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The Coast StarlightAmtrak's Best in the WestBy Toni DabbsIf you want to relax in a clean and comfortable environment while enjoying spectacular scenery, try The Coast Starlight by Amtrak.
When I felt like socializing, I could mingle with other guests in the Pacific Parlor Car. Found only on The Coast Starlight, the Pacific Parlor Car is a first class lounge for sleeping car passengers. The upper level, lined with panoramic windows and tastefully furnished with a mixture of easy chairs, upholstered banquettes and private booths, is a great place to play cards and board games or to chat over drinks.
With dinner entrees averaging approximately $15, prices are affordable. However, another benefit of being a sleeping car passenger is not having to "pay as you go." All food and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the first class fare. With so many appealing destinations along The Coast Starlight route - including Portland, San Francisco and Santa Barbara - I found it difficult to decide where to break my journey. Inspired in part by several superb wines from less familiar producers tasted on board the train, I opted to explore some of California's alternative wine regions - alternative, that is, to the often-visited Sonoma and Napa Valleys. For my first stopover, I chose Sacramento. The California state capital is just an hour's drive from the Sierra Foothills, where dozens of wineries are scattered among Gold Rush era towns like Sutter Creek, Amador City and Placerville. Visitors who don't want to make the drive can still try the wines at Discover California! in Old Sacramento. The shop, which specializes in products of the Golden State, has a tasting room dedicated to regional wines. Old Sacramento, the city's restored heritage district, is also home to the California State Railroad Museum, a showcase for vintage locomotives and rolling stock. I detrained again at Paso Robles, where I could easily walk from the town's spanking new station to my accommodations at the historic Paso Robles Inn. During the 1920s, a frequent guest was Polish pianist and statesman Ignace Paderewski, who is credited with planting the first Zinfandel grapes in the area to ensure a satisfactory supply of red wine. The hotel has its own tasting room where regional wines are served and operates daily tours to surrounding wineries. Passengers with more time than I had might continue by rail to San Luis Obispo, rent a car and visit the wineries of the Edna Valley-Arroyo Grande region to the south. Driving back to tour the Paso Robles region, they could call at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, the opulent hillside retreat of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, now a state historical monument. As I headed back to Seattle, my final stopover was San Jose. Now California's third-largest city, San Jose has two wineries within its limits, legacies of its rural roots before it became the de facto capital of Silicon Valley. However, many more wineries can be visited within driving distance south, spread throughout the Monterey Bay area. In San Jose itself, the Tech Museum of Innovation is not to be missed. The facility has hundreds of interactive exhibits incorporating high tech equipment that the average person might otherwise never get near. Visitors can experiment with robotic manufacturing, remotely control an underwater vehicle mounted with a video camera, steer a model rover across an imitation Martian landscape, perform simulated "keyhole" surgery with a laparoscope, even design a roller coaster then take it for a virtual test drive. On the home stretch of my trip, I contemplated how much I had enjoyed the comfort and convenience of traveling by train. Some of my fellow passengers, making great loops around the United States or criss-crossing the country by rail, spoke highly of all the Amtrak services they had taken but admitted that The Coast Starlight is a cut above most other routes. Contact Amtrak Photos courtesy of Amtrak Copyright 2001 by Toni Dabbs. This work, including photographs, is protected by copyright and may be used only for personal non-commercial purposes. All other rights are reserved, and commercial use is prohibited without permission of the author. |
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On its two-day journey between Seattle and Los Angeles, the train hugs Puget Sound, skirts the Cascade Mountains, sweeps through the California countryside, and traces more than 100 miles of Pacific coastline, passing top wine producing regions in Washington, Oregon and California. Fine wines from these regions are served in the dining and lounge cars on The Coast Starlight, while vineyard visits and winery tours are available at several stopovers en route.
My first day aboard The Coast Starlight, I discovered that being a sleeping car passenger has more benefits than just the berth. My compartment allowed me complete privacy whenever I wanted it. I could relax in comfort, read in peace or gaze at the endless landscape slipping past my own large window.
Each afternoon, the Pacific Parlor Car is the setting for a complimentary wine tasting—a terrific ice breaker for solo passengers like myself. Sampling three still wines one day and two sparkling wines another, I spoke with a fascinating array of people, ranging from a historian from West Virginia to an advertising executive from Singapore.
Meals in the dining car offer more opportunities for meeting other travelers while trying dishes freshly prepared from ingredients indigenous to The Coast Starlight route—salmon, swordfish, hazelnuts, mushrooms, artichokes, avocados, tomatoes, garlic, etc