America 2009

La Veta Pass

Woke up bright and early to a cold foggy morning on the 24th, packed up and headed off for our free hot breakfast. Apart from the crunchy bacon, it was ok. Then we headed on down to the San Luis and Rio Grande Railway depot and collected our tickets. Asked if we could upgrade to dome class which was no problem, except my card wouldn't read so we got it for free; the tickets lady said it was our reward for coming all the way from New Zealand :-)

Boarded the train, climbed up into the dome car and with a long whistle we were off. Our steam engine chuffed out into the fog and soon we were trundling along at our top speed for the day: 30 mph. There were quite a few photographers out waiting for us; the photos would've been amazing with all the steam and fog. It really was like something out of a dream with all the swirling clouds of white!

After about 45 mins we started climbing the hills at the start of the La Veta Pass. Our conductor was in the carriage with us givi...

Colorado Springs to Alamosa

Woke up late this morning very tired, must've been a busy day yesterday! Set off for a Walmart to stock up on food, and once again were dismayed by what American supermarkets lack; no tasty bread things like pizza bread or even cheese buns, and apparently almost no dips (we bought some bread sticks without any dip… they're very dry!)

After that we went to try and find one of the local model train shops, and found the old Colorado Springs railway depot which is a lovely yellow wood/brick building. Had a Denver & Rio Grande (no Western) loco in the park opposite, and a Rio Grande caboose was coupled to an ex-Southern Pacific loco on the main line outside the station. But the train shop was shut :-( So went off looking for a polar fleece for Ange after hers went missing, but didn't have much luck there either. So went to a Best Buy for some electronics retail therapy, and made some enquiries about Zune HDs which are the coolest and hottest new thing in MP3 players. ...

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Woke up to a rather bleak morning on the 22nd, but we had big plans. Jumped in the car and headed off for Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, right on the outskirts of Colorado Springs and slightly up the hill into the base of the Rockies. Got there nice and early and went in. Started off at the giraffe area, got to stroke a giraffe on the nose which was weird because their fur goes the opposite way to say a horse's. If you wanted you could buy some giraffe crackers (presumably not actually made from giraffe?) and feed them. They have massive tongues though so it looked like quite a messy option.

Here's a look at the giraffe pen from further up the hill. That's Colorado Springs stretching on forever in the distance there.

We passed some meercats doing what meercats do best: dig. They had quite a cool wee exhibit with piles of dirt to play in and a heat lamp to huddle under (guess they don't get snow in Africa). As we watched one decided th...

Winter Park to Colorado Springs

Woke up early enough on the 21st to get our free "continental" breakfast… but continental breakfast here in the US means bagels, pastries and coffee; in other words a very American breakfast, and not at all European! But as I woke up I head a strange tinkling sound on the window outside, so thinking it might be rain I pulled the curtains and was greeted by a winter wonderland; it was snow-hailing outside! I say snow-hailing because it was hail shaped, but coming down in flurries like snow. So we got our breakfast and watched the snow outside.

Packed up and loaded up the car; by now there was a good inch of fresh snow (it was proper-snowing now) on top of the mud on our car.

So I wiped off all the snow from the windows and tried to drive off, but only got half way up the block before I had to pull in and clear everything again. The lack of rear-window wiper was very frustrating as I couldn't see anything behind me at all...

Eagle to Winter Park

Woke up on the 20th, had a shower after working out yet another American plumbing system, and headed off up the road for Glenwood Canyon; well i thought I was going that way but went the wrong way instead. Soon was on the Interstate and heading for Glenwood Canyon. The first bit of the drive is boring, until one reaches Dotsero (a railway junction and nothing more), when suddenly the highway splits and starts weaving up and down, dashes through tunnels, over bridges; the scenery is amazing and the highway actually compliments it.

Took the exit at Hanging Lake to see the amazing bridge/tunnel there. The railway line crosses under the road right next to the cliff face, and presumably there wasn't room for a bridge pier before the tunnel, so the bridge over the Colorado River quite literally turns into a tunnel mid span.

...