American adventures on Amtrak- Part 6 Denver, Colarado

We arrived at Denver Union station almost an hour late, but seeing as it was still 09:00 in the morning no one seemed to mind the extra time in our sleeper cars!

   

  

 We were greeted by a coach and tour guide who gave us a whistle stop tour through the city of Denver before dropping us at our hotel. We were under the impression that we would be able to have an early check in, but sadly this never happened, which did result in quite a bit of waiting around the hotel lobby. John, our tour manager took us on a walk around the city, past the Capitol building with its beautiful golden dome and also the house of  Molly Brown, who was a survivor of the ill fated Titanic.  

 
    
   

   
There was a lovely park which was packed with different food trucks and some interesting sculptures dotted around. Keith and I decided to kill some time by nipping back down to the park and get some food- Keith opted for the Italian beef sandwich and I had a meatball baguette. The sun was shining and we enjoyed a relax in the park, before having a quick look around the Capitol building- we were also allowed up to the observation deck just below the dome. The view towards the Rockies was nice and it was an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so whilst we waited for our room to become available. 

              
Once checked in we grabbed a nap- and woke to an enormous thunder clap! We had a chill whilst the storm passed over and then headed into town. Word on the street was that there was a great place to try out local Bison, Ted’s Montana Grill, so we headed there first. Keith had the Bison fillet steak and I had slow cooked bison ribs, both served with local corn. It was delicious. So good that we ended up going back there the next da        

We stopped for a beer on the way back to the hotel in The Yard House, a bar that had a huge selection of local draft ales and lagers. We got id’ed again and as we didn’t have our passports a local chap said he “would vouch for us”! It’s very confusing the laws re alcohol here- we are now having to carry passports all the time,something we don’t like to do, some places insisting its the law to id everyone, others not bothering at all. Strangely, you can buy pot here legally though and don’t get me started on the gun law.. 

Friday dawned and we were up early- we’d booked onto the optional extra excursion up into The Rocky National Park. Our guide was a lively local lady full of interesting facts and stories and our driver was an Indian Chief… Chief Jim. The tour was absolutely fantastic, we drove to an altitude of 12,000 ft through the most impressive scenery we’ve come across, with plenty of stops for piccies and refreshments. Up at 12,000ft there was the risk of altitude sickness, symptoms which we incurred were light headed ness, shortness of breath, and feeling very “floaty”. During our trip we encountered herds of Elk, (a deer like animal) and we think we saw an eagle soaring above. 

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 We returned to the hotel shortly before 18:30, and we had a quick freshen up before heading out for dinner, back to Ted’s Grill, via The Tilted Kilt, a bar where the waitresses dressed in short mini skirt kilts and bras! We met up with another couple on the trip and went for dinner with them and had a lovely boozy evening.

Next stop, Grand Junction, which is right in the Wild West! Can’t wait!