So I Looked At The Scenery (part 2 of a 4 part series)
There is something extraordinarily comforting about being tucked away in a sleeping compartment hurtling through the pitch-black night. The rocking of the train, the just audible click clack of the wheels and occasional muffled sound hoot of the horn 
remind you that the world doesn’t stop when you’re sleeping yet sleep you must as you can’t see anything in the darkness outside the window. I slept surprisingly well only waking occasionally when the train stopped. At 7:00am Joyce was on the PA announcing first call for breakfast. I peeked out my window to see the morning sun shining on the Utah scrub just outside Salt Lake City. On my way up to breakfast I saw Tony who offered to put away my bed while I was dining. I breakfasted with Blue, the other occupant of bottom half of car 32012. A recent college graduate she was on her way home to Washington DC from Oakland where she had been job searching and visiting friends. She had taken the same train in March and told me of the beauty of the snow and the large numbers of eagles and animals she had seen along the way. With breakfast over I decided to try out the shower. The shower room was perfectly sufficient, a small counter to put stuff on, a bench to sit on and lay your clothes out and a small shower stall about the size you might have in you home complete with handles to steady yourself as the train swerves. Amtrak provides soap, towels and washcloths but no shampoo and somehow I hadn’t brought any. But lucky me someone had left shampoo in the shower so I used that – sorry person. Now ready to start my day I packed my tote bag with newspaper, notebook, camera, book, binoculars, and camera, grabbed one more cup of coffee and headed to the lounge car for a day of sightseeing.
The super liner lounge car is a light, airy comfortable place to spend some time. Half of it is taken up by roomy tables where people can eat or play games and the
other end is cluster of 3-4 seats facing the windows, downstairs is a small area selling food and a few more tables. The lounge car is also open to the coach customers but on this leg of the journey it was not crowded. The route between Salt Lake City and Denver is indescribably beautiful; the only thing I can say is if you have never been there by car or by train – go. Getting caught up in day to day life it is easy to forget how majestic America is, but his route will take your breath away at every turn. The desert mesas and rock formations in Utah never cease to amaze me. We were lucky enough to have a conductor with a vast knowledge of the area and among other things told us tales of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s train robberies, remarked on where to see the best ancient petroglyphs if you were to drive through the area, and pointed out old ghost towns left from the uranium boom.
I had planned on reading in the morning but I didn’t want to miss any scenery so instead I took hundreds of pictures and jotted things in my notebook as did the guy
sitting next to me (a student from Holland who had been a semester at the University of Hawaii and was on his way back home). He’s the only other person I saw on the train taking notes and I often wondered what he was writing and then also wondered if he was wondering what I was writing. The California Zephyr follows the Colorado river for 238 miles into the Rockies. The tracks run right along the river as the canyon walls rise up on either side, impressing on me that there really aren’t too many ways to get through these mountains and raising anticipation of getting to the other side. With the river running alongside I lunched with a British couple who had been in the Falklands for twenty years but were now retired and headed back to England.
At Grand Junction there was a crew change which meant we could get out and walk around for about fifteen minutes during wich I composed a consist: Engine 173; Engine 193; Baggage 1127; Sleeper 39006; Sleeper 32012; Sleeper 32031; Dining 38050; Lounge 33028; Coach 34008; Coach 31003; Coach 31034; Freight 74101; Freight 74014.
Approximately 5:35pm we entered the Moffat Tunnel 6 miles and over ten minutes of darkness then you burst out into the sunshine onto the other side of the continental divide. As we wound down to Denver I had dinner with Blue, Jack and Suzanne, it was fun to have our little compartment together for a meal though the service was rather poor that night. At Denver a lot of people got on and off, even though it was 8:30pm the dining car has to feed anyone getting on before 9:00pm. I had Tony make up my bed shortly after leaving Denver, set my watch another hour ahead and snuggled in to my bed for another night on the rails.
PartI; Part III; Part IV
remind you that the world doesn’t stop when you’re sleeping yet sleep you must as you can’t see anything in the darkness outside the window. I slept surprisingly well only waking occasionally when the train stopped. At 7:00am Joyce was on the PA announcing first call for breakfast. I peeked out my window to see the morning sun shining on the Utah scrub just outside Salt Lake City. On my way up to breakfast I saw Tony who offered to put away my bed while I was dining. I breakfasted with Blue, the other occupant of bottom half of car 32012. A recent college graduate she was on her way home to Washington DC from Oakland where she had been job searching and visiting friends. She had taken the same train in March and told me of the beauty of the snow and the large numbers of eagles and animals she had seen along the way. With breakfast over I decided to try out the shower. The shower room was perfectly sufficient, a small counter to put stuff on, a bench to sit on and lay your clothes out and a small shower stall about the size you might have in you home complete with handles to steady yourself as the train swerves. Amtrak provides soap, towels and washcloths but no shampoo and somehow I hadn’t brought any. But lucky me someone had left shampoo in the shower so I used that – sorry person. Now ready to start my day I packed my tote bag with newspaper, notebook, camera, book, binoculars, and camera, grabbed one more cup of coffee and headed to the lounge car for a day of sightseeing.The super liner lounge car is a light, airy comfortable place to spend some time. Half of it is taken up by roomy tables where people can eat or play games and the
other end is cluster of 3-4 seats facing the windows, downstairs is a small area selling food and a few more tables. The lounge car is also open to the coach customers but on this leg of the journey it was not crowded. The route between Salt Lake City and Denver is indescribably beautiful; the only thing I can say is if you have never been there by car or by train – go. Getting caught up in day to day life it is easy to forget how majestic America is, but his route will take your breath away at every turn. The desert mesas and rock formations in Utah never cease to amaze me. We were lucky enough to have a conductor with a vast knowledge of the area and among other things told us tales of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s train robberies, remarked on where to see the best ancient petroglyphs if you were to drive through the area, and pointed out old ghost towns left from the uranium boom.I had planned on reading in the morning but I didn’t want to miss any scenery so instead I took hundreds of pictures and jotted things in my notebook as did the guy
sitting next to me (a student from Holland who had been a semester at the University of Hawaii and was on his way back home). He’s the only other person I saw on the train taking notes and I often wondered what he was writing and then also wondered if he was wondering what I was writing. The California Zephyr follows the Colorado river for 238 miles into the Rockies. The tracks run right along the river as the canyon walls rise up on either side, impressing on me that there really aren’t too many ways to get through these mountains and raising anticipation of getting to the other side. With the river running alongside I lunched with a British couple who had been in the Falklands for twenty years but were now retired and headed back to England.At Grand Junction there was a crew change which meant we could get out and walk around for about fifteen minutes during wich I composed a consist: Engine 173; Engine 193; Baggage 1127; Sleeper 39006; Sleeper 32012; Sleeper 32031; Dining 38050; Lounge 33028; Coach 34008; Coach 31003; Coach 31034; Freight 74101; Freight 74014.
Approximately 5:35pm we entered the Moffat Tunnel 6 miles and over ten minutes of darkness then you burst out into the sunshine onto the other side of the continental divide. As we wound down to Denver I had dinner with Blue, Jack and Suzanne, it was fun to have our little compartment together for a meal though the service was rather poor that night. At Denver a lot of people got on and off, even though it was 8:30pm the dining car has to feed anyone getting on before 9:00pm. I had Tony make up my bed shortly after leaving Denver, set my watch another hour ahead and snuggled in to my bed for another night on the rails.
PartI; Part III; Part IV
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