Things to do in Denver

Welcome, well-travelled reader, as this week we take you on the second part of our transcontinental rail odyssey, from sea to shining sea by the glory of Amtrak.

And so it was, we boarded a plane in San Francisco yesterday morning bound for Denver, with the goal of picking up the California Zephyr train, to take us to Chicago. Our plane arrived in Denver at about 3pm, and the train leaves at about 7pm, so we had plenty of time to get downtown and ensure we were ready for the train.

Of course, there's always Amtrak time as well. The train consistently ran (and as I type this, is running) 4-4.5 hours late, so there was no need to hurry into Denver itself. We ended up doing an impromptu walking tour of downtown Denver, somehow passing up the option of going to see Iron Maiden who also happened to be in town this evening. We also went to Smash Burger in downtown Denver, enticed in by Yelp reviews boasting, "literally the worst customer service I've ever had" and "smells of urine from the homeless" - can you afford to miss the opportunity to experience that? In practice, neither of those reviews came true...

Denver's Union station has been put to good use as part of a hotel, with various eateries and bars that stay open late. This makes it very different to the stations in Sacramento and Seattle, which are simply shells. It's nice to see the building, which benefits from a great downtown location, thriving like this.

On our train here, it's the usual Amtrak experience: our train is 4.5 hours late, the aircon doesn't work in the carriage we're booked in, the Amish are a significant proportion of our travelling companions, and it's the same great menu on which to chow down. Honestly, it's kinda fun. We've crossed Nebraska, passed over the Missouri river into Iowa, and will soon cross the Mississippi to reach Illinois. Then, once we reach Chicago, it's just another day on a train to get to Boston.

Now it's taken us the best part of two months all in all to get from sea to shining sea by rail. It is possible to do it even faster on Amtrak if you try hard and the wind's behind you. Godspeed!