I’ve taken a sleeper compartment on the Coast Starlight from Seattle to San Francisco with my wife. Verrrry cozy, nice food, beverages, service etc. The compartment was fine as two chairs, but we had to split up into the bunks after a while, just too cramped to share unless you are both very skinny. We enjoyed it immensely. However, it would have been much cheaper to fly if we paid cash. We did it because we paid for our tickets with Alaska Airlines frequent flyer miles, and got a great deal since we traveled off-season.
In fact we’re doing the same thing next month. Ah, Dim Sum…can’t wait!
Yeah, there is service from the Twin Cities to Minot on the Empire Builder. It goes from Seattle, WA to Chicago. It runs daily.
The view, at least the view I got, was flat and snowy, so it’s definitely nothing I’d recommend. However, it was also an overnight ride both ways, so I didn’t see much.