Thursday, July 8, 2004
Salt Lake City
The AOE porter knocks on our door at 5:30am as requested, delivering steaming hot coffee, orange juice, and fresh baked pastries. This gives us the boost we need to organize our belongings and pack up our luggage. We are not wanting to get off this wonderful train, but the time has come.
Breakfast in the Jasper dining car is the best yet, as we contemplate going back to the real world. We say goodbye to the hard working people who have made our journey such a wonderful experience, and at 9am the call is made that our buses are ready. As we drive away, a hand inside dining car Jasper reaches over to turn out a table lamp.
One bus will take a group to the Salt Lake City airport, where they will commence experiencing another form of transportation. Another group, wishing to extend their stay in Salt Lake, is going to the Little America Hotel, booked by the AOE. A small group, including your authors, have booked hotels independently, and AOE is graciously shuttling us to these hotels as a courtesy.
We have selected the Hilton Salt Lake Downtown, requesting an early checkin. Our room is not quite ready, so we turn our luggage over to the bellman and make ourselves comfortable in the cool lobby. It is already 85° F. in Salt Lake City at 9:30am, and rapidly climbing towards the predicted 93° F.
Our room is ready at 10:15am, and we are amazed when the bellman delivers us to 1020, a two room king suite on the executive floor. We have been unexpectedly upgraded, possibly because we are members of Hilton Honors, their frequent guest program.
When planning our visit to Salt Lake City, we had considered taking the trolley to Temple Square to take in an Organ Recital in the Morman Tabernacle. But the weather is too oppressive, even our room air conditioning will not cool us below 75° F. The room is humid and stuffy. We must reorganize our luggage, in order to check some home to Klamath Falls, and pack a small bag for our stopover in Sacramento. We call housekeeping for a fan, and a giant 16 inch multi-blade, multi-speed unit is delivered. The Hilton must have experience with this problem.
We check Amtrak’s web site to learn that the California Zephyr is expected to arrive on time at 11:47pm. We check out of our sauna and taxi to the small Amshack that poor Salt Lake City must use for an railroad station. We don’t know what the beautiful Rio Grande and Union Pacific stations structures are being used for now, but they are both visible on our taxi trip to the wrong side of the tracks to seek the new Amtrak Station. We understand that this new location was necessary to avoid backup movements into or out of the grand old station buildings.
Since purchasing our ticket, we have modified our reservation to downgrade to a family room on the Zephyr and upgrade to a deluxe room on the Coast Starlight, resulting in a net savings of $96.00. This should be a simple transaction at the Amtrak ticket counter, but after 45 minutes of grappling with this situation, the agent states that there is only one solution if I want to board the Zephyr tonight, buy an entire new ticket from him and take my original ticket back to my travel agent for a refund. Now I know what some of my clients must go through when it is necessary for them to make changes out in the field. Fortunately, my credit card was not maxed out and I was able to complete the transaction.
To our utter and complete amazement, No. 5 whistles in a few minutes ahead of schedule. As we board the 531 car, Joe, the attendant is making up the family room, as a party had just vacated it. We quickly settled in for a good nights rest. Our room, at 72° F., was actually cooler than the hotel room we had just left. We set up our portable fan and drifted off to sleep as we rumbled off across the salt flats.
