The cab driver asked. The waitress asked. The shuttle driver asked. All my friends asked. When people hear that I am taking Amtrak from Cincinnati to Eugene, Oregon, the first question they ask is, “How long does it take?”

Theoretically, it will take about three and a half days, assuming the train ever gets here — the Cardinal is already scheduled to be 1-1/2 hours late!

I’ll travel up to Chicago first and then transfer to the California Zephyr, with a sleeper car. That means two good nights of rest, showers, and all my meals in the dining car, sharing tables with strangers. The toughest decision will be whether to sleep on the top bunk or the bottom one. Finally, after another transfer in Sacramento, I’ll get to ride the most beautiful train route in the country, the Coast Starlight through northern California and Oregon.

Union Terminal

The first part of the adventure, simply arriving at Union Terminal in Cincinnati, was awe-inspiring. I loved the exterior of the 1933 Art Deco building, and I took a bunch of photos. But inside, there was simply no way a camera could capture the interior. At 106 feet high and 180 feet wide, it’s the largest half-dome in the Western hemisphere, and it’s jaw-dropping. Here’s an application that lets you pan around it, so you can get a sense of the scale.

Frank Lloyd Bear is excited about our Amtrak adventure. He likes trains much more than airplanes, because trains have whistles.