Take A Scenic Train Ride From Seattle To Portland This Summer

I keep writing about wanting to take a train ride from Seattle to Portland, and I don't ever do it. I need to get off my **** and make it happen. There are a couple of trains that go back and forth from Seattle to Portland. One in particular that I hadn't heard about is a program called Trails and Rails. 

This is an Amtrak program that provides volunteers who point sights out and tell stories about national parks as you pass on your train ride from either Seattle to Portland or Seattle to Wenatchee, or from Seattle into the West. 

According to Seattletimes.com,
‘You can catch a guide on board seven days a week between April 25 and Sept. 28 on the Coast Starlight. There are also guides on the Empire Builder between Seattle and Wenatchee, on Thursdays and Sundays heading east and Fridays and Mondays heading west.’ 

Amtrak has 46 volunteer guides for what they are calling the Trails and Rails program which even provides a national parks passport that you can get stamped as you pass through. 

The Amtrak Trails and Rails program is not exclusive to the Pacific Northwest, but over 40% of all Trails and Rails passengers are travelling on the Northwest trains. 

You can travel on the Amtrak Coast Starlight train from Seattle to Portland seven days a week. Between April 25th and September 28th volunteers in the lounge car will point out places of interest, tell stories and answer questions. Each guide on the Train has their favorite stories they like to tell and that means that each train ride actually can be different based on what the guides are working and what they want to talk about that day. 

Trails And Rails on the Amtrak Coast Starlight train. 

Just one more reason to go on a train ride this summer.

Seattle-Portland Amtrak train turns into a ‘rolling national park’ | The Seattle Times
Amtrak Trails & Rails (U.S. National Park Service)