You can fly into Denver and take the Zephyr west, and you'll get all the best scenery right off the bat, at the right time of day, and end in California, where you can then catch a train along the coast, to a city with a big airport and cheap flights home.
Get yourself a roomette. It provides most of the comfort, glamor, and privacy of the experience, along with the dining car access. It's expensive, but consider it an investment in a once in a lifetime experience (I probably wouldn't do it again until I retire).
The rest - the observation car - is nice, but you will have slightly annoying interactions there, and if you're going through a popular area, may have to jockey for a timed spot in the car. Coach is just depressing and uninteresting, with extremely grimy windows that are blocked half the time. They have now added rules to prevent people from sitting in the cafe car unless they're eating something they bought in the cafe car, so say goodbye to working on your laptop with a nice view.
Don't expect any connectivity on the train. Expect to be offline. Expect to spend about every other hour in the good parts of the trip just staring out the window; don't expect to work. And do talk to your neighbors.
Get yourself a roomette. It provides most of the comfort, glamor, and privacy of the experience, along with the dining car access. It's expensive, but consider it an investment in a once in a lifetime experience (I probably wouldn't do it again until I retire).
The rest - the observation car - is nice, but you will have slightly annoying interactions there, and if you're going through a popular area, may have to jockey for a timed spot in the car. Coach is just depressing and uninteresting, with extremely grimy windows that are blocked half the time. They have now added rules to prevent people from sitting in the cafe car unless they're eating something they bought in the cafe car, so say goodbye to working on your laptop with a nice view.
Don't expect any connectivity on the train. Expect to be offline. Expect to spend about every other hour in the good parts of the trip just staring out the window; don't expect to work. And do talk to your neighbors.