We traveled on the Lakeshore Limited in January 2010 on our way from Los Angeles to Syracuse, NY. The Lakeshore Limited connects Chicago with Boston, MA and New York City, NY. We departed from Chicago en route from Los Angeles aboard the Southwest Chief, which arrived 6 hours prior to our departure from Chicago to Syracuse.

We boarded the train in Chicago's Union Station around 9:00pm. Union Station is a large classic Art Deco train station right in the middle of downtown Chicago. It is both a beautiful building and an inspiring place to board a train. Those with sleeper accomodations have a special lounge with TVs, coffee, juice and larger chairs. Those traveling coach board at the gate in a standard waiting area. After boarding the train dinner was not served the first night, but we were treated to wine and cheese in the dining car.

Accomodation

Southwest Chief

The Southwest Chief is one of Amtrak's longest journey's, stretching from Los Angeles, California all the way to Chicago, IL.

Our Journey began in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Union Station is a gorgious building. It is worth visiting even if you aren't taking a train and served as a great place to start our trip. We checked in 6 bags, each weighing nearly 50 pounds, which was the maximum allowed. We also carried on 2 backpacks, a bag of food and our laptops. The track is announced about 30 minutes before the train is scheduled to depart, 15 minutes after that they will let you board. Coach passengers need to wait in line to check-in, sleeper car passengers who already have their tickets go strait to their train without waiting.

Accomodation

Over the years we have visited Yosemite, driven through the Rocky Mountains, been up and down the West Coast, enjoyed many days in my hometown of Portland, and of course seen all sorts of exciting things here in Los Angeles. So far my writing in this blog has focused primarily on big international excursions, and I suppose I have taken these intra-US trips for granted, forgetting that our readers outside this region may find some benefit to them as well. I plan to put an end to this international bias.

Starting this coming Friday, we will begin a cross country trip originating in Los Angeles and taking us all the way across the United States to Syracuse, New York. During the trip, I will be writing and sharing photos via my iPhone (there is no Internet on the train). You can follow my progress here on the blog. You will also be able to track where we are on the Look For America Flickr Map.