I was just referring to tom's post/suggestion.

And yes - it is doable but not fun. If the daughter can be at Stanford alone for the summer -- she can certainly take the train north solo.


(No matter where one gets off, stuck on Amtrak for most of 3 days having no time to see/do much of anything . . . a sharp stick in the eye comes to mind >) )

The discussion above, between 2 experienced travelers, should give an idea of how straightforward a trip this might be in a tight time frame by train.

Actually, it's two days and two nights. And the whole discussion is academic because the OP has left it too late to book saver fares so she can't even afford chair class. And I personally wouldn't do it unless I could afford sleeper class because I need to be horizontal to sleep and I would want a shower. Although I suppose the daughter might be able to provide that.

If the daughter doesn't have much luggage, plane, if she does, train. Or I suppose there is probably a bus, but I very much prefer trains to buses.

"Most of 3 days and nights" -really? Daughter takes Coast Starlight out of San Jose after 8PM and arrives in Eugene about 12:30 to 1PM. 16.5 hours in coach overnight is doable for a young person. (about $104 for 1 coach seat).
Mom drives down to Eugene (5 hours) and meets daughter and they have a nice lunch in Eugene before the daughter drives home.
Yesterday's trip for me was through Eugene/Springfield to Brownsville Oregon for the "Stand By Me" 30th anniversary celebration.
The visitors more than tripled the town population for the day.
I left a little after 7AM, spent about 7 hours in and around Brownsville and got back home before 8PM.
Is it time for daughter to get a drivers license and a car?

What?? What use would driving part-way to meet her be? However daughter travels, air or train, why would she not just go all the way to Seattle? Or is it to save money using some of that free gas? The original idea was for the mom to see Stanford, not Eugene.