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If you'd like to see some of the pictures of our trip so far, see my Mastodon account. The 155 photos and videos I took on my phone are likely to take all night to upload from my phone, and goodness knows if I'll be able to get them and all of Lisa's photos uploaded and cataloged. It's hard to do so when you are traveling and doubly so when you spend a whole lot of the day out of cell phone range.
After falling asleep on the train at Wendover, I woke up again at Salt Lake City, where the train has a servicing stop, mainly because the bed stopped moving and rocking. But presently we started moving and I started sleeping again. Somewhere between Helper and Green River, we woke up, got dressed, Lisa put the beds away, and we ordered breakfast. We're glad that Amtrak does cooked breakfasts on the long-distance trains after an unfortunate period (still happening on some eastern trains) of so-called "flexible" meals. Lisa didn't want the potatoes because it looked on the menu that they would be full of red and green peppers, so were able to get her a bowl of oatmeal instead. (As it happens, the potatoes were plan, the way she and I both like them.)
After breakfast and our departure from Green River UT, I took a shower. It's a little challenging in the tiny shower, but we paid for it and I see no reason not to use it.
We're planning to do an episode of Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories about the Amtrak Superliners, so on this trip we were trying to document all of the different types of rooms. Besides our bedroom, I was able to find a roomette in the next car down that wasn't occupied. Our car attendant told us that room H (the handicapped-accessible room) in our car wouldn't be occupied until Denver, and that we could record it. We also took pictures of the diner, lounge, and coaches.
Mostly we spent the day watching the world go by. That includes the stark vistas of the Utah desert and the amazing scenery through Colorado along the Colorado and Fraser Rivers. We've been this way about eight times (we've lost count), and if you've read about our previous trips, this wasn't that much different. It was full of wonderful views as usual.
Lunch was our usual fare: the Angus burger. After lunch, both of us got sleepy, so Lisa made up the upper bunk and I laid down on the lower sofa and we both napped for at least an hour. Around 3:30 PM, I went to the cafe car and bought us a couple of hot dogs. It was around this time that we learned that with a scheduled 6:30 arrival in Denver, we were going to get another dinner. We both ordered steak this time, and got an early dinner just after leaving Fraser/Winter Park, and thus we enjoyed dinner mostly while passing through the Moffat Tunnel, the highest point on the Amtrak system (9239 ft / 2816 m) and heading down the east side toward Denver.
Just outside of Denver, while we were talking to the conductor he got a message from the dispatcher: a freight train ahead of us had broken in two. That blocked the line and could have meant a long delay, but in the end it was less than 30 minutes, which was a relief. Eventually, we backed into Denver Union Station (The Zephyr has to make a roughly one-mile back-up move due to Denver being a stub-end station) and arrived about 7:45.
We hauled our bags into the station and waited for my checked bag to arrive. I was intrigued by a group of girls in anime-style outfits in the station. I asked them if there was an anime convention in town. They said no; they were just getting ready to do a photo shoot in the station. One photo of them should eventually end up in my photo stream.
After collecting the checked bag, we caught a taxi to the Holiday Inn Express, about 2 km away. The IHG Hotel Indigo would have been much more convenient, but when I had checked, they said that all of their rooms are shower-stall only (no bathtub). The HIX had upgraded us to a King mini-suite, but it also was shower-only, so I asked for a room with at bathtub. They found one; it's relatively small, and because it's not a suite, there's no refrigerator, but it is much better for Lisa.
We walked to Walgreens to get several things. I left my comb behind when packing. In retrospect, I could have asked the hotel for one as part of their "Forgot Something" program, but I'd forgotten, and we found a US-made pocket comb. We also needed to get me a new can of Gold Bond spray power, because to my annoyance, the almost-full can I had has stopped working. Oh, well. We also got some cold drinks (we were both very thirsty). With no refrigerator, we put Lisa's orange juice on ice. Having had four meals on the train, we were not at all hungry, so we finished unpacking, Lisa got a bath, and I got my computer running.
I've forgotten my computer mouse, and the touchpad on my computer doesn't work very well, but we probably can get another one tomorrow. It's just as well, I guess, that we're spending an extra night here. As I mentioned, we have an end-to-end reservation for IHG points reasons. The front desk folks said I just have to come down tomorrow and have them redo the keys; we won't have to switch rooms.
So tomorrow we have a mostly unscheduled day, and that's fine with me.
After falling asleep on the train at Wendover, I woke up again at Salt Lake City, where the train has a servicing stop, mainly because the bed stopped moving and rocking. But presently we started moving and I started sleeping again. Somewhere between Helper and Green River, we woke up, got dressed, Lisa put the beds away, and we ordered breakfast. We're glad that Amtrak does cooked breakfasts on the long-distance trains after an unfortunate period (still happening on some eastern trains) of so-called "flexible" meals. Lisa didn't want the potatoes because it looked on the menu that they would be full of red and green peppers, so were able to get her a bowl of oatmeal instead. (As it happens, the potatoes were plan, the way she and I both like them.)
After breakfast and our departure from Green River UT, I took a shower. It's a little challenging in the tiny shower, but we paid for it and I see no reason not to use it.
We're planning to do an episode of Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories about the Amtrak Superliners, so on this trip we were trying to document all of the different types of rooms. Besides our bedroom, I was able to find a roomette in the next car down that wasn't occupied. Our car attendant told us that room H (the handicapped-accessible room) in our car wouldn't be occupied until Denver, and that we could record it. We also took pictures of the diner, lounge, and coaches.
Mostly we spent the day watching the world go by. That includes the stark vistas of the Utah desert and the amazing scenery through Colorado along the Colorado and Fraser Rivers. We've been this way about eight times (we've lost count), and if you've read about our previous trips, this wasn't that much different. It was full of wonderful views as usual.
Lunch was our usual fare: the Angus burger. After lunch, both of us got sleepy, so Lisa made up the upper bunk and I laid down on the lower sofa and we both napped for at least an hour. Around 3:30 PM, I went to the cafe car and bought us a couple of hot dogs. It was around this time that we learned that with a scheduled 6:30 arrival in Denver, we were going to get another dinner. We both ordered steak this time, and got an early dinner just after leaving Fraser/Winter Park, and thus we enjoyed dinner mostly while passing through the Moffat Tunnel, the highest point on the Amtrak system (9239 ft / 2816 m) and heading down the east side toward Denver.
Just outside of Denver, while we were talking to the conductor he got a message from the dispatcher: a freight train ahead of us had broken in two. That blocked the line and could have meant a long delay, but in the end it was less than 30 minutes, which was a relief. Eventually, we backed into Denver Union Station (The Zephyr has to make a roughly one-mile back-up move due to Denver being a stub-end station) and arrived about 7:45.
We hauled our bags into the station and waited for my checked bag to arrive. I was intrigued by a group of girls in anime-style outfits in the station. I asked them if there was an anime convention in town. They said no; they were just getting ready to do a photo shoot in the station. One photo of them should eventually end up in my photo stream.
After collecting the checked bag, we caught a taxi to the Holiday Inn Express, about 2 km away. The IHG Hotel Indigo would have been much more convenient, but when I had checked, they said that all of their rooms are shower-stall only (no bathtub). The HIX had upgraded us to a King mini-suite, but it also was shower-only, so I asked for a room with at bathtub. They found one; it's relatively small, and because it's not a suite, there's no refrigerator, but it is much better for Lisa.
We walked to Walgreens to get several things. I left my comb behind when packing. In retrospect, I could have asked the hotel for one as part of their "Forgot Something" program, but I'd forgotten, and we found a US-made pocket comb. We also needed to get me a new can of Gold Bond spray power, because to my annoyance, the almost-full can I had has stopped working. Oh, well. We also got some cold drinks (we were both very thirsty). With no refrigerator, we put Lisa's orange juice on ice. Having had four meals on the train, we were not at all hungry, so we finished unpacking, Lisa got a bath, and I got my computer running.
I've forgotten my computer mouse, and the touchpad on my computer doesn't work very well, but we probably can get another one tomorrow. It's just as well, I guess, that we're spending an extra night here. As I mentioned, we have an end-to-end reservation for IHG points reasons. The front desk folks said I just have to come down tomorrow and have them redo the keys; we won't have to switch rooms.
So tomorrow we have a mostly unscheduled day, and that's fine with me.
