Scenes from a ride on Amtrak’s long-distance California Zephyr train trip through the northern Sierra Nevada. (Javier Panzar / Los Angeles Times) But the best way to pass the time is the dining car.

This 2,438-mile Train Trip From California to Chicago Offers Views of the Rockies and Sierra Mountains Like You've Never Seen Before . The 51-hour California Zephyr train journey also stops in ...

I’m sitting in the observation car on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, a train that trundles cross-country for 2,438 miles, making it the longest daily-running rail service in the US.