Amtrak: Denver to Ft. Lauderdale - March 3rd to 6th, 2025
We needed to get to Fort Lauderdale Florida to get on our transatlantic cruise. We both hate to fly. Ann doesn’t fit in an airplane seat very well with her long legs. Plus we didn’t want to lose our luggage just before boarding a ship for two weeks. Driving from Denver Colorado to Fort Lauderdale is a very long and brutal drive, and would require renting a car so we wouldn’t have to leave one of our vehicles in Florida for months. Riding Amtrak seemed like the perfect answer.
To get from Denver Colorado to Fort Lauderdale by train took three days and three trains. The first train took us over night to Chicago Illinois. The second train was also overnight from Chicago to Washington D.C. And finally the third train from DC to Fort Lauderdale was almost 24 hours long.
Our European adventure started out with gloomy weather on Monday. After eating out for lunch one last time with our kids, our son drove us to the light rail station. The N Line brought us into Denver’s Union Station where we waited to board the California Zephyr to Chicago. The cold, drizzly rain was being blown around by a strong wind. The weather didn’t dampen our spirits, though. We had been planning this trip for about three years and we were excited to finally get started.
We arrived at Union Station about an hour before the Amtrak train was scheduled to arrive. The departure time for the California Zephyr to Chicago was 6:59 pm. Meals were included with our roomette reservation, but we weren’t sure if they would be serving us dinner with such a late departure. We asked at the Amtrak counter and they assured us that the dining car doesn’t close until 8:30 pm. The hour wait time would have allowed us to grab something to eat at Union Station had their answer been different.
We sat inside the warm and dry Union Station until the train arrived at 6:27 pm. Then we waited on the platform in line with the others to get checked in and board. The platform was outside, but luckily there was a roof over the area where we were all in line. However, Ann started to get cold while standing there, as the wind whipped through her light layers of clothing. They finally let us board around 7 pm.
As soon as the power was turned on in the dining car, they seated us for dinner. The tables sat four people per table, so two single riders joined us at our table. Emily was from Minnesota and was on her way back home from a convention in Denver. Sam lived in the Denver area, traveling to Chicago to arrange housing for a move back to Chicago. We had an entertaining dinner conversation to go along with our wonderful meal. So far, the train ride was much more sociable this time than during our Amtrak trip to San Francisco (California Zephyr: Denver to San Francisco - Jan 17th to 21st, 2022). Of course, back then, there was still social distancing in place, so there was only one party allowed per table. Meeting new people at meals added a whole new level of enjoyment to the train ride. We would have continued our dining conversation longer, but the staff eventually kicked us out of the dining car so they could clean up for the night.
The train left Union Station about half an hour late. However, we somehow made up that time later and were back on schedule by morning.
The toilet didn’t work in our sleeping car, but it was a short walk to the restrooms in the next car. Both of us managed to make it through the night without the need for a middle of the night bathroom break. That is unusual for us.
Ann took the top bunk while Keith had the bottom. The top bed was really narrow, but there was a net to keep you from falling out. There was a cold draft, but Ann minimized it by arranging her clothes as an insulating layer in the hanging net next to the wall. The mattress was a little firmer than what Ann prefers, but it was sufficient. The blanket kept sliding on the top sheet and falling off, but the net kept it from landing on the floor. The faint train whistle could be heard frequently, as the train approached each crossing. The car jostled and swayed back and forth. There was a slight clickety clack from the wheels going over the joints of the rails. Some people might find the noise and movement annoying, but we found it rather comforting. We both grew up near train tracks, where we could hear train whistles through the night, although not as frequently as being on the train. We didn’t get the best sleep that night, but it wasn’t the worst night’s sleep either.
Quiet hours were from 10 pm to 7 am. Everyone seemed to be respecting those hours. We got up with the 7 am announcement for breakfast on Tuesday. Changing clothes in the small roomette was a challenge, as there is barely enough space to stand when the beds are in place. While we were at breakfast, the car attendant converted the bunk beds back to two seats, which gave us a little more room. Keith had moved one of his bags the night before to the storage area downstairs to give us some more space in our room.
Breakfast did not disappoint us. We remembered that the food on board Amtrak is pretty decent. It’s not gourmet, but it’s pretty tasty. For breakfast, Keith enjoyed the scrambled eggs while Ann ate the omelette.
For dinner the night before, Keith had the mixed green salad with baby brie and Atlantic Salmon along with white chocolate blueberry cobbler cheesecake for dessert. To wash it all down, he drank a Stella Artois. Ann also had the salad, but paired it with the flatiron steak and chocolate spoon cake.
For coach passengers, they could have a meal in the dining car if they paid extra. It was $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $45 for dinner.
We spent the rest of the train ride to Chicago sitting in the lounge car. The seats face outward, so it is easier to take in the view. Lunch was served early, at 10:30 am Central Time, which is 9:30 am Mountain, the time zone we came from the day before. We decided to skip lunch since it was so early and to leave room for Chicago hot dogs. Instead, we bought a couple of soft drinks from the Cafe in the lower level of the lounge car.
We arrived in Chicago around 2:30 pm. The train platforms in Chicago’s Union Station felt a little grungy, but they don’t really let people hang out on the platforms. You are ushered into the station itself. The Great Hall inside the station is beautiful. The architectural details and decorative façades are spectacular.
Just before the Great Hall was the Amtrak luggage check station. We dropped off two bags to store for a few hours so that we could take a walk around the city. Amtrak charges $10 per bag to store it for up to 24 hours.
Our first order of business was to find a place to buy Chicago dogs. Our friend Brad recommended Portillo’s. There was one south of Union Station, just off of Clinton Street, about a 15 minute walk. The fast food restaurant was much larger than we expected. It was two stories, decorated with memorabilia. The restaurant opened as a little stand back in 1963.
Besides having interesting decor, the Chicago dogs were excellent. We ordered the combo, two dogs, fries and a drink. If you are not familiar with Chicago dogs, they are hot dogs with mustard, onions, tomatoes, pickles, sport peppers and celery salt on a poppy seed bun. Portillo’s dogs had a casing that snapped when you bit into them. Portillo’s was an excellent choice. Thanks, Brad!
After our refreshment, we strolled the city. We headed over to Roosevelt Avenue to make our way over to the lake front. We made a big loop, past the Museum Campus, through Grant Park, along the shores of Lake Michigan. Then we worked our way over to Millennium Park, where the iconic Cloud Gate sculpture is, otherwise known as the “Bean”. From there, we took Monroe Street to return to Union Station.
It felt good to get such a long walk in. We believe we covered over five miles. Now we were ready to get back on the train.
We were retrieving our bags from Amtrak baggage around 5:30 pm. The Floridian 41 train was scheduled to depart at 6:40 pm, so we had about half an hour to relax in the Great Hall before they called us to board.
The California Zephyr is a Superliner. The Floridian (from Chicago to DC) is a Viewliner. There are some subtle differences between the two types of trains. The big difference is that the Superliner has two levels, while the Viewliner is all on one level.
The first thing we noticed was that our roomette had a sink and toilet along with an overhead storage area that was large enough for our main luggage. We’re not sure how we like sitting and sleeping right next to a toilet, but it had a cover. The layout somehow made the roomette feel a little more spacious. However, it seemed like the hallways were narrower. It was very difficult to pass somehow in the hall. Usually one person had to back up, duck into a room, or squish themselves into a corner where the hallway turned.
The diner car had a more luxurious feel to it. Just little decorative touches that made it feel more elegant. The kitchen itself was on half of the dining car, unlike the Superliner, where the kitchen was on the lower level. We had dinner at 7:30 pm. We were seated with a gentleman from Oklahoma City. He was disappointed that we had not visited there yet. He gave us some hints on what to see and do when we plan on being there during Season Eight.
The menu was the same as the California Zephyr except that they had biscuits instead of croissants. Keith had the salmon again, while Ann had the pasta primavera. Ann was a little disappointed with the pasta, as it was not cooked properly. Some of the pasta was dried out and almost crunchy.
We switched bunks this time, with Keith on top and Ann on the bottom. Ann slept much better than the night before. She figured out that flipping the blanket over to the other side kept it from sliding off the sheets. Keith slept about the same.
Wednesday, we got up again to the 7 am announcement. For breakfast, Keith had the scrambled eggs again, while Ann tried the French toast. It was pretty tasty.
Then we hung out in the lounge car. The lounge area was also laid out differently than the Superliner. Instead of seats facing the outside, there were tables with benches, very similar to the dining car. The cafe was in the middle of the lounge car, instead of on the lower level.
The farmland from the day before was replaced with hills. The train followed alongside a river most of the day. Again, we skipped lunch as it was served early like the day before.
We pulled into Washington DC’s Union Station around 1 pm. Our friend Doug met us at the station to spend a few hours with us during our layover. Our scheduled time of departure for our next train, the Silver Meteor, was not until 7:40 pm.
We found the baggage check near Gate B. However, the kind gentleman behind the counter informed us that instead of storing our two bags, at $10 a piece, with him, we could leave our bags for free in the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge, since we had sleeper car tickets. Thank you, sir! Too bad we didn’t realize that back in Chicago because there is an Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge there as well. We didn’t go into the lounge in Chicago, because we were content with sitting in the Great Hall and admiring the architecture while we waited for our train.
Next we had lunch. There are a wide variety of places to eat right inside DC’s Union Station. We opted for the Shake Shack. It was still raining by the time we finished our burgers, so we ordered some shakes as we continued our lovely conversations with Doug.
Our weather app said the rain was going to let up soon, so we ventured outside, donning our rain coats. After walking around the far side of the Capitol Building, instead of letting up, the rain turned into a downpour. To get out of the rain, we ducked into the United States Botanic Garden.
Inside the building, a staff member approached us and gave us some wonderful information about her favorite plant, the Pelican Flower, from Brazil. The flower looks and smells like decaying meat, to attract flies. When the flies crawl inside the blossom, the trichomes direct the flies down into the flower, but don’t let them escape. For a day, the flies gorge themselves on the nectar while picking up pollen. Then the trichomes wither, allowing the fly to escape and pollinate other plants.
After wandering around the plants and flowers for a little while, it looked like the rain was finally letting up, so we continued our walk down the Washington Mall. The Mall is lined on both sides with federal museums. All the museums are free to visit. We didn’t go inside any of them, as we wanted to get some exercise in before boarding our long train ride to Fort Lauderdale. The architecture of the museums are pretty interesting and varied, old and new, from sleek lines to intricately adorned.
We turned around at the Washington Monument. It would have been nice to continue on to the Lincoln Memorial, but it was another 20 minutes by foot, each way. We didn’t want to rush nor miss our train, so we started heading back to the train station.
At Union Station, we said good bye to Doug, as he needed to catch the Metro to get back home to make it in time for some dinner plans. Our train was running late, so we opted to have dinner at Union Station before boarding the train. Ann had a gyro sandwich from the Halal Guys while Keith just had fries from Wendy’s. We weren’t very hungry.
Then we sat in the Metropolitan Lounge until we boarded our train. The lounge had comfortable seating, free drinks and snacks, along with a bathroom. But most importantly, it was quiet, isolated from the noise and bustle of the rest of the train station.
The Silver Meteor was running about an hour late. We thought that was pretty good, since it left New York City two hours behind schedule. We boarded the train around 8:30 pm. We declined dinner since we already ate. Our car attendant retrieved a beer for Keith and came back an hour later to make our beds. We were ready to hit the sack.
Thursday, we woke up to sunshine. Ann was on the top bunk again. Neither one of us got very good sleep, but we did sleep and we were comfortable.
The scenery had changed again. We were out of the hills and back on flat ground. Pastures of cows, sparse trees with palmettos covering the ground, and groves of citrus trees were visible from the train windows. We even thought we spotted an alligator or two in the waterways.
The Silver Meteor was another Viewliner, like the Floridian. Only this time, there was not another sleeper car with public bathrooms, so we used the one in our roomette. There were public restrooms in the coach cars, which was three cars in front of ours, past the dining car and the lounge car. We used those a couple of times during the day.
Keith skipped breakfast and just had coffee while Ann had the continental breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and biscuits. For lunch, we both had the artisan grilled cheese with ham. For dessert, they had brownies and butter cream cake. We’ll let you guess who had which one.
We hung out most of the day in the lounge car. Ann worked on a post while we watched the scenery go by. In Jacksonville, we both hopped off the train and walked into the station briefly to stretch our legs. We didn’t linger because we knew the train wouldn’t wait for us. The train was only at the station for 15 minutes.
In the lounge car, we met a mother with her young daughter heading down to Orlando to visit Disney World. It was her daughter’s first time there and she seemed pretty excited. We also met the couple in the roomette across from us. They were going to Miami to catch a Caribbean cruise. It’s always nice to meet others on our travels and learn their stories.
The train pulled into Fort Lauderdale about an hour late, a little after 7 pm. We ordered an Uber to get to our hotel. We waited for over 15 minutes and could see the Uber car was not getting closer. In fact, they were getting further away. First they were 2 minutes away, then 4 minutes away, then 6. So we canceled that one and requested a different car. The second one showed up within a couple of minutes. That’s better. We’re not sure what was going on with the first car.
By the time we checked into the hotel, it was after 8 pm. We didn’t have dinner yet, so we just opted to buy a couple of microwave meals from the front desk.
And so ended the first leg of Season Seven. We enjoyed our train rides. Despite the bad weather, we managed to get some walking in and see some sights in both Chicago and DC. It’s nice that train stations are in the city centers where you can get out and explore during a layover. Try doing that on an airport layover!
Check out our related video: Amtrak: Denver to Ft. Lauderdale
(Ann)