To Denver, the Long Way ‘Round.

I’ll be leaving again in a couple of weeks to attend NARP’s annual Fall meeting in Denver, beginning October 14 and wrapping up two days later. As usual, I have indulged myself with an indirect itinerary that includes three of my favorite trains.
 
new-orleans-world-war-2-museum
 I’m flying to Los Angeles this time and from there will take the Sunset Limited to New Orleans. I’ll be there for a full weekend and have two important stops: a return visit to the National World War II Museum and another dinner at Irene’s Cuisine in the French Quarter. No visit to New Orleans should pass without maximum time spent in both.
 
From there, I’ll be on the City of New Orleans up to Chicago, which will be a chance to really sample the vacuum sealed and frozen meals now being served in that train’s café car. They were surprisingly good when the NARP board sampled them last April in the Amtrak Test Kitchen in Wilmington, but it will be interesting to see what they’re like under “normal” conditions, especially when I’m just another passenger and not a NARP board member.
 
In Chicago I’ll connect with the California Zephyr for the overnight ride to Denver. (I know, I know … this violates my own advice to stop overnight rather than risk any connection. But this one is seven hours!)
 
The NARP meetings will be Friday through Sunday, October 14-16. In addition to a bit of NARP business there will be some very interesting speeches, sessions and workshops, covering the following subjects and more:

    Shared Passenger/Freight Corridors
    Is Transit-Oriented Development the Answer?
    Predictions for the Future of Passenger Rail in 2025 and Beyond
    The Infrastructure Conundrum: the $300 Billion Elephant in the Room
    FulfillingHigh-Speed Rail’s Promise

Should any or all of that be an overpowering temptation, there is still time to attend and you don’t even have to be a NARP member. Click here for the link to all the appropriate information.
 
From Denver, I’ll head back to the West Coast with overnight stops in Glenwood Springs and Napa where the Napa Valley Wine Train will provide a delicious diversion. Photos and narrative as I go.