Train Ride California Zephyr

the great outdoors and peanut butter cups and the death of democracy

The 32h train ride from Denver to Sacramento takes me through the Rockies to Salt Lake City, through the Great Basin to Lake Tahoe before going down the Sierras to Sacramento. These are the first mountains I've seen since starting the trip.

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I greatly appreciate how much leg room and sitting room I get. The seats recline, the tables fold down and extend, the curtains block out the light if need be and there is a restaurant on the train.

As we climb the Rockies, the weather gets colder. The colors are beautifully muted and autumnal-muted reds and beiges and greens and browns only the Aspen trees are an intense yellow.
The landscape seems to change around every turn and after every tunnel and stays wild for a large portion of the ride. Further up, the sun hides behind a thick layer of clouds that are wrapped around the mountaintops and turn into fog the further west we get.

The conductor points out the wildlife we encounter on the way. We see a gang of deer, of moose, some yak, a pack of coyotes, an eagle, a flock of geese. We pass farms of cows and horses and goats and a whole many a gun range.

This country's divide lies like a thick blanket over the prairie and the immeasurable beauty of the land is starting to weigh on me.Read more