an amtrak adventure story

the hub and i had talked about our 20th wedding anniversary off and on over the last year, but by the time it actually came around we still hadn’t settled on any particular way to celebrate it.  we debated a few ideas, and i don’t even remember how it came about, but what we ultimately ended up doing was something pretty unexpected:  taking the amtrak up the coast to seattle.

this is a 36-hour journey.  you read that right…THIRTY-SIX HOURS.  on a train.  heh.  we would leave from union station at 10am and arrive in seattle at 8pm the following evening.

and we booked the trip literally two days before departure, which got us the very last private sleeping room on the coast starlight train.  but we were excited at the idea of doing something new and revisiting a place we’d only been once before - in the very early days of our relationship, and even then we were only there for about 24 hours.

to make it even more interesting, we decided to take the metro gold line from the station just a few minutes from home to union station.  this way, we’d avoid any morning rush hour traffic and not have to deal with paying to park the car for the weekend. and because our private sleeping room also got us access to a pre-boarding lounge, we wanted to get there at least an hour before departure so we’d have time to check it out.

we got to the gold line station bright and early that thursday morning.

it was an easy and uneventful ride that took about an hour, and then we found ourselves at the door to the lounge.  we checked in with the front desk and then found a table to sit down and relax while we waited to board the train.

the staffer who’d checked us in also escorted us up to the platform.

our room was on the far end of the train, right next to the employee lounge.  here’s where we got to spend the next 36 hours - on one side, bench seats that faced each other (and eventually folded out to a single bed) and an upper bunk that pulled down for the second person:

this was the other side, with a heavy curtain that divided the room for privacy.

of course, we took it very seriously.

a couple more commemorative photos and then we were off on our adventure!

we sat in our room for a bit, watching the scenery as we sped through.  and then we decided to head upstairs and check out the dining car and observation deck.

at one of the stops, the hub got tired of staring out of our dingy window and went out there to clean it off.

…and as soon as we started moving again, he fell asleep.

we both dozed off a bit, and then when we woke up we caught one of the guys coming out of the employee lounge to ask about lunch.  service in the dining room was by reservation, and we’d been told that someone would have been by to schedule one for us but no one ever showed up.  i think that because we were so tucked away from the rest of the passengers, hidden by the break room, we were the forgotten stepchild.  anyway, he was super apologetic and got us a table right away.  

we were pleasantly surprised to find that the food and service in the dining room was really good.  i hadn’t realized that they would have us sit side by side in the booth so that they could seat other parties with us - i guess that’s part of the train experience?  i don’t know.  in any case, we ended up sharing our booth with a single man who sat down, refused to make eye contact, opened his target bag and took out a magazine that he paged through without a word to us.  heh.

did i mention that there was no wi-fi on the train?  yeaaaaah.  and we were riding through areas where cell service was spotty to non-existent.  i will say, though, that this was not at at all a bad thing because we spent our time chatting, laughing, napping…just spending time together.  it was really nice, and a lovely, low-key way to celebrate our milestone anniversary.  when we’d get service we’d turn on a movie or watch an episode of a random netflix show we’d stumble upon, and the time just flew by.

we’d again been forgotten for a dinner reservation, but we still managed to make it up there for service anyway.

when we got back to our room, the hub took down the bunk bed for me.  it was comically close to the ceiling, and i knew he would have been miserable up there.  besides, i didn’t mind taking the bunk and thought it was actually pretty comfy.  and there was a strap to attach to the ceiling that would keep me from falling off, which was funny.

we ended up sleeping right through breakfast, but we were perfectly happy hanging out in there and watching the scenery through the window.

and then finally, right at 8pm as scheduled, we arrived in seattle.

we caught an uber outside of the train station and got to the palihotel pretty quickly.

our room was small, but cute and comfy.

it was after 9pm, but we were craving some fresh air and some movement so we headed out on foot and crossed the street to one of the most familiar seattle sights - the public market.

most of it was closed for the night, but we managed to find a bar that was still open.

it was really nice to stretch out and breathe in the cool air.  the train had been a lot of fun, and i’m glad we did it.  although we’re both in agreement that it was a one-and-done kind of experience for us, in the u.s., anyway. if we do any international travel…who knows?