Leaving Glenwood Springs on the 13th day was kind of sad because now we had nothing to look forward to, just three straight days of train travel, however I was kind of excited to skim through the Rocky Mountains and to see Denver. Plus I heard that the ride through Colorado was lovely.
The Glenwood Springs station was probably the most organize we had been to yet. The workers there were extremely nice and made it not a bad wait. Getting on the train was pretty organized too, there were signs for single travelers and those traveling in pairs and more and directed them where to sit.
We ended up spending a good chunk of the ride in the viewing cart as usual and saw a lot of cool sights. This ride was weaved its way through the edge of cliffs, through the deepest darkest of the canyons and in quick little surprise tunnels. We saw so many diverse creatures from elk, (which we saw on the mountain across from our hotel in the morning and up until we left) bald eagles, a dead bear and yes I think I may have seen my wolf, I am not entirely sure about that fact though. But anyways there were literally countless eagles as we drove along the Colorado, I definitely lost count; on the way through one of the tunnels there was a dead black bear on the side of the tracks (probably hit by a train) and after passing a field with cattle I saw a silhouetted dog shadow on top of a pile of snow in a place where there would be no dogs likely, so I kind of think it was a wolf. Sadly my boyfriend walked out of the viewing cart to grab something from our seats as I saw this creature so I had no one to ask for assurance. In my head though I will continue to say it was possibly a wolf, but my real dream is to see a wild one and know for a fact that it is actually what I saw.
Anyways as we continued our journey through this gorgeous tundra rocky landscape it began to get dark. We were slightly tired and it was about two hours until we arrived in Denver where we would have an hour to rest on the train or run into the station for a quick bite to eat, so we decided to take a quick nap. When we awoke the bright lights of Denver city were in sight and we were quite excited. We originally had wanted to stop in Denver as a part of our actual trip but it was so expensive there that we decided on Glenwood Springs instead (a good alternate choice I must say), so it was exciting to actually set foot in it as if we had stopped there.
Getting out of the train I expect it to be cold considering Glenwood was pretty chilly at night, but surprisingly I felt extremely comfy in my leggings and cardigan. It had to be maybe high 50’s without any wind. What a nice way to be greeted by Denver.
Union Station itself was a very pretty station, probably the nicest we had been to yet. Inside wasn’t disappointing either. Right inside the door was this place called Acme Burger and we ended up ordering two burgers and some fries to go so we could hurry back to the train with no stress about time and enjoy our meal. I must say that the burgers were quite delicious especially with their secret acme sauce on them. The fries were also pretty yummy not even needing any ketchup or salt. Definitely a better meal than trail mix or dinning cart food.
After the good meal we settled in to watching a movie on the laptop and ending it to the clock saying it was after midnight. We then closed up shop and began our second to last rough night sleep in the coach seats.
Brookside Photography 