Denver August 2022 Part 3

Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. 

Day three, Tuesday, August 23rd began on the Amtrak California Zephyr. Monday ended with the train about an hour behind schedule due to the one undefined and one fire delay. Overnight the train gained back a half hour.

We changed from Central to Mountain time
between McCook, NE and Fort Morgan, CO.
Just about where this photo was taken. 

Estimated arrival in Denver was now 7:45 a.m. (scheduled 7:15 a.m.) The delay meant for a more leisurely breakfast in the dining car. Or so we thought. The dining car opens for breakfast at 6 am. First come first served (For dinner you have reservations). We, and just about everyone else who was planning to disembark at Denver, were in line about 5:55 only to be told there would be a delay. 

As mentioned in Part 1, the SuperLiner trains, such as the Zephyr, have real kitchens with cooks who make the meals mostly to order. Which is great until the griddle decides not to work. 😟 At 6:30ish the dining car steward decided it was best to at least let everyone in and try to smooth things over with coffee and tea. Eventually, the griddle did get working and a good breakfast was had by all. 

Our dining table companions for breakfast were Richard and Denise from Reading, PA. They had boarded the Cardinal with us in Philadelphia and their roomette on that train was just across the aisle. It was like dining with old friends. 😄 They are empty nesters with two sons and they used to live in Norristown, PA. Like us, they had ridden Amtrak before. We enjoyed a pleasant meal exchanging stories with them before all of us headed back to tidy up our roomettes and make any final adjustments to our suitcases before arriving in Denver. 

Our first glimpse of Denver is just to the left of this paragraph. It was also our second, third, fourth and so on. Upon arrival we sat here or just a tad up the line for almost 2 hours. 

First there was (we were told) more computer/switching problems. We heard several announcements apologizing and ending with, we are almost there. It wasn't quite as bad as being told your "almost there" at mile 20 of a marathon but frustrating none the less.

Once that issue was corrected we were informed that the train was picking up a "private car" and would be moving and stopping several more times before it would be our turn to de-train. That process involved a significant distance backing up. 

In case you haven't realized it yet, you do not plan to be anywhere at a certain time when you travel by Amtrak. Always give yourself wiggle room because there are any number of reasons for running late. While switching /computer problems and apartment building fires were the reasons for this trip, on other trips it was due to freight trains in the way or needing to pass. We knew this going in. We purposely planned our baseball game for the day after arrival just in case. So the delays here, although frustrating because the view never changed, were more comical than than upsetting. We had brought plenty of reading material. Though we did regret having decided against packing a deck of cards. 

At 9:45 a.m. we were off the train and headed in to Denver's Union Station. Our hotel for the next two nights was about 30 minutes away near the airport so we'd have access to an early morning shuttle before leaving on Thursday. The hotel attached to Union Station will hold passenger's bags for $12 a day. We decided that made more sense than an hour round trip to check them into our hotel. That turned out to be an even better decision than we knew for reasons I'll explain later. 

Bag checked, restrooms visited and off we went for our walk about Downtown Denver. First we headed to the state Capitol complex about a mile away. Upon arrival, we inquired about the tours and there was one just starting. Brenda, our guide, took us and one other visitor (from Paris) up, down, around, in and out of various parts of the building. She seemed very knowledgeable (although truth be told she could have been making it up and we wouldn't really know now would we?). 

The tour culminates in a climb to the dome of the Capital building. There are 99 steps to the top. At least that's what their website claims. I didn't count them. I was just happy that they were sturdy and enclosed with no view that would trigger my aversion to heights. And the climb felt good after sitting on a train for two days. Once at the top (actually two levels down form the top top) you enter a round room with views of the city like this one --- 

After the tour we left the building and tried to find the Mile High marker. Despite a map and, at one point, an arrow allegedly pointing in its direction we did not find it. Truth be told after two nights of fitful sleep (remember the train horn and the bumpy rails) we were both a little punchy and could have walked right past it. 

We began our return trip to the station via the 16th Street Mall. The street is closed to all traffic except for a free bus that runs the length of it. The mall's website tells us "Designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, the pedestrian promenade is made of red, white and gray granite in a repeating pattern that, seen from above, resembles the skin of a diamondback rattlesnake." It boasts shops, restaurants and fun activities along it's length. Unfortunately for us it was undergoing massive renovation while we were there so we did not get to see much more than construction fences and machinery. 

Back in the area of Union Station we wandered a bit more. This area, we learned from historical markers, was once a warehouse district. The boxy shape of the buildings certainly supports that. Taking advantage of proximity of the rail lines, the architects of these buildings created warehouse and corporate office space for the town as it changed over from mining gold to managing merchandise. 

We stopped inside The Sugar Building. Today it appeared to be a mixed use retail/residential building and still has a working Otis Cage Elevators. Dave reported that the ride was very smooth. 

We finished our day with a very good, albeit early, dinner at The Thirsty Lion before boarding the train to the Airport where the hotel shuttle would pick us up. 

Denver's public transit system is decent. It's not as extensive as other cities we've visited but it's also smaller than most of those. There is a one day fare pass for $10.50 ($5.25 or seniors) that included all buses and trains and the A-Line to the airport. So for the two days we would need to use public transit, the cost would be $31.50 for unlimited off and on the system. Quite reasonable.  HOWEVER, due to Colorado Senate Bill 22-180 the state was celebrating Zero Fare for Cleaner Air for the month of August. We lucked out on that one!! Timing really is everything 💚

There was (and based on news reports has been) trouble on the rail lines. On Tuesday, we had to take a shuttle bus between three stops on the airport line. This added time to the ride and our growing fatigue. Still we arrived safe and... well safe.. at our hotel and after checking in and doing our best to stay awake until a 'decent' hour we slept soundly that night. 

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving

-Paula