From Chicago to LA by car and train - Day 4 - a day on the train and arrival in Flagstaff

[fillmore]

After a bumpy night's sleep interspersed with blasts of the train horn, I woke up quite early, dressed and crept out of the room leaving DH and DS fast asleep. I thought as I was awake I would try to catch the sunrise so grabbed a free cup of coffee from the sleeping car drinks area and made my way to the observation car. A few people were up but it was very cloudy over Kansas and the sun rose behind all the cloud! I was chatting to a lovely Amish man who was travelling with his family. We chatted about the scenery and he told me about other long distance train rides he'd been on.

The quiet and calm was interrupted by DS arriving with a sleepy DH in tow and indignantly accusing me of leaving him! We decided to go through to breakfast in the dining car. This is first come first served and as it was just before 8 we didn't have a problem getting a table. I had Railroad French Toast which was huge and very tasty.

The rest of the day was mainly spent by looking out of the window. Kansas took ages to get through then we entered Colorado before passing through the Raton Pass which was the highest point of the journey.

My favourite state that we passed through was New Mexico as this is when the colours of the scenery started changing and taking on a red hue. There was a long stop at Albuquerque where we bought some earrings for Grandma from one of the traders in the station.

Here are some photos of the journey:

Colorado

I think this is Baldy Mountain in the background, but correct me if I'm wrong.

New Mexico

Arizona

At lunch and dinner we were seated with a lovely lady called Anne-Marie who was a retired teacher. We all had quesadillas that were delicious. After lunch DS and DH went back to the room for a nap whilst I chatted with Anne-Marie. It was really interesting to find out what the education system is like in America and we swapped teaching tales! DH had seen where this conversation was going to end up so he had made the wise decision to escape as he's heard it all before! When I got back to the room I joined in with the napping then when we woke up we went back to looking out of the window. We'd booked an earlier dinner and DS ate a lot more. He didn't want the 'spicy' hotdog again and doesn't like mac and cheese. They were the only kids meals but our server said he could have an adult main course. I can't remember what we had but it was all really good again. As we were eating the sun was setting over Arizona. DS was vindicated when the boy at the next table wouldn't eat his hotdog because it was spicy - DS wouldn't let us forget it for the next 2 weeks!

We said our goodbyes to Anne-Marie and the dining car staff and returned to our room to pack. By this time the train was running an hour late so I called the taxi firm in Flagstaff to let them know we would be late. The last couple of hours dragged as it was dark by now and all DS wanted to do was go to sleep. The next time we do a journey like this I think I would have our destination as an afternoon or early evening stop as we could all have fallen asleep by the time we got off the train.

We eventually arrived in Flagstaff. It took ages to get the luggage that we had checked but finally we did and went to find our taxi. No taxis. Anywhere! I called the taxi firm but my phone had no signal. We called using DH's phone but that would only phone the UK. So I went to find a payphone. No payphones! By this point loads of people were waiting but no taxis anywhere. I asked a family if I could use their phone to call and they said they had phoned a cab company and told them loads of people were waiting. 40 minutes later a minivan taxi turned up. I asked the couple next to us if they wanted to share and luckily they agreed as it was really their taxi. When we checked if this was OK with the driver and he found out where we were going he said that he'd come for us anyway!

Poor DS was almost crying with tiredness by this point and we had to keep checking he was still awake throughout the whole journey. Despite the lateness the taxi driver was lovely. We arrived at our home for the night - the Sonesta ES suites, made up the sofa bed for DS and then we all went to bed after a very long day!

Tomorrow: picking up the hire car and an evening at Lowell Observatory

[Melbatb]

What fabulous scenery!

What a palaver about the taxis - no fun when you are tired! At least you got to your hotel after such an interesting train journey!

[Guest]

Taxis. Yeah!
We arrived at Klamath Falls, OR at 2 in the morning and had to wait an hour as the place only had one taxi operating. We had to be up for 8a.m. so got less than 5 hours sleep. Amtrak trains are notoriously late. We had one that manged 12 hours late! Its still a brilliant way to travel though. Understand why your lad was so so tired.

Will be passing through Flagstaff next year but we'll be driving!

[hross42877]

Fab pics! Sounds like it was a very long day!

[summersun]

shame about the taxis, great pics x

[mrmoo123]

Wow this train journey sounds amazing - so many states you can tick off as having 'been to' ! Glad you got a taxi sorted in the end. Thanks for sharing