New! National Parks Of The Pacific Coast  

June 17-26, 2010

Tour from $2499.00

HURRY! Tour closes April 30, 2010. Only 6 rooms left!

Please consider joining Rail Travel Center Tour Manager Denny Thompson on this new late spring/early summer adventure down the Pacific Coast from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco, California. This tour highlights the stunning coastal headlands of the Oregon and northern California Pacific Ocean coastline and the upland grandeur of the Cascade and Coast Ranges. Park highlights include the Lewis & Clark National Historical Park, Ecola State Park, and Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and Redwood National Park and the awesome “Avenue of the Giants” in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California.

Beginning in Portland, our tour continues west to Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, then south along the Oregon Coast to Lincoln City and through the Cascade Mountains to Roseburg OR. Continuing into northern California, we visit Crescent City, Fort Bragg, Santa Rosa, Sacramento and the Napa Valley, terminating in San Francisco.

Rail and water highlights in Oregon include the historic Astoria Riverfront Trolley, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad, a Marine Discovery Sea Life cruise, and a jet boat river trip on the Rogue River through beautiful roadless canyons. In California, we ride two services on the former California and Western RR (now operating as the Mendocino Ry.): the famous steam powered “Skunk Train” and the line’s unique 1930s self-propelled railcars. We visit Sonoma’s Train Town miniature railway, ride on Amtrak scenic CAPITOL line, visit the California State Railroad Museum, and enjoy dinner in the diner on the Napa Valley Wine Train.

Spectacular coastal scenery, giant redwood trees, great seafood, maritime temperatures, and wildlife/sealife spotting all abound on this new program. All aboard!

Please note: Many of the hotels/motels used on this tour are totally non-smoking. In a few cases, it may be necessary to climb a flight of stairs to your room, as elevators are not always present. At Crater Lake N. P., the elevation is about 6,000 feet, although much of the tour is near sea level. You should be able to do some walking on fairly level ground in order to fully enjoy this program.

Day One, Thursday, June 17 (D) Arrive in Portland; Welcome Dinner. Participants should arrive in Portland OR by late afternoon today. Our hotel tonight is the beautiful Embassy Suites Portland Downtown (the former Multnomah Hotel, built in 1912). The ornate lobby still features crystal chandeliers, a marble staircase and gold-leafed columns. If you arrive earlier in the day you can optionally ride Portland’s extensive light rail and streetcar system for an independent city tour by rail. Our Welcome Dinner this evening is at Dan and Louis Oyster Bar, about a three-block walk from our hotel.

Day Two, Friday, June 18 (B, L) Astoria; Columbia River Maritime Museum; Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. This morning our motorcoach drives us west along the forested south shore of the Columbia River to Astoria OR. Here, near the mouth of the Columbia River, we have an included lunch and time to ride the 1914 Astoria Riverfront Trolley along the waterfront rail line before visiting the fine Columbia River Maritime Museum. Exhibits here include a film about the Columbia River showing the river pilots working to help ships navigate the sandbars at the mouth of the Columbia during a storm, ship models, artifacts, paintings and photographs, a history of the local fur trade, information on the “Graveyard of the Pacific”, sailing vessels and much more. Visitors can board a WWII -era U.S. Navy destroyer and the COLUMBIA, the last seagoing lightship on the west coast.

A few miles south of Astoria we visit Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, which includes a reproduction of Fort Clatsop, the fort built by the expedition in 1805 during their dreary winter spent on the site. Films, exhibits and walking trails complete the experience. Our hotel tonight is the Red Lion Inn Astoria, located on the waterfront. The Riverfront Trolley stops at the hotel, making it convenient transportation for an optional dinner at one of the many restaurants in the area. Trolleys run until 9:00 P.M.

Day Three, Saturday, June 19 (CB, L) Ecola State Park; Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. Traveling south down the Oregon coast we stop at Ecola State Park, located just north of famous Cannon Beach. A drive through old growth western hemlock and Sitka spruce takes us to the headlands overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A cliff-top trail leads to various photographic viewpoints including the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse and the sea lion and bird rookeries. A small herd of elk also frequents this area, which Lewis and Clark explored during their time at Fort Clatsop.

We then make a short drive past Cannon Beach to Garibaldi and ride the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad to Rockaway Beach. This line follows the coastal estuaries just inland from the barrier dunes on a former Southern Pacific branch line. Trains here usually are powered by a Shay steam engine. At Rockaway Beach we have an included lunch before driving further south along the stunning coastal heights to Lincoln City, where we arrive in mid-afternoon. Our hotel is the Nordic Oceanfront Inn, where we all have oceanfront rooms for the night.

Day Four, Sunday, June 20 (CB, L) Marine Discovery Sea Life cruise; Oregon Coast Aquarium. A short drive to Newport this morning brings us to our Sea Life cruise, where we explore the ocean, bay and river accompanied by a naturalist guide. Sightings may include gray whales, porpoises, seals, sea lions and coastal birds during our two-hour adventure. We then visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which contains more than 15,000 marine animals. Passages of the Deep is a 200-foot acrylic tunnel where we can view sharks, rays and eels. The cliffs and tidal pools include what are reputed to be the largest seabird aviaries in North America. Following an included lunch, we continue south, inland through the Coast and Cascade Ranges to Roseburg, where we stay two nights at the Windmill Inn.

Day Five, Monday, June 21 (CB, L) Crater Lake National Park. Today is spent at Crater Lake N. P. Enroute we make a scenic ascent deep into the Cascade Mountains, climbing to nearly 6000 feet. The landscape changes from deep forests to a unique jumble of petrified lava flows, mixed forests and meadows, and fast-flowing rivers.

Crater Lake National Park is an absolutely unique place. Famous for the beautiful intense blue of its namesake lake (which is located inside the caldera of Mount Mazama, an ancient volcano) the park is on the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range. We travel the rim drive, stopping for photographs at lovely viewpoints. Lunch is included at the Crater Lake Lodge, after which there is free time to explore before we depart in mid-afternoon for the return drive to Roseburg.

Day Six, Tuesday, June 22 (CB) Wildlife Safari; Rogue River jet boat trip. This morning we drive a few miles south of Roseburg to visit Wildlife Safari, a 600-acre drive-through wild animal park. Animals in the drive-through areas include northwest species like bears, and exotic animals including lions and cheetahs. At your option, you also can choose to ride a camel, have your picture taken with a cheetah, or have a tiger encounter. And there is a miniature train ride! An optional lunch is available on site.

This afternoon we drive to Grants Pass to ride a jet boat through Hell Gate Canyon on the famous Rogue River. En route, our guide points out plants, animals and natural and historical features of the canyon, as well as sites used in movies and television programs. We cruise deep into a region of roadless canyon grandeur. Following today’s adventures, we continue south into California, spending the night at the Lighthouse Inn in Crescent City.

Day Seven, Wednesday, June 23 (CB, L) Redwood National Park; Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Redwood National Park fills the morning. We enjoy a scenic drive through towering giant redwood trees on the Newton Drury Scenic Parkway with stops for photography, walking a nature trail and the Big Tree Wayside, and seeing the Visitors Center. These redwoods are among the oldest and tallest trees on the planet. Some are over 1,000 years old and tower over 200 feet! Once threatened with extinction, these giants are now protected in Redwood National Park and in associated California state parks and reserves.

Leaving the park, we continue to Eureka and lunch at the famous Samoa Cookhouse, originally the 1885 cookhouse for the loggers and millers of the Hammond Lumber Company. Food portions are hearty, and the building contains historical artifacts of the time. After lunch we make a leisurely afternoon drive further down the coast to Ft. Bragg. En route we drive the “Avenue of the Giants” in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which contains one of the most beautiful and ancient groves of the giant redwood trees. In Fort Bragg we overnight at the Seabird Lodge.

Day Eight, Thursday, June 24 (CB, L) “Skunk Train”; Sonoma Train Town. This morning we ride the famous Skunk Trains of the former California and Western RR (now operating as the Mendocino Railway) from Ft. Bragg to Willits with a box lunch on board. This highly scenic line crosses the Coast Range, climbs steeply through deep forests and around tight curves from Fort Bragg to Northspur, then descends on the east side of the range through more open country to Willits. The morning’s ascent to Northspur is normally steam-powered. At Northspur we change trains to one of the unique 1930s self-propelled railcars for the descent to Willits. The train’s unique nick-name (the “Skunk”) came from lumbermen who said you could smell one of the “newfangled” railcars coming before it actually came into view!

Following our ride, we continue still further south to Sonoma, where we visit the Sonoma Train Town Railroad, a forested miniature railroad park with a miniature (rideable) train. Our next two nights are spent at the historic Hotel La Rose in Santa Rosa. The hotel is located in the historic downtown area in Railroad Square.

Day Nine, Friday, June 25 (CB, D) Amtrak to Sacramento; California State Railroad Museum; Napa Valley Wine Train. This morning we travel by motorcoach to the Emeryville Amtrak station, where we board an Amtrak CAPITOL CORRIDOR train for the ride to Sacramento. Lunch can be purchased in the café car en route. Our ride is very scenic, winding along the shore of San Francisco Bay and then up the Sacramento River and its delta to California’s state capitol, Sacramento.

Upon arrival we walk a few blocks from the magnificently restored Southern Pacific station to visit the noted California State Railroad Museum. This is one of the largest and best displayed railway museums in the world. The centerpiece of the collection is the restored terminus station and shops of the Central Pacific RR, the western end of the first Transcontinental Railroad. Dozens of locomotives and cars are shown, ranging from a former Southern Pacific “Cab Forward” articulated steam engine to the dining car from the legendary Santa Fe “Super Chief”.

We then drive on to Napa and board the famous “Napa Valley Wine Train”. We enjoy a wonderful included Gourmet Farewell Dinner in the diner as we ride 36 miles through the heart of the wine country on the former Southern Pacific Napa Valley branch. Famous vineyards, such as the Robert Mondavi Winery, pass us as we travel this pretty line. We return to Santa Rosa later in the evening.

Day Ten, Saturday, June 26 (CB) To Martinez and San Francisco; tour ends. We depart our hotel early this morning and drive to Martinez, where participants wanting to make rail connections on the eastbound CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR or the southbound COAST STARLIGHT will be dropped off at the Amtrak station. We then continue on to San Francisco for drops in the downtown area for those who wish to stay longer in the Bay area and at the airport for those making flight connections departing at 1:00 p.m. or later.

TOUR PRICES include all rail and boat fares; all lodging; meals and sightseeing noted as included above; luggage handling from the Portland hotel to the drop-off point at Martinez or San Francisco on Day Ten; and the services of a full-time tour manager. Connecting travel to/from the tour, meals and sightseeing activities not noted as included in the tour description, alcoholic beverages, and items of a personal nature are not included in the tour price.

$2499.00 per person, double occupancy

$2899.00 single occupancy

Conditions and Booking Information (the fine print)

Call Toll-Free: 800-458-5394

Website created and maintained by Glenn Spiegel, Effective Websites.

Last modified: May 03, 2010