Everybody Loves Steam Locomotives ...

... Especially my son and me. We traveled to Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming this week invited by the Union Pacific Railroad to experience the last of the giant steam locomotives still operating in the USA, the 4-6-6-4 Challenger Class number 3985 (the largest operating steam engine on earth) and the equally beautiful, if just a bit smaller, 4-8-4 Northern Class number 844.

UP 844 is unique in never having been stricken from the roster. It was, and is, very fast and powerful. It was used to haul the Union Pacific's sleekest 1930s and 1940s streamliners, like the City of Los Angeles. The UP keeps these two steam locomotives in operation at great expense as part of their P.R. and good will campaigns. You can see what UP 844 looks like above and decide for yourself if it stirs your soul like it does mine and my son's.

Of course we had to fly from Raleigh to Denver and back, rent a car, and stay at various hotels in Denver and Cheyenne to be able to experience the steam trip. As usual, we have collected our share of interesting stories (and the week's not over yet), some of which follow:

Denver is terribly expensive, over-crowded, and edgy. I'm always griping about how Raleigh's quality of life has suffered from the influx of too many people. Experiencing Denver for the first time in a several years has reassured me that I’d never want to live here instead. Raleigh may be bad, but Denver proves that there are worse places. The nearby mountains are the best thing this place has going for it, but they have never seemed so distant. Too many people living here have produced a haze that obscures the Rockies. The pollution is pervasive and persistent. The mountains themselves are dotted with houses everywhere. The roads leading to and fro are chronically crowded, day and night. Driving north to Fort Collins or south to Colorado Springs reveals homogenous, monotonous McMansion housing projects endlessly blotting the landscape and replacing the corn and wheat. The inevitable look-alike strip malls to service the newcomers further the transtion from rural to suburban.

In Cheyenne, Wyoming for two nights to visit the Union Pacific steam shop, things were a little better, except for the drive up and back. It’s just 89 miles, but bumper-to-bumper most all the way on I-25. The 75 MPH speed limit is theoretical due to heavy traffic making it impossible to sustain speeds anywhere close to that on most stretches (much like Germany’s theoretically unlimited Autobahn speeds).

Cheyenne used to be quiet. Not any more. The big bikers are everywhere, like flies, with their horrible louder-than-a-locomotive exhaust blasts. Too much traffic even there in the medium size city of 53,000.

We stayed in the quaint, refurbished 1911 Plains Hotel in Cheyenne. Not a bad place, with decent rooms and wireless that actually worked. The hotel also boasts a surprisingly good restaurant, the Capitol Grille. My son loved their breakfast French toast and lunch/dinner macaroni and cheese. I was impressed that they had Harp on tap, no less than four single malts, and a menu with plenty of variety that delivered on the palate when set before me. Even the Crème Brulée was homemade and, well, superb. But it was hard to swallow the hotel's $129/night rate in a small city like Cheyenne.

But then neither was the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Denver worth its absurd price of $189 (plus tax), plus another $25/day for parking! I managed to finagle a $170/night AARP rate, but still!

Having stayed in many, many HGIs, I do admit that this property sets a new luxurious standard for the brand. The rooms were huge, furnished well, and fitted with giant LG flat screens. The Garden Inn reminded me of real downtown Hilton properties.

The breakfast was also a cut above other HGIs, in a new restaurant cum full service bar setting snootily called π (Pi). Luckily the staff were considerably more down-to-earth than the rather aloof name implied. Turns out they offer a full dinner menu and try to attract the chic downtown Denver dinner crowd. I've never seen a Garden Inn aspire to such heights.

But then I found out the property has been open just two weeks. Perhaps this is Hilton tinkering around with the HGI brand.

I wonder, too, what Hilton is doing with its Hampton Inn brand, whose property was just a bit away from the epicenter of Denver's CBD. I checked their rates after learning the sky-high HGI rate in the Mile High City. I was utterly atsonished to find the Hampton Inn's lowest rate to be $219/night (plus tax), plus another $16/night for parking!

My God, what has become of Hilton's value brand?

Even though the downtown Denver HGI is super-nice, it isn't worth over $200/night with tax, and then you have to throw in that ridiculous $25 extra per day for parking. So my travel agent, the miracle-worker Steve Crandell at DISCOUNT TRAVEL (800-585-3977, ext. 201), found me a $129 rate at a Marriott Courtyard for our last two nights in Denver.

Better yet, the CY is on the 16th Street Mall, making it even more central, and the parking seems like a bargain at $17/night.

On Tuesday morning we were scheduled to take Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr train from Denver to Fraser/Winter Park through the Rockies (2 hour trip through 26 tunnels), returning on the eastbound Zephyr that afternoon for a day trip out and back. But the westbound train was 8 hours, 20 minutes late, thus making it arrive back in Denver at 4:20 AM Wednesday morning instead of 8:00 PM Tuesday night.

Luckily Amtrak knew about the big delay that morning, and we were able to cancel our trip and get a refund. We will try again on Friday, but I’m not optimistic that Amtrak will perform any better.

Between trains at Fraser/Winter Park (there is a 7-hour layover if both trains run on time), we planned to spend the day (and will Friday) at the Winter Park Resort on their summer Alpine sled run. At 12,000 feet, they can keep it iced up even this time of year with artificial snow to make the ride thrilling. They also have some kid rides and a maze for children (and stupid adults). If Amtrak is running on time Friday, perhaps we will get to experience it.

We flew out on Northwest Airlines last Saturday, and I was prepared for the worst. It almost happened, too, but not like the NW cancellations we experienced in June flying to Montana (see that blog post). Instead, though our RDU/MSP flight was over an hour late, we made our connection, and NW upgraded both me and my son as a courtesy from the Twin Cities to Denver (sometimes being a Platinum helps). That flight, too, was an hour behind schedule, but we at least traveled in less pain.

Home Saturday unless Northwest cancels our flight(s). After all, it is close to the end of the month, and they have been canceling big chunks of their schedule at the end of each summer month so far as they have run out of crew time.

Bottom line for me is this: Leisure travel like this trip has become so awfully expensive that I just can’t afford them often.

The very good news, however, is that my son, almost nine years old, is having the time of his life! Unlike me, he adores Denver, and is loving every new experience.