On the rails again: Empire Builder trip features landscapes, personalities of America in ride from Spokane to Philadelphia

Just before Halloween last year, my twin sister Ashley reached out to me.

“Want to do a post-graduation train trip?” she messaged.

She saw Amtrak was holding a two-for-the-price-of-one sale on their roomettes, two-person rooms that feature chairs that transform into a bed with an upper bunk. These roomettes include complimentary meals and a dedicated car attendant, and there is a shower available in the train car.

According to the Amtrak website, roomettes are 6 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 8 inches in length and 3 feet 6 inches wide. Cozy is the best way to describe it, though at just over 5 feet tall, we don’t need a lot of space.

Having spent all of 2024 working toward my master’s degree in strategic communication from Washington State University, I was ready for a break. And as someone who loves riding the train, I was ready to hit the rails.

We booked our trip for mid-January. Wanting to make the most of our roomette, we set our sights on the East Coast, deciding to spend time in Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.

The next couple months involved a lot of homework, my graduation ceremony and trip planning.

Ashley and I probably aren’t the most laid back people to travel with, as we have a “We can sleep when we get home” mentality when visiting new places. We wanted to see and do as much as we could on this trip, so we booked museum visits, theater shows and lots of time to walk from place to place, giving us an even closer look at each of the three cities.

But before we could explore, we had to get on the train, which is why we found ourselves at the local Amtrak station just after midnight. Not everyone would be excited about a trip that begins at 1:15 a.m., but I was looking forward to adding another train journey to my travel resume.

After taking a few shorter trips over the years, including Spokane to Seattle, Spokane to Portland and Seattle to Los Angeles, I hopped aboard for a monthlong train trip in 2021. Amtrak was having a sale on its USA Rail Pass, which gives riders 10 segments to use in 30 days. Normally $500, the USA Rail Pass was on sale for $300. How could I say no?

In that month, I traveled more than 11,500 miles (or halfway around the world, as my grandpa said at the time) and spent 11.5 days on the train. I visited 11 cities, nine art museums and two national parks. I took six walking tours, saw the New York City Ballet, a Broadway show and two comedy shows, plus I tried and failed miserably during a surf lesson in Venice Beach, among countless other memorable moments.

There’s something so peaceful about watching the scenery go by as you relax on board, and something about traveling slowly helps me to fully slow down myself. You don’t have to worry about gas or directions or whether your luggage will fit in the overhead bin. Even if I’m tired at the end of a long journey, I depart feeling refreshed and excited to explore my destination city.

(No, this article is not sponsored by Amtrak; I really do love riding the train that much. Ashley does too, so celebrating my graduation with a train trip was a no-brainer.)

While on the Rail Pass, passengers have to sit in Coach Class. Again, I’m quite short, so I had plenty of room to stretch out. Even still, taking such a long trip in a roomette was going to be a treat.

After our early morning departure from Spokane, we headed east to Chicago. The first couple hours of the trip were a little wobbly, which made it hard to sleep, but we both eventually got a few hours of rest.

Having left Spokane with nary a snowflake in sight, waking up in snow-covered Montana felt like, as Ashley said, we were traveling on the Polar Express.

Seeing the variety of landscapes America has to offer pass by is one of my favorite parts of riding the train. Everything from farmland and forests to mountains and rivers. Industrial spaces and places that look untouched by humans. I was lucky to get the chance to see a lot of the country growing up through cross-country moves, yet I never get tired of seeing more.

In fact, on my trip to Los Angeles, a man asked me why I was spending so much time looking out the window when the landscape we were traveling through hadn’t changed significantly in a couple of hours.

“I worked in this area everyday for 10 years,” he said. “You get used to it.”

I told him this was my first time riding the train down the West Coast and I was excited to see everything, though in my head I promised myself I’d never become jaded about seeing the natural beauty of the country.

I’m always curious about the people I see from the train. Are they driving to work? Heading back home after a long day? What is their favorite thing about their town? Have they lived there their whole life or are they a new resident still figuring out the lay of the land? While I’m lounging on the train, what’s on their to-do list? How are they planning to spend their day? If they could hop on a train, where would they go? Who would they visit?

I don’t know if the feeling is mutual; the folks we see probably don’t bat an eye during the brief time the train is at the station, but even still, Ashley and I wave at everyone we pass. It’s silly, yes, but it’s also a thank you of sorts. “Thank you for letting us be part of your town, however briefly.”

In my experience, and certainly true with this trip, the people on board are just as interesting.

Our first meal on the train was breakfast. (Dining menus vary depending on the route you take, but Ashley, who’s vegan, and I, a vegetarian, had at least one option for all three meals. Passengers can take their meals in their room or be placed at a table of four in the dining car.) We shared this meal with Peggy and Peter, who were traveling home to Massachusetts after spending time with the two of their children who live in Washington.

They told Ashley and me about the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams and how to bear-proof bird feeders, an issue they were dealing with at home.

For lunch, we sat with Ruth and Ross, from Wrexham, Wales. The pair were exploring Seattle and Chicago to celebrate Ross’ retirement after 31 years as a grocery store supply manager and decided to take the train between the two cities.

We chatted about places they’d visited in Seattle and how odd they found it that Americans left their holiday decorations up for so long.

We got paired with Ruth and Ross again for dinner that evening, which was a nice surprise after a lovely lunch together. At dinner, we chatted about the U.K. television shows and comedians Ashley and I like, how much Ruth likes Bath and Body Works and Walgreens, and more.

The next morning, we had breakfast with Anne and Carl, from Missouri. We talked about the very different lives their three children lead, Robert Wadlow, known as the world’s tallest man, and the differences between northern and southern Missouri.

Lunchtime, our last meal on the Empire Builder, was with John and Guy, who were traveling from Minnesota for a long weekend in Chicago. John walked us through what it’s like visiting the Met Cloisters, the Frick Collection and the Whitney Museum of American Art, all in New York City.

After a brief layover in Chicago, we were back on the train, this time eating dinner with Claire and Cathy, both of whom were visiting their respective grandchildren.

Each of these conversations began similarly – Where are you heading? What do you have planned? Are you two twins? – but they went in new directions every time they were answered. Like my feelings toward the people who allow me to be part of their town for a few moments, I was grateful to each of these people for allowing Ashley and I to be part of their train trip.

The Amtrak employees, too, have always been kind and quick to help when I needed it. A special shout out here to “Mr. Carl Harris,” as he introduced himself, our car attendant on the Empire Builder, who was funny and helpful the entire 37-hour trek from Spokane to Chicago. “Friends don’t let friends fly. Always choose Amtrak,” he said at one point.

Train travel is definitely something you have to make time for, but it’s so very worth it if you do. The sights, the people, the sense of nostalgia, the chance to truly sit back and relax, you really can’t beat it.

By the time we reached Philadelphia, I was a little sad to be getting off the train. But after a quick stretch and a look at the city, I was once again feeling excited. The second part of our East Coast adventure was about to begin.