Our last morning in Benicia but not for long. We had chosen to do something a little different and take a train rather than fly so that we could get a look of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and relax as we went. Today was the trip on the Amtrak California Zephyr through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Salt Lake City in Utah.

 

The view from Joanna’s house was very average with fog all over. A quick farewell to Jiana as she headed to school and we were soon on the way to the Amtrak Station at Martinez. We didn’t do too bad with the baggage with only one bag overweight so a quick move of a bathroom bag and all were good to go. It was now a 50 minute wait for the train to arrive.

 

As the trip was only 16 hours, we opted for a sit-up rather than sleeper. The train arrived on time and loading was very quick with a reasonably empty train so there was a huge choice of seats. The seats were very comfortable with plenty of room between our seats and the seats in front as well as large windows to look out.

 

It was very smooth travelling with speeds up to 130 kph but it soon slowed to 50 kph as we headed into the mountains.

The views through the mountains were spectacular but it was disappointing to see a lack of snow (who says global warming is not a thing).

 

Even with the slow speed through the mountains, we kept getting into each station ahead of time but they still left on time. 

 

Not long out of Reno Nevada the sun set and the supermoon came up. It became apparent that I was not going to get a photo of the supermoon because of the train moving even though there wasn’t much movement felt.

We managed to get a few hours sleep but awoke at 2:15 am not far out of Salt Lake City.