Kerri's Wedding

The reason for our really fun train trip was to go to a high school friend's wedding. Kerri got married in the foothills of the Rockies outside of Denver in a beautiful location.

Kerri looked absolutely stunning and so happy.

During the ceremony, she and Doug released butterflies.

Then it was time for everyone witnessing the ceremony to do the same. Desert Boy thought that was so neat! The butterflies flittered around our heads and seats for the rest of the ceremony.

Hurray, they're married! Desert Boy was excited, too, because that meant it was time to party. He is one little party animal.

After some scrumptious food, it was time to cut the cake. I liked how the mirror reflected their happiness.

It was also time for toasts, and Desert Boy thought his fun special drink was over the top.

Seeing Kerri dance with her dad was really sweet. I enjoyed seeing her family, as it had been years and years since I had seen them. They had been pool rats like me growing up, and I had participated with many of them on summer swim team and worked with some at the city pool. I was glad to hear that summer swim team is still going strong.

Here's Desert Boy learning to do the electric slide. He wanted to dance with everyone on the dance floor, regardless of age and whether he had ever met them before. He was so sad when I told him it was time to go.

We managed to get a photo of Kerri and me before leaving. I hope we'll be able to see each other soon. Come out to the desert, Kerri, and bring your new hubby!

We didn't have time to take the train back to Salt Lake City, so we flew. It's a fairly short flight and we had some nice views of the mountains.

Even though it was a quick vacation, it was thoroughly enjoyable, and we are really glad we went. Congratulations, Kerri and Doug, and thanks for giving us such a good excuse to take a trip!

Amtrak Adventure-Day Two

Our second day of our Amtrak Adventure was from Glenwood Springs to Denver. We were supposed to depart Glenwood Springs at 12:50 PM, but due to a broken down freight train on a single-track section, the train came about an hour late. I've heard many stories of delayed trains, so we were prepared for much worse. We were entertained while waiting by watching big logs and even entire trees float down the Colorado River. Some locals also gathered to watch the train, and it was entertaining talking to them, as they were a bit on the colorful side, to put it mildly.

As soon as we got on board, we went to the observation car. We wanted the full experience of seeing Glenwood Canyon with the big windows and skylights. We also went because National Park Service volunteers with the Trails and Rails program provide commentary from Grand Junction to Denver (and back) on weekends in summer. I really liked listening to the extra information they provided.

The volunteers were excited about the new technology they had to share information: an iPad. It was loaded with the Audubon apps with birds, wildflowers, mammals, and more so if any passengers wanted to learn more about a particular species, it would be easy to pull up.

(If you're planning on taking the train at a different time and still want to learn some information, their are some great books by Eva Hoffman that cover the entire California Zephyr route. I actually bought one in Grand Junction before I knew about the NPS volunteers coming on the train, and it is full of wonderful info and photos.)

Glenwood Canyon is one of the most spectacular sections of the Interstate system in the entire country. The scenic canyon has the Colorado River charging down it, the train tracks perched on the side, and the Interstate weaving its way over the river, through the cliffs, and along the edges. It was started in 1980 and completed in 1992.

During drier parts of the year, some of the river goes nearly dry due to diversions for water power. However, this section was a massive whitewater section--Class VI rapids, too dangerous for anyone to run. Three people tried a number of years ago and their raft flipped instantly. Two were saved by people watching close by, while the body of the third was found weeks later downstream.

In one place the canyon is so narrow that the Interstate goes double decker. Along with the river, the train tracks, and the road, there is also a bike trail. Someone please drop me off on the uphill side and let me ride down the 16 miles! Much of it was submerged by the flooded river during this trip, though. When it's dry, the bike path must be a fantastic way to see the sights at a slower pace.

The train eventually veered away from the Interstate at Dotsero and heads north. We passed a water wheel, and only when I looked at this photo at home did I realize I also had a photo of a horse stranded on a little island.

This section of the river is quite a bit calmer, with rapids interspersed. It has become known as Moon River, due to a frequent action performed by river rafters. As one of the volunteers said, we saw plenty of white-rumped rafters and bare-breasted rafters. (Click on the photo if you want a larger version.)

We continued north with some spectacular scenery.

As we entered Gore Canyon, we could see a highway high above us on the west. A couple wrecks are located on the steep slope below Inspiration Point, also known as Dead Man's Curve, but fortunately no one was injured.

Gore Canyon was steep and narrow, and this terrain made the Interstate planners choose another route.

Middle Park is crossed next. In Colorado, the term "park" means "valley." You can see the snow-capped Rockies in the distance.

Then it was time for Byers Canyon. Many places along the canyon have wires hanging just above the train. These detect falling rocks and can send signals to the train if there is any disturbance.

Then it was time for dinner. I had enjoyed breakfast in the dining car so much that I decided we would also do dinner there. We were seated with Grandma Pat, who has a plethora of children, grandchildren, and great-grand children. She has a friend in Grand Junction and travels by train to see her several times a year. I asked her what was her favorite season to travel, and she said she enjoyed them all, and that they all look quite different. Hmm, another reason to take the train again!

Here are the three of us! Hopefully next time my husband can come, he would really enjoy the trip, too.

We started going through a lot of tunnels as we got closer to the edge of the mountains. There are 42 tunnels between Denver and Grand Junction, and Desert Boy enjoyed seeing how long they were by counting in each of them. We knew we were in a long tunnel when we counted more than 15. And then of course there is the Moffat Tunnel, 6.2 miles long. We were busy eating dinner then so we didn't have to count. (Thank goodness)

The sun was shining on the distant skyscrapers of Denver. A group of teachers helped me entertain Desert Boy and took turns holding Desert Girl in the observation car. The train is a good way to meet people. We enjoyed the sunset arrival into Denver.

We arrived in Union Station in Denver, happy to have had such a grand train adventure.

Glenwood Springs

We got off the train in Glenwood Springs partly because I had stopped their briefly on a trip may years ago (maybe with my Grandma on the way to Death Valley?) and I had remembered the awesome swimming pools. It was also partly because I figured that eight hours of train travel was enough for one day with two little kids. And I had a third reason: the National Speleologic Society convention in 2011 is going to be held in Glenwood Springs and I wanted to scope out the area.

I had booked a room in a motel only about five blocks away. Glenwood Springs turns out to have lots of motels with a total of about 1,700 rooms. Yikes! We walked up from the station (which will hopefully have the handicap ramp completed soon--carrying the stroller up all the steps was not fun) onto the pedestrian bridge across the train tracks, Colorado River, and Interstate.

We had an awesome view of the pool. And after we all took a three hour nap in the motel, that's where we headed.

They have two main pools, a therapy pool at 104 degrees and the big pool at 94 degrees. It was definitely a place to relax. Desert Boy tried out arm floaties and liked them. By the end he was able to kick himself around without hanging on to me. He also really liked to play on the steps and even found a friend to play with for awhile.

It was convenient going later in the evening because there's a discount after 6 pm and I had forgotten the sunblock.

Little Miss Emma (aka Desert Girl, but she just hasn't had enough desert adventures for me to be ready to call her that) was all decked out in her swimming costume. She sat on the edge of the pool for awhile in her stroller, but eventually she told me she wanted to get in. She loves the water just as much as Desert Boy.

We strolled around and played in the water for a couple hours and then decided we were pruney enough to head back to the motel.

The next morning our destination was Two Rivers Park, a beautiful spot near the river. They have a neat playground, and Desert Boy gave me a little attitude when it was time to leave.

He got happier when I pointed out the freight train crossing the Roaring Fork River, which in the above photo is joining the Colorado. We took the pedestrian bridge and followed the trail along the river. With both rivers slightly flooded, it was neat to get to be so close to them. The trail system is excellent in Glenwood Springs.

From the pedestrian bridge we got a closeup view of the freight train--and of the many barn swallows that make their nests under the bridge.

Many of them flew when we got close.

The trail along the river follows an old railway right of way so is very gradual. In places there are some old tracks, and Desert Boy had fun walking along them. We also had fun watching the paragliders come over the mountain. They land in the dog run next to the trail.

We were getting hungry so we walked a couple blocks east and were on main street and found a grocery store. Desert Boy declared he was ready for a picnic as soon as we got out of the store, so that's what we did. Hey, whatever works, right?

We had walked over two miles by this point and still had at least a mile to go. Desert Boy was getting a little cranky, but fortunately a bus pulled up. Glenwood Springs has a free bus system, and since we still had some free time, we rode it out to the mall so we could see a little more of town. Glenwood Springs is a very linear town, with the river, Interstate, and train tracks creating a bit of a barrier between the two sides of town.

Finally it was time to pack up and walk to the train station to catch our train. Inside the train station is a small railroad museum, and Desert Boy was fascinated with the model trains.

Our train was delayed, so we went out and got some ice cream. Waiting is always better if you have some ice cream.

Amtrak Adventure-Day One

A high school friend got married in Denver this last weekend, and I really wanted to go. Due to work constraints it had to be a rather fast trip, just four days. I've been wanting to take Amtrak across the mountains for a couple years, so I figured this would be a great opportunity. Our basic itinerary was go to Salt Lake City, get on Amtrak and go eight hours to Glenwood Springs, spend the night there and go six more hours on the train to Denver, then go to the wedding and fly back to Salt Lake City. The journey would be a key part of the vacation, especially because Desert Boy loves trains so much.

We didn't start out too well. Instead of the normal four hour drive to Salt Lake City, it took much longer because Desert Girl was fussy and we did errands and got caught up in city traffic. Eventually we got there and checked into our hotel and managed to swim a little before getting to bed at 11 p.m. The alarm rang all too soon at 3 a.m., and we walked groggily the few blocks to the train station where we found a surprising number of people at the train station.

The train pulled in on time and we boarded, trying to schlep all our stuff without waking up the other passengers.
It started getting light as we climbed up out of Provo, but Desert Boy was still sleeping. I caught sight of a couple of elk watching the train go by and enjoyed watching the scenery.

I was fascinated by how the train tracks were laid. While the highway is relatively straight, the train had to take switchbacks to go up onto the Colorado Plateau.

One really nice surprise on the train was how much leg room you have. The seats were comfortable and there is an electrical outlet at each seat.

Our train was fairly long, with two engines, a baggage car, three sleeping cars, a dining car, an observation car, and three coach cars. We were in the last coach car, so we could see the rest of the train far ahead of us.

Desert Boy was still napping. The train doesn't have seat belts, but the car seat was still handy so he had a more comfortable place to sleep and so he could sit up higher and see out the window better.

In a little while he woke up and we decided to eat breakfast in the dining car. It tasted good and gave me energy.

Just before breakfast the train stopped at Helper, Utah. We couldn't really see much of the town from the tracks. Then we traveled southeast towards Green River. Part of the time we were away from roads, and that was my favorite.

The beautiful rocks of eastern Utah rose in the distance.

I recognized this huge anticline from trips along the interstate. This is the east slope of the San Rafael Reef.

The erosional patterns on the other side of the train were also spectacular.

Desert Boy had a backpack full of activities to help keep him amused, but most of the time he was content to look out the window.

I was in awe of the views. It was really nice to be able to look as much as I wanted to and not worry about driving.

One of the unexpected benefits of traveling in early June were all the wildflowers that lit up the scenery. We saw lots of globemallow and some little yellow flower in the Mustard family.

Emma also took plenty of naps. She really liked not being confined to her car seat, and the train ride was quite smooth, but with a little rolling movement that she found quite comforting.

Some more great desert scenery. I saw so many places I'd like to go back and visit again.

My hair was a little wild. But most of the people in coach class had spent the night on the train so had even stranger 'dos than me. Some brought their own sleeping bags and pillows--I guess they had traveled coach on the train before and knew how to make the ride the most comfortable.

This is Emma on a baggage rack. She was quite a good traveler on the train.

We met up with the Colorado River shortly after passing the stateline. It was flowing swiftly and high, and we saw many shrubs and trees on the edges submerged.

Grand Junction was a fairly long stop, and anyone who wanted to get off could wander a bit. All the smokers piled off immediately, as there is no smoking on the train. We wandered around a bit and then went into a small store.

It was quite warm.

Then we heard the "All Aboard" and got back on. We went into the observation car for a change of scenery and shared a table with some other travelers.

Near Grand Junction there are many orchards and vineyards. I think they said there are several wineries in the area, too.

Sometimes we were next to the Interstate, but sometimes it went through tunnels while we followed the river.

We got a Colorado map so we could follow our progress better.

And then it was time for another snooze. It was great to be able to get up and wander around when we wanted, but then go back to our seats for some quiet time.

We saw evidence of forest fires and the excellent regrowth.

And then we were at Glenwood Springs. It really didn't seem like it had taken very long to get there.

To be continued...