All aboard: Boomer mom from Lincoln, millennial son ride the rails

In the end, serendipity -- and perhaps the lull and pull of the mystique of train travel -- brought us to the Coast Starlight, an Amtrak journey reaching from Los Angeles north to Seattle. You could sign up for pieces and parcels of the journey, but Josh and I decided to swallow the entire passage, 35 hours and 1,100 miles of rail along our country’s western coast.

We purchased tickets online, opting for the cheapest seats, flew direct from Kansas City and -- without much planning -- found ourselves amidst the train whistles of Union Station in L.A., ready to board.

This is Josh here -- the millennial -- sneaking in a few comments. Don’t try to navigate from Amtrak’s main site; it’s not great. Just Google Coast Starlight and click on the first link. There, you will find a Google map of the route; wikipedia also has a decent map.

Both of us agreed: This journey was one sweet ride with smooth rails and breathtaking vistas. The Coast Starlight took us beside the magnificent cliffs of the southern Pacific coastline, hugging the shores close enough to catch dolphins, sea lions, beach combers and ocean spray -- then inland through Oregon’s snow-capped mountains, lush forests and river streams -- and finally back to the coast along the pristine Puget Sound of Washington.

Legroom was spacious -- especially in contrast to plane travel -- chairs tilted back for satisfactory sleep. Often a victim of motion sickness, I stocked up on Dramamine, but never took a pill. And, perhaps best of all, you could stroll up and down the train from passenger cars to dining and café cars -- to, my favorite, the completely open-windowed observation car filled with glass and light.

My mother mentions this later in the article, but it deserves to be higher: Don’t count on Wi-Fi. Amtrak says there is Wi-Fi, but it’s spotty at best. I gave up early and embraced off-the-grid. Bring a book, or books. Board games. Sleep.

If you are considering such a journey, what follows are what Josh and I consider the great, the good and the so-so. All aboard.

The Great: Admittedly we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine, but the scenery along this train trip was spectacular -- viewing the breathtaking expanse of the West Coast without worry of steering wheels and traffic. Every turn of the tracks brought awesome, picture-perfect landscape -- interspersed with long and lovely stretches of lonesome -- and plenty of glimpses into backyard America. The first day along California’s misty coastline was extraordinary with views of surfers, dolphins and gorgeous shore cliffs. After a night of sleep, we woke to the forests of northern California and I watched the sunrise from our observation car as we chugged into the Pacific Coastal Range, pines and mountain streams of Oregon. Finally, still hours from our destination, we had our first -- but definitely not last -- vision of Mount Rainier and the deep, clear waters of Puget Sound.

I loved our fellow travelers, people of all backgrounds and generations: Boy Scouts and backpackers, entire families and solo trekkers. There were grandparents with grandchildren, young couples in love and nature lovers hopping off to tackle the back trails of the country. Some felt like talking, others were solitary. Mostly everyone respected personal boundaries.

Finally, I was very much drawn to the simple sensibilities of train travel, the rhythm of the rails, plenty of space and time to reflect on the experience, and the unrushed serenity of the journey itself.

I want to emphasize plenty of space. Bring aboard multiple suitcases -- you can stow them below and in the large overhead compartments. There are also multiple bathrooms available at any time -- nothing like plane travel.

The Good: The stops were not excessive, here and there, mostly time for people to jump off and smoke. I think I would have enjoyed a few longer stops, perhaps long enough to take a short hike, or grab a bite to eat. But that would have also lengthened the trip time, and we were definitely ready to disembark after 35 hours.

The vistas were indeed beautiful, but on any train trip you should expect plenty of what I call backyard Americana: farm fields and mowed lawns, stacks of brick and lumber, scooters and bicycles, industry and cemeteries, trailer parks and schools, churches and hospitals, ballfields and bars, flower pots and litter. In other words, every moment of the trip is not gorgeous.

The so-so: The food on the trip was quite good, but the process was frankly annoying. Business and sleeper car travelers got first dibs on meals in the dining car -- so coach folks dined very late -- or often opted for the snacks, sodas and alcohol from the café car. In fact, the very last meal served on our trip was sold out before coach trekkers had a chance to eat.

You are allowed to bring aboard any food you want, but not alcohol. I did not follow this rule. A couple six-packs of California IPA made the journey much more enjoyable.

I also didn’t sleep all that well. We opted for the cheap seats -- coach section -- we made the right decision. Sleeper cars offered more privacy but felt pretty claustrophobic and somehow seemed to separate travelers from the experience. The business section didn’t appear much better than our seats. In fact, coach seats allowed plenty of space to tilt back and stretch out, so I’m not convinced I would have slept well anywhere on the train. I should have brought a good pillow.

I slept great.

Summary: We loved the sights, sounds and spectacle of this train trip. And I loved taking the trip with my son.