Amtrak needs a blogger

Last Thursday morning I woke up in Paradise. I was a little bit sore from the somewhat small and hard bed in the sleeper compartment, but quickly forgot all about it when I looked out of the window into a verdant forest with tiny waterfalls every few feet, beautiful autumn leaves, and later, crystalline lakes with bald eagles barely skimming the surface on the hunt for fish. The only sounds were the clickety-clack of the train on the rails and an occasional horn.

We weren’t supposed to be there. If there hadn’t been a delay in Sacramento we would have been two hours ahead, but even so, the views were magnificent from beginning to end.

From the moment we boarded we were treated like royalty. Three incredibly good meals per day, our own attendant to turn down the beds and take care of anything else we might need, stops along the way at vintage train stations, and scenery that can only be seen if one is on the train route, which is well off the beaten path of nearby interstates or highways.

Amtrak needs a blogger. Someone to ride the trains and live blog via video, audio and photos. Someone to get the word out that they have a travel option that’s not just for the elderly, to trumpet the fact that the journey is better than the destination. I cannot say enough about how incredibly fun and wonderful the train ride both ways was. First-class treatment for the cost of coach airline tickets. Who knew?

Of course, the tradeoff is time. We could have left Thursday and returned on Sunday. We would have been harried, frazzled and exhausted and I once again would have been annoyed that we travelled to a new place and didn’t have time to see anything besides the inside of the convention center. But by adding Wednesday onto the departure side and Monday-Tuesday to the return trip, we were blessed with decompression time and a glimpse into Oregon and California scenery that I didn’t even know existed in today’s world.

If Amtrak wants to hire me for a summer or spring to live blog their itineraries around the country, I’d definitely make myself available. The only thing they need to do is add wi-fi to their amenity list. It wouldn’t be that much of an expense but would definitely make it more convenient to blog and take care of business while travelling in style. C’mon, Amtrak…get yourself a blogger.