Amtrak Holiday Next Summer

[WanderLustfully]

Hi all,
I am at the very beginning of planning a trip in the USA.
I'm overwhelmed already and would just like to ask wwyd really.
Me (female) plus two kids 18, 10) would love to either:
Start in Chicago have three nights there, then take a train to Texas, am struggling with where as there's so much choice. I'd love to go to San Antonio I think.
Have a few days to a week in Texas then take a sleeper train to Los Angeles and have a week or so in California.
Or:
Start in Texas and visit two Texan cities before taking the train to California.
We had a week in California last month so am comfortable with that side of the trip.
I bloody love train travel as do the kids!
Flights are new out so still expensive, shall keep an eye out soon for them to drop.
Thanks in advance for any help.

We did Amtrak from NYC to Niagara (Canadian side). Took ten hours to go 400 miles. It's ridiculously slow and I don't know why.

Sorry to put a downer on your plans. I love train travel too but I was climbing the walls by th the we got off.

Ten hours - geez!!
I'm definitely going to book a private room for both legs so we can at least sleep and have privacy.

I did Seattle to LA a few years ago. Its a beautiful coastal route. And then the following year, I did Dallas/Fort Worth to LA. Super fun both times. Get private rooms, and if you want to be really fancy upgrade to ensuites.
Amtrak show off some of their really scenic routes on their websites. Its worth looking there for inspiration.

I did this by myself some years ago from LA to Chicago - loved it. A whole lot of nothingness but I liked the different scenery and I like reading which is handy... I booked a private room for just me so it was super expensive but whole thing was a thrill. I have considered doing it with kids but v expensive and they would watch devices the whole time. Would do it like a shot just me and dh once they have left home though

Trains in the USA are crazily slow - we got the train from Boston to NYC earlier this year and it was over 4 hours! It was also delayed for over an hour with no information - apparently that is common.

On the plus side the seats were huge and super comfortable and there was loads of luggage space. There was a good onboard cafe/bar and as people have said the scenery was wonderful, loads of gorgeous little harbour towns and coming in to NYC at night was pretty amazing . It also wasn't that expensive for tickets.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.
It's the beautiful views I'm looking after. My 10 year old would be on his devices no doubt at some point but that's fine. He's still really excited about it.
Did the Caledonian Sleeper a few years ago and loved it!