Our good friend and client, Kim Burns — fellow mom and owner of Flourish Foods — recently took her two young kids to Santa Barbara via Amtrak. Here she shares why the journey, rather than the destination, is where the fun is:
Like most 4 year olds, my son is obsessed with trains. Every time we see a train he asks, “Momma, when can we go on a train ride?” Sure we have done the little train rides at Traintown, Roaring Railroad in Santa Cruz, a few subway rides in NYC, but we haven’t been on a “real” train and with a few school vacations on the calendar I decided to look into taking a journey on Amtrak. I had heard about an Amtrak that went up and down the California coastline but knew nothing more. I found out that the Coast Starlight line runs from Seattle to Los Angeles. It boasts the “most scenic” trip Amtrak offers and has a stop in Oakland, with connecting bus service from San Francisco-I was sold! Looking at the route I decided to head south to Santa Barbara, a 9 hour journey each way. Since this trip was all about the train ride, I booked a one night hotel stay in Santa Barbara-more on the later.
The night before our trip I must admit I was a bit anxious. Am I crazy to do an 18hr train ride over two days with a 4 and an 8 year old? What if they are “bored” within the first hour? I told myself if it’s really awful we can always book a flight home the next day and skip the train ride home! To hopefully stave off immediate boredom I stocked up on some new lego sets, activity books, snacks and made sure the iPads were fully charged! Amtrak here we come!
Our trip started on a Thursday morning-with the Amtrak bus departing San Francisco at 7:45am to catch the 8:50 train. We arrived at the Oakland train station in Jack London Square by 8:10am-with some time to kill, I checked my maps app and saw that there was a Blue Bottle Coffee shop right around the corner-“win” as I hadn’t had any coffee at this point. With coffee and treats for the kiddies in hand we headed back to the station to find the train was boarding–“all aboard”. The conductor greeted us as we boarded, showed us where we could store our suitcase and said she would find us seats together-but to head on up to the lounge car. The lounge car is an open seating car with large windows and a glass ceiling, basically the “viewing” car. It offered seats facing out the window as well as booth type seats with tables for eating, playing games, etc. The car was empty so we made ourselves at home, spreading out across a booth as well as lounge seats. This set up was perfect and my kiddies were already thrilled with the views as we pulled out of Oakland! The conductor announced that breakfast was still being served in the dining car and that coffee and snacks were available in the snack car, located right below the lounge car. The conductor would be around to take lunch reservations shortly. Having had our breakfast fill, we waited to make a later lunch reservation; I was curious to see what the dining car was all about.
The first 4 hours literally flew by. We marveled at the vast farm land, the scenic mountain views, put together and played with Legos, played a few rounds of Mad Libs, and chatted with fellow passengers. We never even went to our actual seats.
Our lunch reservation was for 1:15pm and we headed to the dining car. It had white table cloths, but packets of condiments and creamers kind of detracted from the “ambiance”. The dining car was far from full and the booths were relatively small. Sure 4 adults could fit but not much elbow room to speak of; however, the matire’d felt compelled to seat us with a gentleman traveling solo. I questioned this as I thought for sure he must be mistaken. Why would he ruin this man’s peaceful lunch with my kiddies? But sure enough he was not mistaken. The gentleman was cordial and I apologized but he was truly a good sport, listening to my kids chatter on about their friends, school, hobbies, etc. I later found out that part of the Amtrak culture is to encourage socializing among passengers-which I get-but not sure this pairing of guests was what Amtrak had in mind.
The lunch menu is pretty limited: burger, veggie burger, a sandwich and a salad option. The kids menu consisted of mac & cheese or a hot dog. My son opted for the burger, my daughter had the mac & cheese and I ordered the spinach salad with grilled chicken. The mac & cheese was obviously Kraft, the burger was fine – a little over done but ok with added ketchup – and the salad was surprisingly good. The dressing is offered in a packet and served along with a pretty basic dinner roll. I think they could improve the food offerings, especially on this route, but all in all it was fine.
After lunch we returned to the lounge car and the kiddies enjoyed some time on the iPad while I was able to finish a book and read a magazine, something I haven’t done in forever! One caveat is the only WiFi is in the Business Class section and on this trip the Business Car had broken down so it was not offered. Cell service is pretty solid for most of the trip, but just a bummer to eat up data for such a long journey.
By the time we finished lunch and settled back into the lounge car we had arrived into San Luis Obisbo where you can get off the train for a few minutes for some fresh air and a stretch of your legs. My son and I walked to the front of the train to see the engine and wave to the engineers. I have to mention how friendly the crew was; everyone we met was very sweet and engaging. It was fun to hear stories about working on the train and to get some tips on future trip ideas and sleeping cars.
The last few hours the route takes hugs the coast line-and wow how beautiful it is! The timing was ideal as we had the late afternoon sun making everything sparkle. We saw surfers and dolphins playing in the waves. The untouched coastline is pristine with rolling hills on our left and the mighty Pacific on our right-eye candy for miles!
We arrived at Santa Barbara station 9 hours later, right on time. The station is right in the heart of town, you step off the train and you have arrived! I secured an Uber and within minutes we were off to our hotel which was about 1.5 miles away. Since our visit was short I wanted a hotel right on the beach, with a swimming pool and nice restaurant. My first thought was the Four Seasons, but with prices starting at $600 it wasn’t worth the price tag for my crew. We ended up at The Santa Barbara Inn, just off a recent major renovation, and I knew I picked right the moment we pulled up. Located directly across the street from the beach, the mission style hotel was welcoming. The valet was swift with our bags and we were whisked right to the inviting lobby. I had booked a deluxe king room with an ocean view (my kiddies always end up in my bed so king beds are ideal for us!); the room had a large balcony with a lounge chair and table & chairs, the bathroom was large with a tub and separate shower. The king bed was super comfortable with fabulous linens. Cozy robes and slippers were also provided. After quickly unpacking we changed into our swimsuits and headed for the swimming pool. The pool was ideal as it was only 3 feet deep and heated to a perfect temperature. My kids were in heaven! A small, but adequate hot tub was adjacent to the pool. Knowing it would be hard to pull the kiddies from the pool, I made a later dinner reservation at 8:15pm.
The restaurant was right off of the lobby and pool, offering both indoor and outdoor seating. A large brick oven was the centerpiece of the kitchen. We sat outside under warm heat lamps. My kiddies loved the large front lawn off of the patio to run around while I enjoyed a “well-deserved” cocktail. I enjoyed a mixed grill of seafood and artichoke hearts while the kiddies had pasta off of the kids menu. Service was gracious and attentive. After bowls of fresh gelato we headed back to the room for a family movie; the kids lasted about 15 minutes and promptly passed out!
The next morning we headed down to the complimentary continental breakfast served in the restaurant. Breakfast featured fresh fruit, oatmeal, granola, yogurt, various breads and pastries, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee-bountiful and again perfect for my crew. We went for another dip in the pool before packing up. Check out was at noon, but we left a few minutes earlier to hit a toy shop in town to pick up a new game and Legos for the return trip.
The train departed Santa Barbara station right on time at 12:35. On the return trip I upgraded us to Business Class to take advantage of the Wi-fi. The upgrade also included a $6 per person food credit and bottles of water. The seats are exactly the same as coach, but the free WiFi access makes the upgrade worth it. Since we were traveling at night, we made a reservation for dinner in the dining car. Menu again was limited but decent:I had a grilled steak (better than I expected it to be) served with veggies and a choice of rice or potato. Wine options are individual or half bottles of Woodbridge – not great but fine. For dinner the matire’d didn’t force anyone to sit with us, but I enjoyed watching other tables getting to know fellow passengers over their meals. It was nice to see passengers being social.
Once dinner was over it was too dark to see anything from the lounge car so we moved to our seats. The wide seats offer leg rests, deep recline, lots of leg room and power outlets-very comfortable. The kiddies fired up their iPads and I caught up on some reading and even caught a few zzz’s. The train pulled into Oakland right on time. It was so nice to step right off the train and be on our way, no terminal to deal with like airplane travel. My husband picked us up and the kiddies were so excited to tell him how much they loved the train and how next time they want to get a sleeper car and go to New York! I would be willing to do an overnight, but maybe we start with one night to Seattle before we venture on the 4 day journey to New York!
If you aren’t is a rush to get somewhere or you want to make the journey part of the vacation Amtrak is hard to beat! I would recommend it to anyone!