posted
A week ago my son, Nick, just up and asked me if we could make use of his 5 day weekend between jobs and drive out to Breckenridge to relive our skiing adventures of yesterday. Of course I had to suggest that between my AGR points and an unspent Amtrak voucher that was about to expire, we could score a roomette both ways for less than gas (plus a cheap weekend car rental).
We have to drive from St. Paul to Iowa to catch the Zephyr, and I chose Ottumwa for departure so we would be more likely to get dinner westbound and an unhurried breakfast returning. Amtrak showed one roomette left OTM-DEN, but when I called AGR they said all they had left was Osceola-DEN with a change of roomettes in Lincoln. Every train ride is an adventure.
Unfortunately, we have to leave St. Paul before #5 leaves Chicago and all of our train status inquiries only told us the train was late and we had to contact an agent. When we finally got a live agent, the news was that the train had not yet left Chicago 4 hours after departure time, and "would we like to go another day?". No, not when we were already in Des Moines. So we had a liesurely dinner in a fancy downtown Des Moines Brew Pub. And I told Nick about the familiar saying "late trains get later."
After a thorough 5 minute driving tour of downtown Osceola after dark, we drove to the town Casino where Nick broke even at 4 hours of blackjack and I half slept in the car (too smokey inside for this geezer). The train finally arrived 5.5 hours late. At Lincoln at 5am, we had to schlep the length of the train from the 531 sleeper near the end to the dorm car behind baggage. Attendants in both cars were helpful and cheerful, and I tipped them both. We got to see parts of western Nebraska by daylight that were surprisingly scenic.
Our companions at breakfast were two gentlemen from Cedar Rapids who were skiing at Winter Park. They would be on the same return train as us 3 days later. They did this often. We all agreed breakfast was good.
Downtown Budget picked us up at DEN (still the temp ambox station til next month). Our 3 days in Colorado had now turned to 2.5 due to the late train. Denver's light rail system is very impressive. We drove along the new line to Golden as we left town.
Our return trip on Sunday was perfect. We had to return our rental by 4 and kill 3 hours until the train. Meanwhile the Broncos were winning a playoff game at home and downtown was pretty wild. We found a basement video game bar that was NOT a sports bar near Coors Field and had some quiet beers.
The train was in early, and we had a very enjoyable dinner with a couple from Sidney, Australia with heavy accents. This was their first American train ride and they were going from DEN to New Orleans. They had spent Christmas in New York, New Years in Vegas, and then a week skiing in Vail. The van ride from Vail to DEN was white knuckle due to the high winds and blowing snow. I had to break the bad news to them that they missed probably the best stretch of scenery on Amtrak by not backtracking east to Glenwood Springs (no mountain passes) to catch the train. They wished they had known. The cheesecake with peach sauce for my dessert was delicious. The chocolate something in a cup that Nick had was left unfinished by all at the table.
Our attendant, Janelle, was one of the best ever. Our room was downstairs next to luggage. When 4 or 5 huge bags of laundry came rolling down the stairs, she explained that this was the train that was stranded in Illinois in the Great Amtrak Meltdown of 2014, and the short turnaround times had not allowed them to unload laundry. No doubt the lateness of our westbound train was also due to recovery from this.
By morning we were 20 minutes late. Our companions at breakfast were 2 cheerful young women from Iowa, whose trip I would guess was for a new agricultural product now available in Colorado. They giggled a lot.
Except for losing half a day due to lateness, it was an enjoyable trip, especially the Amtrak part. Then there was our rental car with bald tires on the ice covered mountain roads. But that's another story.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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Great report! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.
It does take a bit to understand some Aussies but I've found it's always easier after a pint or two.
Frank in sunny and warm (81º) SBA headed to cool TPA. What's wrong with this picture. It's even cool in our Mexican port of Cozumel!
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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TwinStarRocket -- Thanks from my son and me for that great trip report. Glad you had good car attendants, diner companions, and that the food was mostly good. (How on earth can someone mess up a chocolate dessert? What a shame! Isn't chocolate one of the four basic food groups? LOL!) The bald tires sound awful! Glad you both are OK! (Care to tell the story?)
Frank -- Yeah, the weather here in CA has been far too nice. There is a "red flag fire warning" in the SF Bay Area East Bay hills -- in January! Scary! We need rain -- but not all at once like Colorado got last year!
Margaret In the sunny and warm SF Bay Area
Posts: 211 | From: California | Registered: Dec 2004
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Red Flag here, too. We're hoping for another "March Miracle" like we had about ten years ago.
The chocolate dessert is served in the plastic container it comes in. Not very flavorful. The "Blood Orange Sorbet" is worse -- served in the cardboard container. The only thing missing is a small wooden spoon.
Dessert used to be a highlight of an Amtrak trip. What happened?
Frank in sunny and warm SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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Maybe 2014 will bring a return of Amtrak desserts enjoyed prior to 2012.
Perhaps the young women from Iowa have some new recipe ideas that would improve the Amtrak chocolate dessert thingy.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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