The last two stops on our trip - Kansas City and Santa Fe, New Mexico have been pit stops en route to LA, so both have been rather uneventful.
Kansas City was a funny place. It was very sparse and rather industrial. It wasn’t until we arrived in the city (and we had 10 hours to kill) that we found out the train station was the main tourist attraction! Don’t get me wrong, it was a very nice station equipped with a cafe, a self-playing grand piano (playing an eclectic mix of 2 Christmas song), a part time cinema and of course a tornado shelter...but you couldn’t spend more than an hour there. After a bit of walking along the main road you eventually arrive near a small cluster of pubs and restaurants called the Power and Light District (according to trip advisor this is the main place to go out and is meant to be hip part of town). We ended up going on a small pub crawl before deciding on a bar to settle in and watch a basketball game.
Kansas City was a funny place. It was very sparse and rather industrial. It wasn’t until we arrived in the city (and we had 10 hours to kill) that we found out the train station was the main tourist attraction! Don’t get me wrong, it was a very nice station equipped with a cafe, a self-playing grand piano (playing an eclectic mix of 2 Christmas song), a part time cinema and of course a tornado shelter...but you couldn’t spend more than an hour there. After a bit of walking along the main road you eventually arrive near a small cluster of pubs and restaurants called the Power and Light District (according to trip advisor this is the main place to go out and is meant to be hip part of town). We ended up going on a small pub crawl before deciding on a bar to settle in and watch a basketball game.
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| Kansas City |
The overnight train to Santa Fe was a lot better than the Chicago one – it wasn’t as busy so we were allowed to leave our allocated seats and spread out a bit, having two seats to sleep on is a lot better (plus there were no chronic snorers this time!).
We spent most of the day hanging out in the observation deck of the train; saw some iconic scenery on the way to Lemy (our stop just before Santa Fe) like the Rocky Mountains!
We spent most of the day hanging out in the observation deck of the train; saw some iconic scenery on the way to Lemy (our stop just before Santa Fe) like the Rocky Mountains!
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| Snowy New Mexico Desert |
As the train didn’t go all the way to Santa Fe Amtrak arranged a connection bus for those travelling onwards. We got off at Lamy (a small town with a population of 120 people) and found another five people waiting for the bus. It turned out to be an old man with a jeep and a trailer at the back for our luggage. It was a bit like getting picked from the train by your Dad! It was good fun though, and the chap regaled the history of Santa Fe over the short 30 minute journey to our motel. Santa Fe is a lovely little town, apparently it’s great for skiing, really wish we had room to take our snowboarding gear!
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| En route to Santa Fe |
Next stop LA, just in time for Emily’s birthday!
Arran & Emily
