Some photos from the trip. The past two days have been a blur - soaking in this beautiful country from the train, to wandering the streets of Denver today - I haven't had much sleep, so I'll just throw out some pics with a description of the journey so far.
Jump over the flip to see a few... or just check the Flickr detail page to see them what I have managed to get processed up to now. There are plenty more, but the pillow looks SO inviting...
(warning: heavy graphics)
Working backwards, here is Denver today...
The city is decked out. From bar marquees and storefront windows to balloons on the parking meters, it's all about the convention, baby. The Democrats have landed...
... and so have the Republican protestors. This was downtown near the Capitol building, 20-25 folks with signs chanted and yelled at the cars passing by.
The vendors are out in full force - this guy was outside of Coors Field. And speaking of Coors Field...
... what a beautiful ballpark. Reminds me of Comerica. The day was perfect for baseball - Rockies win 4-3 in 12 innings. We didn't stay for the whole game, and I will spare you more pictures here - but I can't wait until I get a chance to work on the many pictures I have from the park.
Back to the trip, and a few short impressions. Colorado this morning was foggy, so I didn't get many shots from the train of the scenery. Mostly flat until you get to Denver anyway. Cattle. Farms. Flowers in the fields. Nebraska - we went through in the dark. I have vague memories of the station in Omaha as we stopped and they let us off for a short break. I loved riding the train and looking at the sights - but it is hard sleeping.
Iowa is still recovering from the floods. Was surprised to see a bunch of houses still in standing water around Gulfport (? I believe) - right next to Burlington. The things we forget when they disappear from the news. A lady on the train told us that some folks were allowed to return to their houses just last week. You can see the waterline on this next house...
In Illinois, we had the winner of the Joe Biden look-alike contest join us. This gentleman is a delegate - and when he walked down the platform with the media filming him, I had to rub my eyes because I thought I was seeing things. Had a good chuckle over that.
Farms and more farms, and some farms of the future are sprouting up across the country. In Illinois, further proof the rest of the world moves on without us....
Not the greatest picture because they were quite far away (and this was a fast moving train) - but I was excited to see one. So sorry that Mike Bishop is preventing us from seeing this in Michigan.
I had some time in Chicago to hang around Union Station...
... where I saw that the Sun Times had ripped off the title of my diary.
Oh well.
Stay tuned for more from Denver - I will do my best to get them up as quick as I can. The next few days are going to be very busy and very exciting - and I'm looking forward to it.
But for now... it's late even for Mountain Time, and breakfast comes early. Have a great day everyone, and look for us on the floor...