California Zephyr

Overview: The California Zephyr is an Amtrak Train that goes from Emeryville all the way the Chicago, passing through scenic places like the Colorado River along the way. I took the route westbound from Omaha to Sacramento, a 45-hour train ride. There were many occasions where I had to transfer stuff from my camera chip over to my laptop as there were too many good views and not enough memory to get all of them.

Notes:

• This train is designed to be a leisure ride; make no guarantee on getting to your destination on time. If you're getting onboard a specific stop, text notifications will be extremely helpful, as the time between its intended stop and when the train arrives can be hours apart. (There was a touring group onboard the train I was in that had at least one of their tours in Salt Lake City cancelled). It was fortunate that I didn't take yesterday's train ride or the day afterward, as they were 12 and 7.5 hours late respectively, and would've probably had to stay in Sac somewhere.
• Some of the delays during this trip were the train cruising along at 25mph in some areas for whatever reason, stopping for other train traffic, and even stopping in the middle of nowhere while the current crew left as they were over their 12 hour operation limit, and waiting for a replacement crew to arrive to continue.
• The observation room's the best place to look around from both sides of the train. At night, it gets pretty quiet so it's a good place to watch movies and do other work.
• Bring snacks if you need something to eat; they get expensive if you buy from the cafe, and you'll probably need this on the last day.