Has anyone traveled recently and had the experience of everything going perfectly? I don't think so.
But that just means we always go into an adventure with an open mind. Lost luggage, cancelled flights, the gift of COVID, delays and reroutes are all on the table. Add that to "normal" travel issues like uncooperative weather, unexpected quirks from travel companions, packing faux pas and if one can come out the other side still smiling, we call it good, right? It's part of the journey.
Mark and I booked a rail journey on Amtrak in July. A kinda us-to-us birthday gift. We chose September 24th because there was a fairly good chance some or all of the aspens would be in all their golden glory by the end of September in the Rockies.
Denver to Salt Lake City is reportedly THE most scenic section of rail in the USA. The train winds its way leisurely through the mountains via Frazer and Glenwood Springs, to Grand Junction, in about 6 hours. The other 9 hours constitute the journey via Green River to Salt Lake.
Planned departure: 8:05am from Denver's beautiful Union Station.
Planned arrival: 11:30pm. A hotel was booked!
The train which originated in Chicago, was 3.5 hours late from the get go. Amtrak let us know they would make up time and depart Denver at 9:45am instead. We arrived just after 8am and found a nice place to have breakfast.
By 9am, the train was showing departure now at 11:30am. Shortly after that it was around noon and by the time we left Denver it was just shy of 12:30. I guess they didn't make up time after all! LOL. Mark and I spent the morning wandering Denver, challenging each other to games of gin rummy and indulging in "vacation food". It was very pleasant and I have no complaints.
The train was clean, the other passengers were friendly and interesting and our conductors (Luke and Cody) were flawless. They handled ALL the complaints and the pile of poo that was otherwise known as passenger check-in using slips of paper and a marker pen, with smiles and professionalism. I swear you'd think Cody had been trained by Mary Poppins herself!
I know... What you really came for - and what we really went for - is the view from the train. I took several hundred pictures but you'll be pleased to know you only have to see my favorites in this post.
Denver to Frazer:
Lots of tunnels. Just when you think you have your camera poised to take fall foliage pics, you find the environment pitch black!
Fraser to Grand Junction, via Glenwood Canyon:
See the guy in the turquoise cap? That's our cheesecake benefactor! Keep reading for more on that.
To appreciate the cheesecake below, you have to appreciate the situation onboard. If a passenger didn't book a private room or roomette, dining in the fancy dining car is not included. Once upon a time the privilege of the dining car was extended to economy class folks like us, after the private room guests had eaten. The private room fare includes dining car food and economy class used to pay as they went for the same privilege. Then COVID happened. For social distancing reasons, the dining car was reserved only for the passengers who's fare included food. And when things kinda returned to normal, this part of Amtrak never did. No private room = no cheesecake for you!
However we were lucky enough to make friends with two guys traveling all the way to California and despite being "downgraded" to economy when their sleeper rail car was removed for mechanical issues yesterday, Amtrak still honored their dining car privileges. I guess one of them overheard me noticing that the economy class café didn't serve desserts because after their meal in the dining car, they returned with a "to go" piece of cheesecake and fork for us!!! Both the gesture and the cheesecake were just lovely!!!
The unfortunate part of leaving 4 hours late is that it got dark a tad before we saw all that we could have. No worries. The observation car remained a lively gathering place where games and snacks and chats were filling the void nicely.
Our conductors got off in Grand Junction. This was the end of their segment. We continued on to Salt Lake with a new set of guides. Being that it was now bedtime, the "getting to know you" part of this team was pretty limited and most passengers retired to their bunks or reclining seats for a much needed sleep.
Salt Lake:
Honestly the railway station seemed quite lovely. All of the city that we meandered through at 2am was really nice looking! But that's the thing... it was now after 2am and we basically took a taxi to the hotel and crashed.
* We stayed at Comfort Suites Airport Hotel. It exceeded expectations. Josie gave us a friendly check in at 2:30am and was totally fine permitting us a late check out -> 1pm. Our room was spotlessly clean, had plenty of towels and little bathroom accoutrements, a coffee maker, microwave, fridge and was located in a quiet area.
In the morning Kristy helped us arrange a free ride to the airport.
We gobbled down a really good complimentary breakfast, soaked our weary bodies in the hot tub, washed and dried our swimsuits in the shared laundry area, ate complimentary cookies and drank lemon water in the lobby and then had the sweetest shuttle driver chat/drive us all the way to the airport.
It really doesn't get any better than that.
Great weekend... but also good to be home by 6:15pm that night. Our fur-babies were happy and had clearly been well cared for by Amy and Steve in our absence. It goes without saying maybe, but without Amy and Steve, we could never have snuck away for a weekend. (Teddy's first night without us was A-OK!)
