The train also included a cafe car with hot pretzels, coffee and other snacks. Our coach car included free Coca-Cola products such as Sprite and Dr. Pepper too, bonus! You have to be careful, though... water is precious at 7,000 feet of altitude (a full mile off the canyon floor), in order to stave off dehydration. A couple of dudes in authentic western get-up wander the aisles stirring up friendly conversation or playing the fiddle. Someone called it "Lou's Party Car," filled with "yee-hahs!" from the entire group and a barrel of laughs... an unbelievable experience to a couple of yokels expecting a couple of quiet hours.
Even the terrain was more interesting than what we'd gotten used to. Most of the land is comprised of thousand-acre cattle ranches (it takes 120 acres to support one cow). These ranches are unenclosed -- that's the law. So we saw small herds running parallel to the tracks along the way. Plus the vegetation picks up, with tall pines blanketing the rolling hills. All in all, this wasn't so much a train trip as a neighborhood on wheels.
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