Amtrak: New Jersey to Florida
With an opportunity to take a train ride, relax, enjoy scenery, cities and towns in no fewer than nine states and the District of Columbia, it was too good to pass up. So, armed with a couple of books of puzzles and some great reading materials, I opted to take Amtrak’s Silver Star from Newark to Florida. Just for the ride.
I stayed one night in the Sunshine State after traveling on the Star and headed back to New Jersey the following day on the Silver Meteor. Taking these two trains makes it possible to see every state you pass through in daylight.
The Silver Star makes its trip daily between New York’s Penn Station and Miami, but it stops at least once in each of the states it travels through. In New Jersey, it passes Metropark without stopping, but does stop in Trenton before heading into Philadelphia’s Penn Station.
It isn’t necessary to get a sleeping car for this trip; the seats are spacious, the tops slide back, and there are a couple of options for foot comfort that make both sitting up or sleeping comfortable. In addition to the large windows, there are connections so charging electronic equipment while traveling is easy and convenient.
Like all Amtrak long distance trains, the Silver Star does have a dining car, and it’s fun sitting down after picking up your food at the counter and meeting and chatting with other travelers. With Tampa a stop close to Disney, there are usually plenty of youngsters on the trip, although moms and grandmoms wearing Mickey Mouse ears and bright colored bows in their hair are not unusual either.
The Amtrak menu in the dining car is quick, simple, and available for pretty much all of the awakening hours along the 1,522 miles between New York and Miami. It ranges from variety specialties to sandwiches, fruit or cheese trays, hamburgers, soups, hot entrees, and breakfast breads, muffins, and cereals. Spirits of all kinds are also available, and apparently, Amtrak doesn’t care if you carry on your own supply of both food and beverage because lots of folks do.
Train travel forces you to relax and take things easy, even though the train is traveling around 80 miles an hour and the engineer is hard at work. If you’re not reading, working crossword or Sudoku puzzles or chatting with table or chair mates, it’s well worth it to take in the scenery. Several stops along the way, including Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond, passengers are invited to go out on the platform and stretch their legs or for smokers, take advantage of an opportunity light up, since it’s not allowed on Amtrak at all.
This time of year, it’s easy and enjoyable to see when and where the spring season is starting, judging from the buds starting to pop, or, late in the journey, the bulb flowers starting to bloom. It’s also neat to see the sophisticated cities and state capitals, including Raleigh in North Carolina, Columbia in South Carolina and Savannah in Georgia, be it in sunlight or after dark, filled with both street lights and plenty of activity.
It’s even nicer to see the charming little towns you travel through, some with homes so close to the tracks you wonder how residents can sleep through the road crossing whistles. There are always youngsters eager to wave as you pass, and railroad buffs trying to get that spectacular photo for their albums standing way too close to the tracks.
Choosing to travel Amtrak only so far as Palatka, Florida, it was about a 22 hour trip arriving an hour past Jacksonville, which is the first stop in Florida.
Palatka is the county seat of Putnam County, renowned more for its annual Azalea and Blue Crab Festivals than any real beauty in its layout. A town like many others that was once far more popular, it’s hard at work picking itself up and becoming more beautiful once again, filled with parks, and magnificent murals on no fewer than 30 buildings.
Arriving there shortly after 9 in the morning, it was surprising there were no cabs, no commuters waiting for other transportation, no busses in the area at the historic station.
But there was a charming, happy sounding lovely lady named Teresa working in the station. She was only too willing to help a traveler who did not know where she was going or how she was going to get there.
