Anniversary Sleeper Car Train Trip Recap

This summer, Adam and I celebrated 10 (!) years married with our first sleeper car train trip experience across the country. Turns out the 10th anniversary “theme” is something like tin or aluminum, so a train trip fits that right?

Some overall notes, tips, and impressions from our first sleeper car train trip:

• genuinely this was such a fun, unique, bonding experience. We saw SO much
• however, add in more buffer time than you think
• there will be delays
• get travel insurance (noting a theme?)
• a 3 course dinner will be very exciting on night one. However when you’re mostly sitting and sleeping, you might be ready to give up desserts after a couple of those courses
• get ready to socialize with strangers (the dining car is community seating only!)
• bring things to do! Books, games, a queue of podcasts etc
• check out the viewing car if you can – even though we had great views from our window it was cool to see out both sides of the train at once
• get ready for a new level of intimacy with your roommette mate (some train cars have in-room toilets… they are literally directly next to the bed..!!)
• other essentials: ear plugs, flip flops, Dramamine if you get carsick (I never ended up needing this on the train but I did have a swaying sensation and “sea legs” for a bit when we got off), and masks (so much stranger coughing. ew)
• but also: pack small/condensed for in the room, there is VERY little space in there.
• watch youtube videos of the train you’ll be on before you go! This was so helpful in considering what and how to pack, and what to expect. Each train was slightly different, but there are lots of videos that can show you what your car might be like!
• Did I mention, buffer time…? :)

Alright, our train trip! Well, in a (perhaps foolish) attempt to make the most of each day, we mapped out a fairly packed plan:

We would leave DC on a Thursday night in a sleeper car train, get to Chicago Friday morning, leave on a different train that afternoon to Santa Fe to visit friends there Saturday night. Sunday, back on the train from Santa Fe to the Grand Canyon area. Walk around, take a jeep tour, then a few shuttle cars and a rental car would take us north to Moab, UT, stopping at Arches national park. Then a shuttle back to the train station in Grand Junction to head back on another sleeper car to Chicago for 2 days for our actual anniversary before completing our final leg – one more sleeper car home. Whew. So easy right, so much room for adjustments if needed.. right

Before even leaving home we got notified our first train was an hour behind.. then 2 hours behind.. (thanks to our pal Ben for the ride to the station and the rec to check out the post office museum across the street, we were still fairly optimistic about time at this point haha). Then we finally boarded and settled into our roommette! And then.. the train stopped… all of about 1 mile from the station lol.

Back to DC for mechanical repairs until we were finally on our way (maybe?).

Nope, we woke up only as far as Pittsburgh, and eventually the total delay ended up being over 7 hours!! (Lol at this perfectly relevant meme our friend Ashley sent).

The delays, we’ve been assured, are typically not this severe, but it did cause us to miss our connecting train, and our chance to visit friends in Santa Fe (we will have a re-do trip some day!!). Thankfully Amtrak was able to rebook us for the next day, and put us and about 40 other passengers up at a resort 40 mins out of the city… A funny weird little side quest we didn’t ask for but, we eventually got back on track (ha) and were able to see so many incredible landscapes across the country.

Maybe it was the wild journey and unexpected changes to the trip, or maybe it truly is just an incredible place to lay eyes on, but finally walking up to the canyon and seeing the startling mind-boggling scale of it all definitely had me teary. We walked the trail along the rim and just kept marveling at this place with so much time condensed and built into it, and so much space. It was beautiful.

We got to experience it again later in the evening with a sunset jeep tour. How many grand canyon photos is appropriate to print and display around our house? This place is unreal.

Another highlight was Arches and Moab (maybe in part because we had rented a car for this part and after all the trains it felt so freeing to have that control again haha). Arches was spectacular though, such an incredible natural landscape and an amazing sunset as we were leaving the park.

As much as the start was a bit chaotic (please get more consistent efficient train travel and public transit America. sigh), taking the train lets you see so much – rolling through varied towns and climates and landscapes along the way. We crossed over the Mississippi, we were taken miles through the mountains and along the Colorado river, we went through so many cities. & We saw a lot of corn and farmland.

And when we eventually got back to Chicago it was even more exciting to walk around a cool, new-to-us city!! We got to enjoy some great food (Gus Sip and Dip was a favorite and Girl and the Goat was our delish anniversary dinner – thanks to my friend Candace for those recs!). We also made up for all the eating and sitting and sleeping on the train I think by walking for hours haha

& then, our last train ride home took us through upstate New York and NYC and eventually back to Baltimore. We managed to do and see so much, and honestly I just loved all the time it gave us to spend together. <3 As wild as it was in the start, I really would recommend trying out a sleeper car at least once!

If you’re trying to book your own sleeper car train trip in the future, let me know how it goes or reach out with any questions! :)

Bonus photos: me when I loved the train! Vs me when not so much….

Okay if you made it this far, here are even more photos from the train trip! Just know that despite the nearly 100 images here, I actually did my best narrowing down favorites from the almost 1000 that I took! :)