Chicago...please?

41st hour...ughh....expect a long rant later when I have the luxury of a real keyboard and not just my trusty little iPhone!!!

Soon to be in Chicago (hopefully). Iowa was one big corn field. Stepped off the train in Osceola and the air was so thick and muggy it was awful. Got right back on to the air con :P it was over 100 degrees.

Oh Amtrak
It is just a fact
That, while filled with tact
Your president oughta be sacked!

Ok now I feel better :D a lot of it isn't their fault...the flooding, waiting for trains to pass...but it's getting a little ridiculous.

The 30th hour...

Well...we pretty much slept through Nebraska (sorry Kat!) but I was awake the last hour or so of it. We had to go through the flooded part where we were about 4 inches above the water! Saw lots of submerged trees, cars, and houses. The water went right up to where the train tracks are, which never happens. Unfortunately Shani missed out on this because she was...locked in the bathroom for 40 mins. The doorknob was broken from the inside, she was pressing the attendant button the whole time and no one showed up! I had no idea where she was :P

We just crossed over the Missouri river and made it into Iowa where there are lots an lots of corn fields.

Hello, Goodbye Denver

So instead of hanging out in Denver tonight (after arriving 2 hours late, due to general Amtrak incompetence and a rock landing on the tracks right innfront of the train, narrowly missing us) we decided to stay on and go straight to Chicago. The Denver-Chicago train we were supposed to catch got cancelled which would leave us stranded here for 2 days with nowhere to stay. Sooooo we are going to be on this train a straight 40 or so hours! Crazy flooding in Nebraska will make this train be delayed by who knows how long...our awesome conductor who let us stay on said that it would take 7 hours to go 20 miles in the flooded area. Soooooooo yeah. Amtrak train 6 is our new home!!

The desert of Utah is actually really beautiful but I prefer the beautiful green countryside of Colorado. It was really nice going along the Colorado river pretty much all day. Went by lots of ranches and canyons. Oh yeah, and we watched iron man on my computer with a friendly elderly Amish gentleman! Gotta love it. He thought it was star wars haha and he asked if the laptop was a blackberry. Very friendly and nicr man!

Pictures to come...once we make it off this thing.

Farewell SLC

Farewell salt lake city! Hit with our 3rd delay/ complication of the trip. Amtrak needs to get it's shit together! I guess we'll have to get used to it. Our train supposedly takes off at 3:30am, so we set our alarms for 2...then promptly got up at 3:05! Totally thought we would miss the train (looking back I have no idea why). We didn't realize there is a one hour time difference from Utah and California. Oops! Anyway, surprise surprise, the train isn't even here yet and it's 4:15am. And no, I am not a morning person.

Finally we made it

So, we made it to Salt Lake City this morning, around 8. Today we hung out around Temple Square which was most interesting - the Mormon temple is really beautiful and castle-like. The entire city is basically built around the temple, with that being the center. Its like a grid. The city planners take great care in the maintenance and landscaping of the whole city - literally flowers everywhere! So many roses. It really makes a difference in the ambience of a place! And the sidewalks are so wide, the street lanes are so roomy. Theres literally like 20 feet of grass in between the sidewalk and the road. So beautiful.

So at the temple we had a tour by 2 mormon sisters. The whole Mormon philosophy doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me, but they were both really sweet, and really believe in Jesus and God, which was nice. There were lots of statues of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young all around, and there was even an original log cabin built by some of the first pioneers to the area! I've always wanted to see one of those. Its quite interesting to see pictures of how SLC used to be before it got built up into a city - it was just completely desert. And now its a beautiful, thriving city. The majestic Rocky Mountains make for a beautiful backdrop.

Now for the pictures!

 The Rocky Mountains from the train tracks

 An example of the nice architecture just walking around the streets - this is a Church

 The Mormon Temple from afar

 A native American dude outside the temple ;)

 Beautiful flowers all around, this is within Temple Square, but theres flowers literally everywhere

 The Temple

 Roses!

 Statue of Jesus

Original Pioneer log cabin, just across from the temple

Delays

Hit with our first delay! So Amtrak called us up this morning to inform us that our train was delayed. Helpfully, they didn’t even tell me how long it was delayed, but after being put on hold they finally told me that it was delayed around 4 HOURS. This is actually great news, considering our wet laundry is still in the dryer, not to mention that our arrival time in Salt Lake City was going to be around 3:30 am. Now we are looking to get in around 7am, which is much better.

Pictures, anyone? Here’s a little of our stop in San Francisco.

Salt Lake City!

 Today we set out for Salt Lake City…our train leaves in approximately 4 hours, still have laundry in the machine, our stuff is spread out across the room, and not quite sure how its all going to fit. But we’re SO READY FOR THIS! (really, we are..I think)