# Thruway Denver to Raton then Southwest Chief to LA March 2009



## Casinocim (Apr 13, 2009)

Hello all,

Last month, March, I had a thruway bus from Denver's Union Station to Raton. Boarded the train in Raton to L.A.

This was my first overnight trip in years.

Thruway--Denver to Raton:

I arrived at Denver's Union Station around 4:30am at my mother's insistence. I had ticket in hand, so I was too early for the 5:35am departure. Union Station was open at 4:30am with restrooms and vending, which was nice.

The bus was pretty much on time. About 5 of us boarded a Greyhound bus. I don't think the amount of people ever changed on our route to Raton. The restroom on the bus stayed clean, still smelled bad though. Plenty of stops though on the way to use station restrooms. The bus ride was very pleasant for being Greyhound.

Arrived Raton on time. I looked into the Raton Amtrak station, creepy. Old, trash everywhere, peeked into the restroom but just didn't feel comfortable inside, there wasn't anyone in there :huh: I decided to visit an espresso shop about a block away. I don't think I would do this again. The ladies working in there were very nice but really slow. I don't want to miss the train!

Seeing the train come in is always exciting.

I will say, it felt really good going to the sleeper car for my roomette instead of coach! Gwen greeted me and slung my suitcase up in the car. And I was on my way.

Unfortunately, the restrooms in the sleeper car were not working  So we were all asked to use the other cars toilets, which was not much fun in the middle of the night. Called customer service after my trip and was taken care of.

I wondered what I would do at the stop in Albuquerque. Found out there is a espresso, gelato and sandwich shop about a block away. Went and bought an iced coffee.

I really enjoyed my roomette. Had lunch in the dining car, cheeseburger. Wasn't in the mood for conversation at dinner, so had my dinner brought to my roomette, tried the flat iron steak. I love eating on the train and love the ice tea.

One thing I made the mistake of doing was, the car attendant was turning some beds down, so while she was at it, I had her put my down. I wasn't ready to lay down and could not get myself propped up to be comfortable. Another gal on the train said she did the same thing.

I did not sleep well. So at 3:30am I decided to get up and take a shower. The shower was great, we had stopped at a station and seemed to take awhile to get moving. I forgot to bring my lysol for the shower so I just placed a washcloth on the floor and kept my feet on it.

Had breakfast in the dining car, french toast and it was yummy.

Then arrived in L.A.

The return trip:

The train didn't leave until 6:45pm and I arrived from the cruise terminal at 11:00am. I had hours to kill. The station in LA is nice. I was able to check my bags at the parcel check, so I didn't have to drag them around with me. Couldn't check them due to Raton.

I bought an iced coffee, sat for about an hour. Then headed over to Olvera Street. I think it's a great street, but just coming back from Mexico, it was a repeat of vendors. But I still looked to kill time. Had lunch on an outdoor patio. My mom was worried about me wandering around. From what I observed, I was pretty safe going to Olvera Street.

Back at the train station, I just sat and watched people. Had another two iced coffees. About 5pm had a sandwich from the bagel shop for dinner.

Nearing time for the train to arrive, I got my bags out of the parcel check. A red cap asked if I wanted help to the train, I declined. But then as the people were lining up I decided to get some help. It was really nice to get a ride to the platform.

On board, from LA to Riverside I had a seatmate, then I had both seats to myself for the rest of the trip. There were a lot of empty seats. I slept pretty good, figured out how to totally stretch out in my seats.

Next day, I had french toast again for breakfast. I bought a sandwich and an iced coffee from the shop in Albuquerque instead of having lunch on the train. That shop has some good looking gelato.

Had chicken in the dining car for dinner.

I thought the food good on the train on both ways.

Arrived in Raton on time. Bus was there, Greyhound, and it was another pleasant trip in to Denver.

I get to repeat this exact same trip in a couple of months. Yippee!!


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## gswager (Apr 14, 2009)

Glad that you had a fun time! You could ride Red Line to Hollywood and walk on the Sidewalk of Stars.

Thanks for the report!


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## Dan O (Apr 14, 2009)

Sounds like a nice trip.

As gswager said, if you have a layover of a few hours in LA you could take the red line subway to Hollywood and Vine or Hollywood and Highland. I think it is about a half hour trip. You can catch the subway in Union Station. Hollywood has a bunch of weirdos but even more tourists. I felt safe there the few times I have been there. The walk of fame is good for a couple blocks. We go to a magic shop there once in a while. My only warning would be to pay attention to the exit area from the subway station as I have had trouble finding some of them.

Chinatown is just another block over from Olvera street. It wouldn't be much of a walk if you were interested in seeing a bit of that.

The subway ride to downtown LA is just a couple minutes (red line or purple line). There's the modern cathedral that's maybe a mile walk or about a 3 min subway ride. During the day downtown LA seems pretty safe to me.

The subways run pretty often. I think they were running every 12 minutes when we were there on a Saturday morning and afternoon.

Enjoyed your report.

Thanks,

Dan


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