Amtrak through the Rockies to Salt Lake City

On the Saturday morning I caught the Amtrak train over the Rockies to Salt Lake City. It is meant to be one of the most scenic train journeys in the world. What they don't talk you it that it is also one of the slowest! Thankfully the seats were a major relevance compared to bus seats. Each seat was almost as wide as a pair of bus seats, with space to stretch your legs. And I had a pair of seats to myself! Putting the armrest up almost gave enough space to sleep on properly - but not quite!

Having said that the first half of the journey was very spectacular as we wound our ways around the mountains sides, with the speed of movement giving plenty of time to take in the view as well. Unfortunately the train did not stop at any stations long enough to get out and wander around, basically just enough time for the smokers to get a quick cigarette break in. I would have liked to get out at Glenwood Springs (a location for hot springs) for a few hours but not for an entire day.

Unfortunately the second half of the journey (primarily through Utah) was far less dramatic. Whilst there were some rock formations, it was primarily desert so I tried to catch up of some sleep, not very successfully, but at least it was better than nothing. We eventually got into Salt Lake City (SLC) after midnight, about an hour or so behind schedule. Not so much of a problem normally, but the area around the Amtrak and Greyhound stations in SLC appear to close down at about 11:30pm. Meant a long walk to the hostel, especially as I wasn't totally sure where it was! Still I found it after about 45 minutes or so, the blocks in SLC are so much bigger than any I had come across to date.

The next day was spent just wandering around the Mormon Temple area. Very impressive but you do wonder where all the money comes from. Apart from that there wasn't a great deal to do in SLC, especially on a Sunday, so I decided to pick up some food and cook for a change. Nothing too spectacular but it made a change to has something fairly basic. I had also brought sufficient fresh food for the next few days (veggies, meat and cheese) but by the time I came to collect that in the morning, it had all been taken. So much for labelling your food so no-one uses it by accident. Not that it could be too much of a case of mistaken identity as I had made up some rolls for the journey to Las Vegas. This was the first time I had had anything taken, although I don't know if I had been lucky up to that point. If nothing else it put a real downer on SLC, not that it was high on my list of places to visit again anyway. Still, it's Las Vegas next!

(ASIDE: In some of the hostels I stayed at later, they had a rule that if anyone was caught taking someone else's food, they would be ejected immediately and would lose their deposit).