Discovering Denver, Salt Lake City and Omaha
When it comes to traveling, making the most of time is the only way to pack in different experiences. This busy trip covers Wednesday to Saturday involving over 5,000 miles. Let’s begin in Woonsocket
WEDNESDAY JULY 25
The days leaving my car at the airport parking lot are over. Too expensive and time consuming. It’s the era of Uber or Lyft, the two online transportation services competing against limousine services for the home to airport business.
My ride from Woonsocket to TF Green is $23.
Here, I meet traveling companion Jerry Cayer, the only person I know adventurous enough to follow my ambitious itinerary. Mr. Cayer, an accountant by profession, enjoys riding Amtrak passenger trains cross country like I do.
We meet at Gate 7 to board a Frontier Airlines non-stop to Denver. After a delay due to a mechanical inspection of our Airbus 320 aircraft, flight 837 climbs to 36,000 feet and heads West.
Our plan is to land in Denver and leave time to look over the city and still fly onto Salt Lake City later on. The fare for both flights is $179.
Four hours later we touch down in Denver which in reality is 23 miles from airport to downtown. A neat commuter rail system quickly moves arrivals from airport to city in 40 minutes for $9.
With five hours to see Denver, we do what all tourists do; step onto the complimentary shuttle bus which gives riders a sample of downtown attractions from restaurants to hotels to a wide retail menu of shops. This shuttle runs every eight minutes covering 16 blocks: hop on, hop off ...at your leisure.
My restaurant choice is a Denver landmark: Sams is the legendary business established in 1923. A 20 minute wait and our table is ready.
Back on the train for the airport to get our 10:00 pm Denver to Salt Lake City flight.
This 90 minute hop puts us in at 11:40 p.m. And a local cab delivered us to the Quality Inn downtown to get rested for our Thursday adventure in Utah. The rate is $100 with breakfast included. The taxi ride $25.
The Quality Inn was anything but quality. The hotel elevator seemed ready to stall at each push of the button, the building outdated, the breakfast subpar as the coffee and eggs were cold but the beds were comfortable and that’s all that mattered.
THURSDAY JULY 26
We booked a city tour in the morning of Salt Lake City which included attractions like the Mormon Trail, Temple Square, Old Deseret Village, the State Capitol Building, Fort Douglas and sites from the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. lunch at the Lion House, the former home of pioneer Brigham Young, and a live organ recital at the renowned Mormon Tabernacle.
Our friendly and knowledgeable guide Glen, a Mormon himself, offered an historical narrative of the Mormon settlement of the Salt Lake valley from 1848 to the current dominant influence of the Mormon religion, culture, ingenuity and perseverance.
Highlight of the tour was the 30-minute organ performance inside the famed tabernacle. Each noontime performance has a different program of selections, features one of four organists employed by the church and is free to the public.
Legend has it that Brigham Young originated the unusual design of the now-famous Tabernacle on Temple Square after contemplating a hollowed-out egg shell cracked lengthwise. Young wanted the Tabernacle roof to be self-supporting; construction of the Tabernacle lasted 12 years, from 1863 to 1875. We are told the 11,623 pipe organ is one of the largest and best sounding in the world. The building and surrounding gardens are in perfect condition.
The four hour morning tour costs $49.00 per person. Lunch at the Lion House restaurant was cafeteria style. Mr Cayer selected salmon; Mr Bouchard pork chops.
Luncheon with soup or salad, veggies, potato and beverage costs $18.
The luncheon excluded alcohol selections as the property is located on church property. Glen, our guide, explains Mormons frown on tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea gambling and illegal drugs.
We returned to hotel by 1:30pm to connect with our 2:00pm excursion. You can’t leave Utah without seeing the Great Salt Lake so the tourist literature proclaims. So we booked a two hour afternoon drive to the sight. On the way our guide Jim cautioned us to temper our expectations. He warned us that flies, spiders ,algae and an odor from decaying brine shrimp surprise visitors as they exit their tourist bus. However the Lake itself has historical and ecological importance.
Great Salt Lake is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River and the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere, 78 by 28 miles. Sometimes referred to as America’s Dead Sea, it is nevertheless a critically important habitat for millions of native and migratory birds and is a federally managed bird refuge.
Great Salt Lake is a popular recreation area, with hiking, sailing and swimming for only a handful of adventitious souls. Saline lakes, including the Great Salt Lake, is possible to float in its waters. So we knew what to expect and less. The Great Salt Lake may be important but not a tourist favorite. Could easily be skipped.
The bad news is it cost $78 for two. The good news is the bus overheated on the way back to town and the tour operator refunded our money for about a half hour of inconvenience in 90 degree heat.
Back in town, Mr. Cayer selected a local neighborhood favorite for an early dinner. R & R Barbecue is not fancy place where you line to order, line up to get your plate and find your own seat. Entrees included plate of ribs, pulled pork and BBQ chicken for 15.99. I enjoyed sliced brisket $13.99. Both dinners had a side of cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans or macaroni salad. Our local beer is Golden Spike, a pale ale, brewed down the street at $3.75 a bottle. After tasting the food, we understood why locals wait in line to enjoy their secret spice rub recipe on their meat offerings.
FRIDAY JULY 27
We head to our rooms for an early retirement as the next part of our weekend, the train segment, begins in the middle of the night. We get up at 2 a.m. to meet our Amtrak “California Zephyr.” The train originates in San Francisco to Chicago. We pick up the Salt Lake City to Omaha run, in my opinion, the most scenic of Amtrak landscapes.
Why? A collection of mountains, rivers, streams, wildlife, greenery, rock formations, camping sites, scrub bush over patches of grassy plains and undeveloped open space. And it lasts for 10 hours of daylight and can be enjoyed from the Amtrak scenic viewer cars. Welcome to the Rocky Mountain range... 280 miles long.
Amtrak train 6 comes into Salt Lake City at 3:50 a.m. and accommodates about 75 passengers boarding in Salt Lake City. After a change of crew and refueling, it pulls away from the terminal. We travel in darkness and catch up on sleep. By 7 a.m., caffeine pings bring me to the cafe car for resuscitation. A little sightseeing while sipping not the best coffee in the world and about an hour later breakfast beckons. Breakfast on the train is limited. Our selections are pancakes for me and cheese omelet for Mr. Cayer. $10.50 and 13.50 respectively with coffee and juice included.
Now in the observation car, its time to spend the day taking in the sights
They’re a few towns along the way. Let’s spotlight one of them. Amtrak pulls into Green River, Utah.
The small town (population 972) of Green River was once a stomping ground for Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, and, as you might expect from the name, is a haven for river runners who raft in the Colorado River. The climate makes for perfect melon growing, and Green River boasts some of the best melon in the world. Green River is the West, pure and simple – wide open, untapped and, solitary. Green River, Utah, is 180 miles southeast of Salt Lake City ( the nearest city) on Interstate 70 and is an excellent base camp to southeastern Utah outdoor river adventures. Amtrak and the interstate is how you get there.
Today’s train has about 350 passengers on board. By noon, we crossed into Colorado heading for Denver. Landscapes includes Colorado river, Interstate 70, small towns, Union Pacific Railroad freight yards, river rafters and little used dirt trails.
The main attraction today is the Colorado Rocky Maintains and the engineering marvel of designing a set of rail tracks to wind its way up, pass through and slither a pathway down this incredible range of mountains. Hundreds of videos and photos are recorded by passengers as the train wiggles among the mountain crevices sometimes as slowly as ten miles per hour. Seeing the front of the train from your seat happens dozens of times as the front engine bends along the mountain side. When engineers couldn’t map a broad enough ledge to place rails, they built a tunnel through the maintain; 26 of them in a fifty mile bed of tracks. One of those tunnels, the Moffitt tunnel, is 6.5 miles long, completed in 1927. On our way to Denver, known as the mile high city, is actually at the bottom of the Rocky Mountain foothills.
We arrive at Union Station at 7:30 p.m., one hour behind schedule. With darkness approaching and no window side views, our thoughts turn to food. Since our train has a half hour to change crews, refuel and take on new passengers, Mr. Cayer runs over the Ames Deli for sandwiches. Train 6 now enters into Eastern night toward Omaha.
SATURDAY JULY 28
We arrive in Omaha at 6 a.m. in a rainstorm. We take a cab to the Wheatfields Old Market restaurant for breakfast, a favorite among locals we are told. No disappointment here.
The restaurant is a bakery too and the aromas of “fresh baked” are everywhere. Roger orders the house special of house made corn beef hash, eggs sunny side, oven fresh ciabatta bread with bubble berry jam. Hash browns comes in a casserole dish with cheddar cheese melted. And great coffee too! Jerry has the same with sausage links instead of hash. Not cheap as Mr. Cayer picks up the $32.17 breakfast tab.
Next we walk over to The Durham Museum, a beautiful Art Deco structure opened in 1931 as Union Station to serve passengers of the Union Pacific Railroad. Considered one of Omaha’s most unique treasures, the renovated art deco building offers an exquisite look at Omaha’s development and western Nebraska pioneer history. Throughout the museum, you’ll find exhibits that teach you about Omaha’s neighborhoods, notable citizens and interesting historical sites. Exhibits include restored train cars, 1940s store fronts, numerous artifacts showing the history of the region, and the Byron Reed collection which includes some of the world’s rarest coins, books and documents. There’s plenty of serious American history of how frontiersman and the US government pushed back indigenous Indians out of the lands.
After four hours of soaking up Nebraska history, we taxied out to Eppley Airfield, Omaha’s regional airport, for our flights to Chicago and Providence.