Scenic Route — A Cinematic Editorial Travel Guide
Long-form, magazine-style editorial guides to American Amtrak routes — covering the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited, and an original 21-day car-free itinerary from STL → Denver → Glenwood Springs → Yosemite → LA → Tucson → San Antonio → New Orleans using the USA Rail Pass.
Overview
Scenic Route is a long-form, magazine-style editorial guide to American Amtrak routes — designed to make train travel feel like what it actually is: one of the best ways to move through a country slowly, with the landscape as the main character.
The project started as personal research for a 21-day car-free itinerary from St. Louis to New Orleans via the Rocky Mountains and California coast. Once the itinerary existed, building a site to publish it was the natural next step. The goal isn't just to document routes — it's to make car-free rail travel feel curated and compelling enough that others will actually try it.
Routes Covered
Empire Builder — Chicago → Seattle/Portland, through the northern Rockies and Glacier National Park. One of the most visually dramatic overnight routes in North America.
Coast Starlight — Seattle → Los Angeles, down the Pacific coastline through the Cascades and Central Valley. The stretch along the California coast between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara alone is worth the trip.
Sunset Limited — New Orleans → Los Angeles, across the American Southwest through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The only true transcontinental route that runs through the South.
Rockies to Bayou (Original Route) — A 21-day car-free itinerary built around the USA Rail Pass: STL → Denver → Glenwood Springs → Yosemite → Los Angeles → Tucson → San Antonio → New Orleans. Covers ~5,000+ rail miles across 7 states. This route doesn't exist as a single Amtrak product — it's a composite of four trains, timed layovers, and regional stops that make the journey itself the destination.
Why Train Travel
The constraint is also the feature. When you can't drive somewhere on a whim, you commit to the journey. Rail forces a different relationship with distance — you see how big the country actually is, you arrive rested, and you're not adding to traffic or emissions on a road trip that would take just as long.
The USA Rail Pass makes multi-week itineraries economically viable. The gap is editorial: there's no resource that treats Amtrak routes with the same seriousness as a long-haul flight or a European InterRail guide. Scenic Route fills that gap.
Technical Approach
Built with Next.js, MDX for rich editorial content, and Tailwind CSS. The design prioritizes reading — full-bleed imagery, generous whitespace, chapter-style pacing. Deployed on Vercel.
The content model is designed to be extensible: each route is an MDX file with structured frontmatter (stops, timing, pass requirements, seasonal notes) that can eventually power a route-builder tool where travelers configure their own itineraries.
What's Next
Extending the customization layer — a tool that lets readers configure their own USA Rail Pass itinerary by selecting stops, adjusting days, and getting a packing/timing guide tailored to their route.