Day 26

Rocky Mountain High...

       Or, why did this entire blog entry disappear yesterday and now I have to do it all over from memory and I am a day behind schedule!!!!

     Yes Elizabeth. I will take a deep breath now and start over.

Now, we fell asleep just outside of Ottumwa Iowa. Home of the famous Radar O'Riley.

From the long running TV show MASH.

And woke up to the conductor calling for passengers departing at Denver Colorado.

The Mile High City?

Sure looks flat from here.

But the station is right beside Rockies Stadium so it must be Denver.

 Yup, there's beautiful downtown Denver. So where are these big Rocky Mountains we here so much about?

According to the map we are almost there. 

And look who Wanda found! These are our official volunteer tour guides. The work for the National Park Service travelling from Denver to Utah describing the mountains.

and the valleys,

And the rivers

And even more mountains.

  

And a small town

With some very smart people who are willing to try to save a wonderful old Rail Road Station.

With a lot of history.

And then there were more mountains

Traveling by train is a great way to see everything, especially if there is a solarium car

The views are surpassed only by the company,

Stan and Barbara, you were a joy. We really enjoyed your company. And are hoping to hear that you really enjoyed each other company. Bruce wouldn't let me be the Train's Matchmaker. But if he had I would have introduced you to each  other right away. You are two very rare souls. And genuinely nice people.

Wanda said so.

We finally broke out of the mountains and followed the Colorado river into Utah. It turned south and we turned north headed for Salt Lake City. And the end of another long stretch of rails.

Good night Wanda, tomorrow we go to Idaho.