Our train ride from Utah to Glenwood Springs, Colorado and how we made the most of the last week of Summer Break

I have always had a love/hate relationship with this time of year… I love that it starts to cool off at nights, and look forward to Fall, hoodies, and pumpkin spice everything… However, I’ve never loved sending the kids back to school. This year has been especially emotional because my baby boy started his Senior year and it is crazy to think how close we are to becoming empty nesters!

I wanted to make his last week of summer this year a memorable one and I would say that this mission was accomplished! Monday night we saw Green Day in concert for the second time. They put on another amazing performance, and afterwards Trevor and I headed home to get ready for our adventure!

We left the house at 3:30am Tuesday to catch the Amtrak train in Provo, Utah. Finding our way to the train station in the dark became our first adventure, but eventually we made our way to the correct bench (station is not quite the correct word) and waited for the train to arrive. After a slight delay, we were on our way to Glenwood Springs, Colorado and we both fell asleep for a few hours. Around 8am we made our way to the restaurant car and had french toast for breakfast. We had the opportunity to visit with another mother and son duo who were traveling all the way to Chicago from California!

Once we arrived in Colorado, The Glenwood Springs Inn sent a shuttle to pick us up. This was a great little motel and was in a very convenient location. We rested up, cleaned up, and then went out to find some food! We ended up walking across the bridge to eat at the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub. The food was good, the beer was tasty, and the company was excellent. Trevor and I tend to have some pretty deep and though provoking conversations.

Wednesday, we went out with Whitewater Rafting LLC through the Shoshone and the Glenwood Springs canyons. We hit some fun rapids (although spring is a better time to hit the big ones) and enjoyed some amazing scenery, we got rained on a bit, had a fabulous guide, (Marissa), and had a great day!

For dinner that night we walked across the street to Tequila’s for some Mexican food. We wanted to sit outside on their patio, but the rain had other ideas for us so we squeezed in to a small booth inside. It was a fun place, and I would try it again, but would definitely order something different next time.

Thursday we packed up and took the shuttle back to the train station area and had coffee and a breakfast sandwich across the street at the River Bend Coffee House. While we were killing some time there we found out that the train was delayed for an hour, so we decided to wander a bit and do a bit of shopping. We found a couple of fun shops and spent some time chatting with the owners. We still had some time to kill so we headed back to the Brewpub, which is also right across the street from the train station, for a snack and a drink. While there, we got the update that the train was now delayed another 2 hours. So, with our bags in tow (luckily we had packed light) we set out to find something else to pass the time. We talked to a few locals and someone suggested we head up the street to Springs Bar & Grill to play pool. We spent the next hour playing a few games of pool (my childhood pool skills shined through!) and before we knew it, it was time to head back to the station.

By the time we got on the train, we were both ready to sit down and relax for the next several hours. The scenery was beautiful on our way through Colorado and later that evening we made our way to the dining car where we shared a steak and shrimp dinner and visited with a couple who were on their way back home to Oregon via San Francisco. Neither of us could sleep so we went to the lounge car and played cards until it was time to get our stuff gathered up as our stop got closer. We made it home around midnight Thursday night and finished the week off by going to see Avenged Sevenfold Friday night.