Amtrak California Zephyr /横穿美国的观光火车

In the summer of 2014, I decided to take a train trips by myself. I've never taken a train in the US before and this experience totally changed my mind about train trips.

There are many routes you can choose from. I wanted to go from west to east, so I chose the California Zephyr which goes from San Francisco to Chicago. It takes about 52 hours. They provide spacious coach seat and more luxurious sleeping cars with shower room. The view along the trip is absolutely breathtaking. You start your trip from seaside in San Francisco, climb up to Rockies in Denver and then rumble through the plains in Nebraska. When the train was coursing through Nebraska at night and the train lights were all out, I caught a glimpse of this phenomenal view that the silver moonlight shined on the wide and infinite plain. I was dazzled by the beauty of nature the whole trip.

The service on the train was also incredible. Aside from dining cart, it has a sightseeing cart with huge windows. Take your favorite book or iPod with your favorite songs and just enjoy the peace you can hardly find.

2014年我独自乘坐了52个小时火车，从旧金山出发，横穿大半个美国到了芝加哥。一路上经过了大海，雪峰，落基山脉再到美国粮仓大平原。景色美得让人晚上都舍不得合眼。
美国火车和中国不太一样的是它基本不太有客运功能，大部分的人选择火车都是为了观光。车上也完全不拥挤，就算最便宜的座位票，也可以把椅子放平，能基本躺下。车上有一截非常美的观光车厢，车顶是透明的，观光车厢的座位只有靠着窗的两排，早上坐在窗边看自己最喜欢的书，偶尔抬头看看大海森林小溪，50个小时的旅程也丝毫不觉得难熬。