Another wonderful train! It didn't start out great, because it was late coming from Emeryville and the SAC station isn't great (no lounge). But once we got going, it was a beautiful trip. We saw lots of snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We enjoyed talking to several British travelers. We followed the Truckee River. We saw wild turkeys and several large horse ranches. We saw some old gold mines and flumes, Donner and some other lakes. We reached over 8,000 feet altitude. Between Prove, UT and Denver was especially pretty-cliffs, canyons, mesas and rivers.We crossed the Continental Divide and went through the 6 mile Moffat Tunnel. Someone needs to put up a sign or make an announcement saying Do not open the doors while going through the tunnel. The dining car staff got upset when their door was opened. Glenwood Springs to Denver is definetly the prettiest stretch of this run. We stayed at a high elevation most of the way, seeing lots of snow, frozen rivers, mountains, deer, and turkey. I hope I mentioned the sights in the right order. The Denver Temporary station is pretty bad. You have to cross a 4 lane street pulling your suitcase and it is small, crowded and disorganized. This was the only time that we had to stand in line in the station to get a boarding pass. We spent the night in Denver at the Burnsley, a very nice all suite hotel. We have family living in the Denver area. Our great nephew was nice enough to be born early just to see us!
The train from Denver to Chicago seemed older and rougher than any others that we had ridden. We saw lots of old farms, old barns, deer, eagles and geese in Iowa.
Chicago Union Station is HUGE. An employee with the people mover cart took us all the way through the station outside to a taxi, which saved us lots of walking and confusion. We stayed at the Tremont Hotel and went up the John Hancock Tower for great views of the city. My next and last segment is the Texas Eagle.
The train from Denver to Chicago seemed older and rougher than any others that we had ridden. We saw lots of old farms, old barns, deer, eagles and geese in Iowa.
Chicago Union Station is HUGE. An employee with the people mover cart took us all the way through the station outside to a taxi, which saved us lots of walking and confusion. We stayed at the Tremont Hotel and went up the John Hancock Tower for great views of the city. My next and last segment is the Texas Eagle.
