Train Travel Tips Book well in advance. Amtrak will fill up on its routes that run on weekends and near holidays. Don’t stay in your seat. This is the big benefit of train travel! Enjoy a red wine at the dining car as you watch the sun set over the Mississippi River. Play a hand of cards in the lounge. Get up and stretch. Consider a room. Particularly if you are on the longer route to Santa Fe, this is an attractive option. The difference will be about $180 for two people, but that’s worth it for the romance (or, even more importantly, the chance to be particularly wellrested).
We all know Hutchinson—that pleasant, almostsisterly city to the south. We’ve been there for family events and maybe even the state fair or the Underground Salt Museum. But here’s something about Hutch that maybe we sometimes overlook: It holds a launching point for big journeys. Not the Cosmosphere, but the Amtrak station. Railroad trips are a delightfully pleasant, though perhaps neglected, way to travel from the Heartland. They are a great option for winter; nobody has to worry about driving over icy roads, and nobody will be somehow rerouted and overnighted at Kalamazoo due to turbulence or closed runways. These journeys are more about enjoying time with your fellow traveler or group rather than getting somewhere fast. These trips are about opportunities for dining with a pleasant view and chats in comfy chairs as you rack up the miles. Here are our picks for some regional getaways with a long reach: a romantic trip for two to Santa Fe, and a weekend with friends to Chicago.
28
Sunflower living winter 2014
The quotes in Points of Contact were chosen by the pastor of Salina First Presbyterian Church.