I took the Coast Starlight out of Los Angeles up the coast, and enjoyed some truly spectacular scenery of the Pacific as we went north. I then boarded the Empire Builder, which would take me across the top of the country to Chicago. The scenery included amazing views of the Columbia River Gorge that have stayed seared into my brain forever. Hours and hours and hours of grass, grass and more grass. Once out of the prairie in western Minnesota, the scenery got more conventional, with more towns, as well as larger cities.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 03, 2026 21:33 UTC