Winter Park Express Train

Tim and I loved taking Amtrak’s California Zephyr last fall from Denver to Glenwood Springs and back. The Rockies were gorgeous with their autumn colors, and we thought it would be cool to see the mountains in their winter finery.

On winter weekends, Amtrak runs the Winter Park Express ski train. According to an Amtrak spokesman, “Whether you’re skiing or not, you’re certainly welcome to use the Winter Park Express — it’s not limited to skiers.” We certainly weren’t planning to ski. We just wanted to enjoy the scenery.

We got up in the middle of the night and drove to Denver’s Union Station for our 7:00 am departure. The scenery from the train was beautiful, and we arrived in Winter Park two hours later.

Early Morning Light after Leaving Denver

Through the Rockies

Frozen Streams

We had no plans for Winter Park. We wandered around the town, watched the skiers, and got something to eat.

While we were walking around, we discovered that we could get a great view of the entrance to the Moffat Tunnel. The Moffat Tunnel cuts through the Continental Divide and is the longest of the many tunnels on the route at 6.2 miles.

Tim and the Moffat Tunnel

Sarah and the Moffat Tunnel

We reboarded the train at 4:30 pm and had another gorgeous ride back to Denver. We really lucked out with the weather today – bright blue skies and not too cold. It was a fun day.

Back through the Rockies

Expansive Views

Lots of Tunnels

Back in Denver

Viking Homelands – Revised Itinerary

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, cruise lines reacted quickly. On that same day, Viking cancelled all 2022 departures of its Ukraine river itinerary. On March 1, Viking made the decision to cease all operations in Russia in 2022. “We are deeply opposed to the unfolding conflict in Ukraine and are heartbroken for all the people who are impacted,” the company said in a statement.

We, therefore, knew that our Viking Homelands cruise itinerary would be affected. There was no doubt that St. Petersburg would be eliminated, but we could only guess what else might change. Although I was initially disappointed that I might never see St. Petersburg, I fully supported Viking’s decision.

On March 14, we received an email from Viking advising us of the revised itinerary. St. Petersburg, of course, was pulled, as were the stops in Helsinki, Finland, and Tallin, Estonia.

We would now have an overnight stay in Oslo, Norway, which made me very happy. That’s one city that I had hoped to visit. Viking also added two new ports of call: Mariehamn on the picturesque island of Åland and Bornholm, a historic Danish island. I wasn’t familiar with either one, but that didn’t bother me. It might be fun to visit places that are off the beaten path.

In recognition of the changed itinerary, Viking added a $250 shipboard credit to our account for this voyage for each guest. In addition, upon our return, we were offered a 10% Future Cruise Voucher based on our paid cruise fare. I really wasn’t expecting anything, so these offers were a nice surprise.

In just over two months, we’ll be on the Viking Venus. I’m really getting excited.

Viking Homelands - Revised Itinerary

Finalizing Flights and Hotels for Our Cruise

With our Viking Homelands-British Isles Explorer cruise just two months away, I had a few loose ends that still needed to be dealt with. Those I tackled after settling in following our return from Texas. Back in August of last year, I started looking for flights for our Viking Homelands-British Isles Explorer cruise. I had two main criteria. First, I wanted a nonstop flight, even if it were more expensive. Second, I hoped to use airline miles. 

Of course, there were no nonstops from Denver to Stockholm, but British Airways seemed to offer the best option with just a change of planes in London Heathrow. I had heard horror stories about the airport but decided to take a chance. I was able to book premium economy seats with points transferred from Chase. Unfortunately, I learned that British Airways tacks on huge airport fees on award travel. 

In looking for return flights from London, British Airways also seemed to be our best option, especially when I realized that I had almost enough American Airlines miles, which could be used on British Airways. I was able to transfer Tim’s AA miles, use the AA shopping portal to purchase something I needed anyway, and then book two premium economy seats. Again, however, the add-on fees were quite high. 

When I went on the British Airways site to select seats this week, I learned that seat assignments are not free, even in premium economy. Since the premium economy configuration is 2-4-2, I was not willing to take a chance in getting stuck in a middle seat, so I forked over even more money to British Airways. 

In looking back on my experience in booking flights for this trip, I realized how rusty I had become. Yes, it made sense to use up my American Airlines miles, which had just been sitting in my account for way too long, but I should have explored more options on the outbound flight. Even though we were able to use miles for both flights, we ended up spending way more than we probably needed to. Good lesson for next time. 

I did much better with booking hotels. Last October, I had found a perfect hotel in London, the Great Scotland Yard, and was able to transfer Chase points to Hyatt for a four-night stay. That was a definite win – 100,000 points for a stay that would have cost $3,436. I had similar good luck with booking a hotel in Stockholm. 

Last October, I didn’t have enough points for another hotel stay, so I booked three nights at Hotel Reisen at a promotional rate. This week, I cancelled that reservation and rebooked the hotel with points that we had earned in the last few months. We even splurged and picked the Stockholm Suite. The main reason we did so was to have a water view from our windows, and possibly a view of the Viking Venus once she docked. In this case, we transferred 72,000 Chase points to Hyatt for a stay that would have cost $1,848. Not quite as good a deal, but I’ll take it.

Hotels Are Booked (Photos Courtesy of Hyatt.com)

Goodbye Texas, Hello Colorado

We left LYJO on March 2 and spent two nights on the road. Luckily, we had an uneventful drive and arrived home on March 4.

Yes, we could see snow on the mountains as we approached the Rockies, but our home was nice and warm, and we didn’t have to worry about freezing pipes.

Getting Close to Home

The Freezing Weather Made for a Difficult Two Months

When Tim and I decided to go to Texas to escape the cold Colorado winter, we knew that we might encounter a few chilly days. This part of Texas is not Arizona or Florida. What we never expected, however, were three extended cold spells with sub-freezing temperatures, ice storms, and snow.

While we will remember our time at LYJO for the interesting project, we will never be able to forget how cold we were for much of our stay.

After finally securing propane on New Year’s Day, Tim and I continued to experience challenges on the home front. We had several nights below freezing, which is never fun, and the park’s water pump for our area went out. That meant that we had virtually no water pressure. So much for using our nearby washing machine.

On one of the coldest nights, we even lost power. Luckily, power was restored in a few hours, but we began to wonder what would go wrong next. We went to headquarters on Sunday to take showers, and mine barely drained, leading to overflowing water. Trying to use the washer/dryer at the other volunteer campground was also frustrating since the washer took forever, and the dryer did not dry.

We thought that our fortune had turned around on the weekend of January 14-16. A new water pump was installed, and we now had plenty of water and could use the washing machine. We went into Fredericksburg to get propane in anticipation of more freezing weather.

We can handle a night or two of freezing temperatures in our RV as long as the daytime temperatures rise above freezing. It’s not that we will be too cold inside. Our propane furnace and electric heater are relatively efficient. Our systems, however, cannot handle days of extended periods that remain below 32°. Our water pipes would simply freeze and burst.

Over the next five weeks, we were “treated” to three periods of extended freezing temperatures. We debated our options and decided that we would check into a hotel. First, we would have to winterize the RV, but finding RV antifreeze was no easy task. Once more, Tractor Supply came to our rescue.

We ended up winterizing and de-winterizing the RV three different times. We also spent 13 nights at La Quinta in Fredericksburg. Our volunteer gig became quite costly.

The weather was so bad that schools and the park were closed for two days. Freezing rain, snow, and cold! Not what we were expecting!

In between the bouts of cold, the weather was lovely. We just wish there had been many more of those lovely days.

Brrrr!!!

AWW! How Cute!!!

Tim and I enjoyed our work at LYJO, but my absolute favorite experience came in mid-February, when the cows started giving birth. The calves were so cute, so adorable! And the mothers were so protective. I just loved driving around the Ranch, looking for the babies.

Living among all the cows was so much fun for me. It was cool when some of them would come to visit us. They would just stop and stare at us from the other side of the fence at our campsite.

I Loved the Cows and Calves

We also enjoyed the other critters that frequented the Ranch. There were always deer, and sometimes pronghorn. I even saw an armadillo.

Deer, Pronghorn, and an Armadillo

Texas State Capitol

I’ve been visiting quite a few state capitols lately, and I didn’t want to miss the Texas capitol while we were here. I had already made a few trips to Austin for service for the Subaru and for a few errands, but there never seemed to be time for playing tourist. Finally, I set aside a Sunday and made the drive.

I was surprised to find that the building was designed by Elijah E. Meyers, the same architect who designed Colorado’s capitol. Constructed from 1882 to 1888, it is the sixth tallest state capitol building.

As always, I enjoyed gazing upwards at the interior of the dome. I was also interested in the terrazzo floor that features the six seals of the countries whose flags have flown over Texas.

Texas State Capitol

Inside the Dome

The Six Seals of the Countries Whose Flags Have Flown over Texas