California Zephyr

Architects in Chicago

Chicago's main Union Station

Leaving Chicago in the snow en route to the Golden State

Just way too early!

We left Chicago in snow on Sunday the 11th. We travelled overnight to Denver after going through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. The journey was flat and fast: farm after farm. The Moon glistened in a cloudless sky. We slept overnight in our roomettes. Great experience as you were rocked to sleep. Got colder in the night as the heating didn't work.  All fixed in the morning. Amtrak staff were great. Our attendant, Meklin, was very polite and had a great sense of humour. Denver was fine and cold, surrounded by mountains and sits in a type of shallow basin. We left there early and went into the Rockies. First, high and snowy mountains and then lower hills and canyons. We followed the upper reaches of the Colorado River. Along the way we saw a fox in the snow and two American bald eagles - one in a dead tree (they like them because they can see everything) and one on the ground by the river. The landscape is brown and red and spectacular - especially as we got into Ruby Canyon as we travelled north to Salt Lake City and into Utah. Layers of red sandstone and shale. Our breakfast, lunch and dinner were super and paid as part of the trip. The crew are very professional, but have good humour to stir the tourists up. Sylvie gave a pair of her socks, that she had been knitting, to Cathryn. We got into SLC at about 1030pm. What a light show all the way in for 50 miles. There are many satellite towns(Provo) en route to the Mormon capital. SLC itself looked new and expansive. A beautiful series of c. 2500 m peaks surround the city and were covered in snow. We then slept like logs for our second night: crossing Utah and then into progressively drier desert in northern Nevada. Long periods of.....nothing (civilisation) under a full moon and cold night.

My roomette buddies