WOW just read about the train and some of the activities. It sounds fascinating. 

Thanks, Preston, for your entry and the photo. The California Zephyr starts its run five blocks from my apartment in Emeryville, California (across the bay from San Francisco). The Zephyr runs from Emeryville over halfway across the United States to Chicago, Illinois. I've taken the train as far as Truckee, California, which is just east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains and a 20-minute car ride to beautiful Lake Tahoe. Emeryville is less than 100 feet above sea level and the Sierra pass is about 7,800 feet. The trip has magnificent scenery, especially in winter.

I envy you. I knew of the train, but hadn't realised how long it was. In some of the old steam railways in England a train of that length would have arrived at the next station before it left the one before :-)