was much better at dealing with this than I thought (but does Dad agree?). I did what I could do about the mortgage and I didn't do any school work, but that was ok, it'll all get done.
- Train-related accidents - Phew, none of those to report!
- Bustitutes - we had one at the very beginning from Boston to Albany, but we knew that ahead time and it wasn't the most exciting part of the trip. Other than that, no issues.
- Crazy weather - For the most part, absolutely perfect. The only rain we experienced in the entire 18 day trip was in Texas. It was kinda neat to be surrounded by such a big storm on the train. We had no rain in any of the cities we visited.
- Crazy train companions - nothing like the last trip with people trying to move into our rooms. Overall, people were perfectly fine. We did get an autographed book from one guy, had a couple pray for us at lunch one day, and spent a long dinner with one 13 year old, very outspoken girl.
Thanks Dad!
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