Arriving 03:30 in the morning on a deserted and chillly platform at Flagstaff Amtrak station meant I just got here with a 6,5 hour delay. The traintrip was an amazing experience though, seeing the landscape change like that. Hours and hours of the USA through the windows of the train's panorama car or from my own seat on the topfloor of this doubledecker. Had some real good conversations with several people like a few Amish people that were travelling to Mexico from South Ohio (they have no electricity, tv or other modern things and speak some sort of old German, showed me his bible which was high German so i could read it), with artists like painters and photographers, a policeman from Kansas and an accordeon player on his way to Arizona. The train has longer and shorter stops along the way and they give you the chance to talk to even more people from the train or to locals in the stations and platforms.
After the first leg of the trip (arriving in Chicago from NYC), which went by rather quickly in abt 20 hours, I had 5 hours time to discover Chicago, the "windy city". Approaching big cities like this is a great view always, in the distance you will first start to see the downtown area with the tall skyscrapers, this time completed with a beautiful view on Lake Michigan, which can be seen on the right hand side of the train. I walked to Millinium Park, the bean and the famous Buckingham Fountain, which you can see in the intro of Married with Children. Nice city and it was President's Day ( every 3rd monday in february), in honour of George Washington. Talked to some guy in Starbucks that wanted to speak German coz his roots were there. 14:30 was boarding time for the second part of the leg towards Arizona!
Along the way a lot of poor looking houses and trailers, especially in Illinois. The train has a panorama car and a restaurant/bar car, great to sociolize and hang out. Soon enough the Colorado Plains were in sight with the Rocky Mountains in the distance. The Arkansas river with dam and reservoir, herds of antilopes, lots of abandoned oldtimers along the railway and creeks and canyons along the way were among the other highlights. I was told one of the mountains in the distance was Pike's Peak, standing 14.110 feet high. I felt the start of a mean cold, but after taking a coulpe of Finnrex medicines it was much better.
Besides engine problems with two of locomotives, there was also a health issue with a passenger, so the train waited for an ambulance to arrive. All in all we were over 6,5 hours delayed.
As soon it was clear I would not make it before midnight (when the Grand Canyon International Hostel would close) I called them with this information.. Not a problem, in front of the hostel would be a red van, the door would be unlocked and my key would be on the driver seat. Walking the short distance from the station to the hostel, my only wish was a warm bed, so I was really delighted to find the key and not 5 minutes later I was indeed under a warm blanket in my bed after travelling for a good 60+ hours by train. The journey was incredible though and quite an experience!
After a few hours of sleep, i woke up around 8 and went to breakfast. Met a few nice people, Christina (USA) who wanted to study in Amsterdam and so we talked abt that. Also Otis (USA) was there at breakfast and we decided to go hiking that day and to Grand Canyon the next. We left right after breakfast, took the bus for abt 20 minutes and hiked up Mount Alden trail. It's a lava dome with lots of lava rock and weird rock shapes. On my facebook, i have made a seperate album for Arizona and Utah, the pictures are there. We had some really good talks about the economy, occupy movement, the US, Europe, UFO's and the planned roadtrip to the canyon. Otis also told me about his plan to write a show which he is going to perform around the States and Europe soon. He is a performer, dancer etc. Walked/hiked for like 2 hours and walked back. Visited a pawn shop where all pump shotguns were 25% off and a Magnum 44 was yours for 10% down payment. Lovely, weird, surreal and very American. Back at the hostel we ran into Claire and Fettouma (France and Algeria), thay would join in renting a car for the next day and came up with the idea to also visit Monument Valley in Utah. I had a poster up my wall in helsinki for years of this valley and really wanted to see it in person, so sounds like a plan!