A Day Aboard the Coast Starlight

We boarded the train at the King Street Station in Seattle on Tuesday morning.  The station itself was quite lovely, all white marble and very clean. We lined up with all the other 'elite' passengers who had booked sleeping compartments, which included free meals and access to the parlor car and theatre, which coach passengers could not access. 😜

Our sleeping compartment was very cozy but not large. I learned after boarding that there were bigger rooms but we managed in our little area, Ron sleeping on an upper bunk.  Our sleeping compartment was on the 2nd floor of the train so we were indeed a cut above. LOL. 

The service was great and the food delicious. We got to make reservations for our meals and had choices. There was a comfy observation car to watch the scenery going by. Apart from seeing Puget sound however, the train travelled through cities, farmland, and mountains. The coastal part of the trip apparently will be from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  The train went up into the mountains to an elevation of 4550 feet, with snow along the route, and ended up this morning at 135 feet above sea level (in San Francisco).  We went to sleep in Oregon and woke up in California. 

In the evening we went to the theatre room and watched "Gravity". 

We fell asleep listening to the wheels rumbling along the track and feeling it sway gently; although Ron says from the top bunk it was more like a "rock and roll".

Next blog:  San Francisco.