I have wanted to take the scenic Coast Starlight train from Seattle to LA for several years now, and I finally found the time. This way of traveling truly is “slow travel” but very enjoyable if you take the time. I didn’t go all the way to Los Angeles, because I had no desire to, so I stopped just north in Santa Barbara for a day before heading back up to Cupertino for a few days. Santa Barbara is a very charming town on the coast and well worth a stop. The pricing for a regular coach seat was surprisingly inexpensive. I paid just $97 for 36 hours of West Coast viewing. There are a few other options available, like a room or a roomette, at a bigger expense. The prices vary depending on when you are traveling and how far in advance you purchase a ticket. I could have also stopped off along the way for a day or two in another town, but I decided to do the whole trip at once for the experience.

The train left Seattle at 10 am and we were in Portland Oregon about 3.5 hours later. Both Seattle and Portland train stations have been restored recently and are just beautiful.

There are many stops along the way on this train, some are quick stops for passengers to only get on and off, while others allow 15-20 minutes to get off the train, if so desired. This is all explained as we approach new stations, so you are aware of how much time you have at each location. Portland was one of those stops that gave extra time, and knowing that they had a snack shop in the lobby, I disembarked to pick up a few things for my trip.

This train offers a few meal options. There is a dining car with tables for 4 that you need to make reservations for. I found out that if you purchased a ticket for a room or roomette, your meals are included. If not, lunch was $25 per meal, which included a dessert, and a beverage, while dinners were $45 for a 3-course meal that also included a glass of wine or beer. If you didn’t want to sit down for a meal in that dining car, you could go to the cafe car and pick up a sandwich or snack and beverages, or you could bring your own food – I did a bit of all three.

This train goes in and out of the coastline in Washington, Oregon, and California. Riding along the water is my favorite scenery, but there are many other sites to see along the way and here are some of my observations:

There are lots of golf courses next to train tracks, people keep a lot of junk in their backyards, that they think no one can see (except from a passing train), many cool little towns that you’ve never seen or heard of, lots of farmland – especially in California, and unfortunately – lots of homeless tents.

I have lived in Monterey, California, Portland Oregon, and now northern Washington. I’ve driven all over each of these states, but the train travels where cars do not go. I also found it so wonderful to just stare out of the window, watching the world go by, wondering what was coming around the corner. Because I was on a moving train and could not open any windows, some of my photos are a bit blurry or have some reflections from inside lights, but I feel that it adds to what I was experiencing on Amtrak.

The photos below were taken just outside of the San Jose area in California on a foggy morning, just after many days of rain and flooding. You can see how close the tracks are to the water in places.

Besides the food cars, there is an observation car, located next to the dining car. Here you can have conversations, play games, or just get more of a view because it’s all windows.

As I stated previously, I only purchased a coach seat for my trip from Seattle to Santa Barbara and I also purchased the same type of seating a day later from Santa Barbara to San Jose. Because there is so much room with a coach seat and they extend out like a lounge chair, they are very comfortable. I was also very lucky to have both seats to myself during the entire trip. The day before I left for WA, I received an email from Amtrak asking if I wanted to “bid up” for a roomette or a room. I didn’t pay much attention to it and did nothing. On the following day, I got another one for my shorter trip, so I asked another traveler about it. She explained that if there are open rooms, they offer them at a discounted rate to people already on the train in order to make more money and to open up the original coach seating to others. I decided to look into this more and long story short, my bid was accepted and I was upgraded to a roomette for the 8-hour trip on my last leg of the train ride.

So, my original coach seat ticket was only $42, and bidding for the upgrade to a roomette (very small) ranged from $70-$240. Since I didn’t care if I got this upgrade, I bid the lowest option, because that would cover my lunch and dinner meals and give me my own room – and that’s what I got. It was fun to try something different and I would definitely look into that again for a long trip.

There are large bathrooms with changing areas on the trains, as well as showers. I’m not sure how easy it is to take a shower on a moving train, as I opted out of that experience.

The change in the architecture of the passing train stations was really interesting. I did get off to see some of them when time allowed but sadly, many were closed due to recent vandalism.

Here’s another bit of information that I wasn’t aware of – there is NO WiFi on the train and a few blackout areas. Luckily I had downloaded a few books on audible and I spent most of my time looking out the winder or napping, but just a heads up.

We arrived in Santa Barbara in the early evening and I had chosen a hotel that was close to the train station and town. The Hotel Virginia was only a few minutes walk from the station and right on the edge of town. In the morning I left my bags there for a few hours before boarding Amtrak in the afternoon and wandered around town and down to the pier. I didn’t get as much time to spend there as I would have liked, but I did manage to see a lot and the weather was warm and sunny, which helped.

After spending a night in Santa Barbara, I got back on the train for my last day of travel in California. I spent 3 days with friends in Cupertino, with a day trip up to Calistoga for “Barrel Tasting” at one of my favorite wineries – Vincent Arroyo Winery. I’ve been buying their wine for close to 30 years now so it was a treat to be able to join them for barrel tasting and to enjoy the festivities that sunny day.

I flew home instead of taking the train from San Jose, since I had already done that trip and seen the sites. Yes, it was a lot quicker to fly, but I’m already looking into my next scenic train trip on Amtrak. In speaking with many of the other passengers on the train, the California Zepher has amazing views from the train, so I’m going to take a portion of that trip from Denver to Reno sometime soon. I hope that I’ve inspired some of you to join me in “slow travel” on trains…