Make that Choo Choo Sound (i.e. Epic Train Ride)

The whole trip I had this romantic vision of myself as a classy gentlemen riding a train for three days eating in the dining car while traveling through the mountains, relaxing, and sleeping whenever I wanted. My expectations were immediately shattered when I got put in a seat with only a partial view next to a stranger only to travel through uninteresting landscape for a full day, eat a $6 microwaved veggie burger (worst I've ever had) and a $6 microwaved mini-pizza, and not get any sleep because I could not get comfortable. I still had two days so I was a little discouraged.
The second train (transfer in Chicago), however, was AWESOME. It had two decks, a lounge car, a cafe, and a dining car. I got put in a great seat with a full view near the back of the train seated next to "the infamous John," one of the cyclists I traveled with for a while. The dining car had decent food as well. The second night I even slept like a bum on the floor in the lounge car guerrilla style, and I slept amazingly well. When I woke up there were people sitting all around me, which was actually rather hilarious. John then moved to the seat across the aisle, so for the third night we each got two chairs to ourselves to stretch out on. The views going through the Rockies were outstanding. There was even a six mile tunnel through one of the hills which was just rad. The landscape in Nevada was just as spectacular, as were the sunrises and sunsets of the whole trip. My romantic vision came true and I am now a huge fan of riding by train. If you haven't done it...do it.

Pictures were hard to get from the train through the glass, and moving fairly fast, but here are a couple sky shots from the train.