This was my very first trip on Amtrak. I booked one of their Air/Rail Amtrak Great American Vacations. My two daughters and I flew to Seattle on 9/23/95. We toured Seattle until Sunday and then returned to Los Angeles via Amtrak. The tour package included airfare from Los Angeles to Seattle, a Hotel in Seattle for 3 nights, a rental car for 3 days, and the return trip by Train for all 3 of us. The total cost came to $1390. Since we had the Family Room on the train, this also included all meals on the train for the 2 day trip! As you will find elsewhere in my description about dining on the train, the meals on the train are the equivalent in price and quality to those in a good restaurant. So, take that into consideration when comparing value to cost.
When traveling with my children, I try to take in items that they will enjoy. That means hitting some of the more exciting locations, especially those with animals or rides. We spent quite a bit of time down by Seattle's most famous attraction, the Space Needle. There is a Science Museum that includes a lot of "hands-on" things for children, an IMAX theatre, and an amusement park all in the same comlpex with the Space Needle. We waited until Sunday morning to actually go up in the Space Needle and killed two birds with one stone by having Brunch in the revolving restaurant at the top while enjoying the view.
Another item to check out is the Monorail. Like the Space Needle, the Monorail is another left-over from the 1964 World's Fair that was held in Seattle. The most interesting item about the Monorail is that it is a 1964 vision of what transportation systems were expected to be like in the future. As far as I know, the only place Monorails are in use are at the Disney parks and in Seattle. I guess that is one vision that didn't quite pan out as expected.
Another day we visited the waterfront where they have an aquarium and another IMAX theatre that features Mt. Saint Helens, which is not very far from Seattle. Later that afternoon we drove to Northwest Trek, a nature park about an hours drive outside of Seattle. You can probably tour Seattle without a rented car, but it definitely helps to have one if you want to wander any further than the metropolitan area!
On the final day in Seattle, we returned our rental car and took a taxi to the Amtrak station. We boarded the train early in the morning for our first trip and two day trek home!
