My daughter goes to college in Portland and we live near Seattle. She takes either the Coast Starlight or the Cascades back and forth for breaks and sometimes I take it when I go visit. It's so convenient. Once we splurged and got her a roomette when she returned home after a rough finals week. Now I've always wanted to do that!
Very cool that you got to hear the National Parks staff while you were onboard. I've heard they are sometimes there but have never seen them.
How did you find the food to be overall? It looks pretty decent in the pictures.
This is actually pretty funny

Why do some people think they're entitled to a sleeper car when they paid for coach?? Bet he won't do that again.