Well, we finally did it. We booked our 'round-the-nation vacation via Amtrak for this summer!

All told, we got a pretty good deal. I bought a USA rail pass and then booked roomettes for Jessica and myself for the entire way. Total Cost? $2301.00

Not bad for 3 1/2 days travel out, and 6 days back for two people. Especially when you consider that sleeper car passengers get FREE meals in the diner car, and free refreshments throughout the day, plus a bed and shower facilities!

We will leave from Birmingham, AL at 2:41 pm on Sunday the 25th of June, boarding the "Crescent" headed northbound. We will arrive in Washington DC the next morning at 10:10 am.

We will have about 5 hours to explore DC on the 26th before we have to be back at the station a block north of the capitol building to board the "Capitol Limited", which leaves for Chicago at 4:05 pm. We will arrive in Chi-town the next morning at 8:45 am.

We will have about 4 hours to explore Chicago on the 27th, before heading back to the station across the river from the Willits Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower. We board the "Empire Builder" at 2:15 pm, headed west.

We will arrive in Spokane, WA at 1:40 am on the 29th, a day and a half after leaving Chicago, where our sister-in-law will pick us up to spend a few days with her down at the University of Idaho where she teaches (albeit she will no doubt be grumbling about how late it is the entire time)

She will drop us off back at the station in Spokane to catch the "empire Builder" again, only this time it departs for Portland, OR at 2:45 am on July 4th (also known as Oh-mi-god-its-early-no-fireworks-yet-please)

We will arrive in Portland at 10:10 am that same morning of the 4th, and have a brief 3 hours to explore Portland before we catch the "Coast Starlight" at 2:25 pm headed south to Los Angeles.

We roll into L.A. around 9:00 pm the next day, the 5th of July (hopefully having seen fireworks displays from towns along the way the night before). We grab a hotel for the night here, having chose to stay at the Metropolitan Hotel, a block away from the station.

We will have until 3:00 pm on the 6th to explore part of L.A., as that is when the "Sunset Limited" leaves for New Orleans, which we will roll into at 2:55 pm 2 days later on the 8th.

We have found a bed and breakfast in the Lower Garden District to drops our bags at while we partake of the hospitality of New Orleans for the night, but we can't party too hard, as we have to be back at the station to catch the "Crescent" back to Birmingham at 7:05 am

So, come mid-july, look for a trip report posting from us with lots of pictures