We had a great time in Glenwood Springs.
From taking a Segway tour of the area and a day at the world\’s largest hot springs pool to downtime for rest & relaxation and a trip to a rain-covered Snowmass, my family and I enjoyed our brief vacation.
I may put up some video once I get the chance.
But I\’ve had a lot of people curious about how the return train ride went on Amtrak.
Sit right back and I\’ll share a tale…
I was very surprised to find out that the California Zephyr (coast-to-coast train) was only 15 minutes late pulling into Glenwood Springs.
We boarded the train around 1:15 pm and were to arrive in Denver around 7 pm.
We managed to snag a table in the lounge car so we could play some games and pass the time. That part went quite well.
However, due to sharing the track with freight trains, we had to stop several times on the return trip to wait for a train to pass. Fortunately, the scenery was beautiful.
The train didn\’t pull in to Denver until around 8:30 pm.
The last 30 minutes of the ride was punctuated by several little children running up and down the corridor making loud noises.
I asked Mary if we ever would have let our kids behave so unrestrained in a public place and she shook her head at me.
Every time the kids would let loose with a screech or yelp, you could hear someone on the train \”shhhh-ing\” them. Yet the responsible adults with them did nothing.
When I saw the father walk down the aisle appearing to not care that his uncontrolled children were disturbing the entire cabin, I said, \”Would you mind too much controlling your children please?\”
He responded, \”They\’re excited because they know we\’re almost there. You can\’t control them.\”
I said, \”You can if you are a parent\”, and he walked off. They were quieter the rest of the time.
I was amazed at his response. I\’m thinking to myself, \”If you can\’t control them now, just wait five years… you are in for a treat, buddy.\”
We finally pulled in to the station and went to baggage claim to get our luggage.
There were no more than fifty bags that needed to be unloaded, and my assumption would be that those bags would be placed in the same compartment.
It took them forty-five minutes to transport our bags one hundred yards to the claim area.
Every person standing there was amazed at the inefficiency of Amtrak\’s system.
There was a woman at baggage claim whose job it was to check bag tags and make sure we had the right luggage.
And here was the great irony…
We just spent eight hours on a train where everyone leaves their seats from time to time (bathroom break, dining car, lounge car) and they leave all the possessions (laptops, purses, etc) where anyone could swipe them.
Now they are concerned that we\’re going to walk off with the wrong luggage?
Honestly, even the airports don\’t make you check to see if you have the right bags. It\’s a minor thing, but by that time I just wanted to grab my bags and go.
It was 11 pm before we made it to our home in Loveland.
If we had left town at 1 pm in our car, we would have been home by 5 pm (with bathroom stops).
I had hoped to give my family a new experience. We all agreed that it was an experience that we will not seek out again.
Next time, we fly or drive.
Goodbye Amtrak. Thanks for the memories.
Oh, one more thing.
I will NOT be looking at Greyhound for a new travel experience!