Pushing for Return of the Pioneer Rail Route

The railroad built Cheyenne, and hopefully train service will return. Efforts are underway

As the Union Pacific laid tracks westward in a rush to complete the transcontinental railroad, Cheyenne sprang from Wyoming's eastern plains in 1867. It soon was a full-blown brick-and-mortar city with magnificent mansions, a lively downtown, a railroad roundhouse and a truly glorious railroad depot (bold), now a museum but very spacious and hopefully capable of accommodating passengers again.

Cheyenne was no podunk town along the tracks. It became the second city in the world after Paris with electric street lights. Except for the train that rolls up from Denver for Frontier Days every summer and an annual steam-train excursion for railfans, Cheyenne's glorious (and beautifully restored) 1887 Union Pacific Depot hasn't seen passenger rail service since Amtrak discontinued the Pioneer route in 1997.

The Pioneer started in Chicago and stopped in Omaha, Denver, Cheyenne, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Boise and Tacoma before terminating in Seattle -- and vice versa. Click here for TrainWeb's page devoted to this route. I don't know what other cities along the route are doing to bring the train back, but the City of Cheyenne and local organizations are working to encourage Amtrak to re-establish the abandoned Pioneer route. Amtrak has hired Patterson and Associates of Orange, California, to analyze the Pioneer's viability. Patterson’s study is expected to be complete this fall.

Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen, an economic development group called Cheyenne LEADS and the Cheyenne Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CACVB) have sent letters of support for the Pioneer route to Amtrak, and the CACVB has developed a specific website devoted to the effort. The site’s purpose is to share information about the feasibility study process and foster support from communities and organizations along the route. As one who would love to see the train return, I'm planning to check the site often.

Travel Thumbnail: Old Idaho Penitentiary

Boise landmark, once a fearful prison, now a tourist attraction and history lesson

This is the eighth of a series of periodic reports on specific places I've visited -- and which you might want see to as well.

The Place: Old Idaho Penitentiary, Boise

The Story: The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historical Site, located on the outskirts of Boise, functioned as a prison for 101 years. Construction began in 1870 as a single cell house, with the first prisoners incarcerated there in 1872. Inmate laborers expanded it into a complex of several buildings that held, among others, Idaho's most notorious criminals. Until it finally closed in 1973, the Old Pen housed a total of more than 13,000 inmates -- including 222 women prisoners. The maximum population at any one time was 603 inmates. Eleven prisoners were executed there by by hanging. Below, an old image of the Old Pen from the page on the Idaho Historic Society website devoted to the Old Pen.

When visiting the Old Pen, you can watch an 18-minute video and look at small museum's exhibits and then either take a self-guided tour or take a 90-minute guided tour, which I highly recommend. Especially in the summer, the tour guides are historians or historians-in-the-making, largely young people who are studying or have graduated from Boise State College.

Below are some images from my visit:

Cost: The Old Pen is open seven days a week, except state holidays. Memorial Day to Labor Day, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Labor Day to Memorial Day, 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. Adult,$5; 60 and over, $4; ages 6 to 12, $3; under 6, free. 

Location and information: 2445 Old Penitentiary Road, Boise, Idaho 83712; 208-334-2844.

US Passport Fees Set to Climb

If your passport needs to be renewed soon, if it needs extra pages for future travel or if you don't have  a passport but might need one (and now you do for neighboring Western Hemisphere nations), do whatever you need to before Tuesday, July 13. Post offices handle passport applications.

Passport Book

• New passport, adult, $135 (up from from $100).
• Renewal, $110 (up from $75). 
• Youth under 16,  $105 (up from $85).
• Extra pages, $82 (new fee). 

Passport Card

If you expect to travel only to Canada and/or Mexicom you can get a card instead of a book.

• Adult, $55 (up from $45).
• Youth, $40 (up from $35)

Reasons

  

No, the fee increases are not to help balance the budget. The US State Department says that passport fees cover the cost of actually producing the document but also but they also pay for emergency services provided to American citizens overseas by embassies and consular offices.

Travel on Sale; Flight Delays Drop

With fewer flights and fewer airline passengers, flight delays are down too -- but not by much

Anyone with the time and money to travel can reap the benefits of lower prices, frequent fare sales and discounts, discounts, discounts and, did I mention?, discounts. This reduction in both passengers and scheduled flights meant fewer airline delays in 2008 than in '07, according to a new report by George Mason University's Center for Air Transportation Systems Research. Academic types have gathered data to tell frequent flyers what we already know: air travel might be getting cheaper, but in many respects, the experience still, well, sucks.

The center calculated that airline passengers experienced delays totaling 299 million hours (34,000 years!) in 2008, which roughly translates to an annual cost of $8.2 billion in lost productivity. If the center had also quantified the impact of slow-moving security lines and slow-arriving baggage, the lost productivity numbers would be even higher.

“While passenger trip delay numbers are improved, the structural issues with the air transportation system remain,” said Lance Sherry, an associate professor at George Mason University and author of the report. “The reduction of flights should have taken some pressure off of the system. This did not happen."

According to Sherry, the average delay was down only two minutes for an average delay of 29 minutes. Twenty-nine or 31 minutes on anybody's watch is a half-hour delay. "Disruptions" seem to be worse than mere "delays." Dishearteningly for anyone heading for the airport, for the last two years, one-quarter of passengers experienced a travel disruption. In 2008 disruptions averaged "only" 108 minutes; in 2007, it was 112 minutes. The glimmer of good news is that this represents a 10 overall percent decrease in delays compared to 2007.

Contributing to the problems were that airlines reduced the number of flights by 6 percent and also switched to smaller, less expensive aircraft flying less frequently, according to Sherry. "The airlines cut the least profitable flights that operate at off-peak times of the day. Eliminating these flights did little to trim delays for the profitable flights that are still over scheduled in the peak hours at the major airports...Fewer flights were cancelled in 2008, but those passengers also had fewer rescheduling options because of the reduced frequency of flights and fully booked flights."

The fewest trip delays were experienced on Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines, all with an average of 10 minutes or less. Passengers endured the most trip delays on American Airlines, with an average delay of 31 minutes.

For the third consecutive year, passengers experienced an average of trip delays of more than 30 minutes at New York's three airports: Newark, LaGuardia and JFK, and also at Chicago's O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth and Boston's Logan . Of the nation's busiest 35 airports the fewest delays were at Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Baltimore/Washington, Phoenix Sky Harbor and Chicago's Midway.

If you want to delve deep into the data, you can see the U.S. Airline Passenger Trip Delay Report online.

Spring= Bargains Now and Next Ski Season

Long days, corn snow, sunshine and early-purchase savings on 2009-10 season passes

As reliably as the swallows returning to Capistrano, come spring equinox, ski country values roll in. Here are some of Colorado's best April values -- but resorts elsewhere in the Rockies, on the East and West Coasts and in the Alps also offer late-season specials. Over the last couple of days, Colorado resorts have gotten 10 +/- inches of snow, so spring values might be buying winter conditions and/or you'll plug into the must fun apres-ski of the entire season.

2009-10 Season Pass Pre-Purchase

Vail Resorts’ successful Epic Season Pass is back for its second season with a return to the 2008-09 introductory price. Next season again, unrestricted skiing and snowboarding (i.e., no blackout dates) at six ski areas costs just $579 for adults and $279 for children aged 5-12. The Epic Pass is good at all five Vail Resorts (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly), plus Arapahoe Basin with its long, long ski season. A modest $49 down-payment made on-line before April 9 locks in this price and also is good toward some great lodging deals and added values at Vail for the end of this season. The balance, due in mid-September, will be charged to the same credit card as the down-payment. The pass is non-refundable and non-transferable.

The 2009-10 Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus good all season long at Copper Mountain, Steamboat and Winter Park is on sale for $399 per adult, $40 less than last year. The price for teens (13-17) is $309; kids (6-12 ) are $209, and seniors (70-plus) pay $239. Click here to purchase your pass on-line now, or buy at any Christy Sports location along the Front Range. Current pass-holders can simply reactivate their existing passes for next season, and new purchasers can upload a jpg head shot that will be used for the pass. A $49 deposit is required by June 1 (or when the limited quantity is reached) with the balance due in mid-September. The pass is good for unlimited skiing and riding at Winter Park and Copper Mountain, plus six days at Steamboat with free skiing on Fridays after 12:30 p.m. for weekend skiing Front Rangers. Copper and Winter Park also offer passholders up to 10 discounted one-day lift tickets for friends or family redeemable at the ticket windows; discounts on resort food and beverage sales; equipment sales or rentals, and ski and ride lessons. Everyone gets a one-year subscription to Skiing magazine.

Crested Butte's ski season ends on April 5 -- and so do its early-buy discounts for season passes or multi-day Mountain Cards for 2009-10, still offered at 2008-09 prices. Click here to see the choice of full passes and multi-day cards. The next wave of discounts is in effect from June 1 through September 7, when full prices kick in. It's not clear what happens when someone wishes to buy a 2009-10 season pass or Mountain Card between April 6 and May 31.

Purchase a 2009-10 season pass at Eldora by April 30 ski/ride free for the rest of the season, which ends April 12. Prices are adult, $359 renewal ($369 new); junior, ages 13-17 $239 renewal ($259 new); child, ages 6-12 $159 renewal ($179 new); and preschoolers 5 and under ski all season for $75 and seniors 75 and older do so for $89. For younger seniors, ages 65-74, the pass is $219 renewal ($229, new). Midweek pass $250 renewal ($279 new). The senior midweek pass $89. A family season pass is $839 renewal ($889). By at Eldora Mountain Sports 2775 Canyon Boulevard, at season pass office at the mountain, by phone (303-440-8700) or online.

Arapahoe Basin (photo, above right) has rolled back 2009-10 season passes to 2007 prices. Passes are available through April 30 with a $49 deposit now (balance due in September). The A-Basin Only Season Pass is for $279 for ages 20-69, $189 for ages 15-19 and $109 for ages 6-14) is selling for $109. These passes are also valid for the remainder of the 2008-09 season as well as the entire 2009-10 season with no black out dates. The Arapahoe Basin Bonus Pass, now on sale for $339 for adults (ages 15+) and $249 for children (ages 6-14), is good for unlimited skiing/riding at A-Basin during the remainder of the 2008-09 season and all of 2009-10 season, plus five non-transferable days at Keystone or Breckenridge with one of those five days at Vail or Beaver Creek (some date restrictions apply). Pass holders also receive one $25 half-day class lesson, 10 percent off food (except at the 6th Alley bar), 10 percent off on purchases at Arapahoe Sports and Black Mountain Sports, five days of skiing at Bear Valley in California, one unguided day of skiing at Silverton Mountain, friends and family A-Basin lift ticket discounts, and $10 off performance tunes in the Base’n Edge Tune Shop.

Echo Mountain with its 600-foot vertical, proximity to Denver/Jeffco and special appeal to young skiers and riders is operating until May 3. Super-cheap 2009-10 season passes are on sale now for just $139 for unlimited skiing/riding without black-out dates. For new passes, add $50 to ski/ride for the rest of this season through May 3. Buy at the Echo Mountain Lodge or online. Passes are non-refundable.

Monarch Mountain is offering its 2009-10 season passes at early season prices through July 3. The multi-tier pricing is adult (16 to 61), $289; students (13 to 15), $159; junior (7 to 12), $89, senior (62-68), $159, and children (under 7) and seniors (over 68) free. Buy on-line by clicking here or by calling 719-530-5105. In addition to unlimited skiing and riding Monarch, all season passes include three free days of skiing at Loveland, Durango, Powderhorn, Sunlight, Angel Fire and Pajarito; one day of complimentary un-guided skiing at Silverton, and half-price tickets all season at Alta, Utah.

Purgatory's 2009-10 passes hold at the 2008-09 prices (adult, $539; student 13-18, $289; college with 9 credit hours or more, $349; kids 6-12, $239; kid with parent, $129; "silver," 62-69, $339, plus an array of flex and midweek offers). Benefits include Durango Mountain Resort summer activities (Alpine Slide, scenic chairlift, etc.), one $52 Friends & Family ticket per day; three non-holiday days at Taos; three days at Monarch; 10 days at Kirkwood, California, half-price non-holiday tickets at Crested Butte; 30 percent off at Arizona Snowbowl; 20 cent off group lessons at Ski and Ride School; 15 percent off at Durango Mountain Resort retail outlets and 10 percent off DMR food and beverage (excludes alcohol). If there's an end date to this pricing, it's not evident.

Spring Skiing Specials

At Colorado’s unofficial spring skiing capital, Arapahoe Basin's A+ Spring Pass ($279 per adult, $699 for a family of four) is valid for unlimited skiing and riding at A-Basin for the remainder of the season, which generally lasts into June. It is also good for five days at Keystone or Breckenridge — and one of those can be used, with some date restrictions, at Vail or Beaver Creek. Additional benefits include a free half-day lesson, discounted friend and family tickets and a 10 percent discount on cafeteria and retail purchases. Those who plan to ski only at A-Basin can purchase Spring Passes at $209 per adult, $159 for ages 15 to 18, and $99 for ages six to 14. Under six, free — as always.

Aspen is extending the season and operating Aspen Highlands lifts from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for two additional weekends, April 18-19 and April 25-26. Adult lift tickets will be $39 per day, youth and seniors will pay $29 and children's tickets will be $19. Six and under, free. Current season passholders from any other resort in the U.S. will pay just $19 for their lift ticket.

During the post-Easter Breckenridge for a Buck, buy three days and nights at Breckenridge and get your fourth day and night for a dollar. It is in effect for the nights of April 12 - 19.

Copper Mountain offers “The Deal,” $219 for four one-day lift tickets good as long as there’s snow and the lifts are running. Divvy up those four days any way you want: four days on your own, two days with a friend or one day with three friends. It’ simple, straightforward, flexible and an excellent value. The season is scheduled to continue through April 19. Also, Sunsation lodging at the resort starts at $55 per person, per night; 866-534-7444. Combine it with The Deal and you've literally got yourself a deal!

Haul the family to Echo Mountain for an afternoon of skiing or riding and eating without breaking the bank. The Fours for Spring package costs just $99 for four afternoon lift tickets, four sodas or milks, four slices of pizza, four bags of chips and four cookies or brownies. If anyone needs instruction, add a group lesson at $29 per person.

Loveland is operating until May 3 this year. Buy discounted lift tickets ($48 for ages 15 and over, $22 for 14 and younger, 5 and under ski free) at dozens of Front Range locations. Click here for specifics.

Keystone’s new $99 spring lift ticket is good for three days of skiing until April 12 at Keystone and/or Arapahoe Basin. And if you can’t dedicate three days to skiing or riding, head for Keystone on Thursday, April 9, and enjoy a single day on the slopes for $33. Another $12 will buy you a mid-day pig roast base at LaBonte’s Cabin at the base of North Peak. That's just a couple of bucks more than the price of a mediocre little pizza most of the season!

Optional unguided skiing returns to the steeps of Silverton Mountain on April 3-5, 11-12 and 18-19. Prices are $49 all-day unguided; $99 per person for all-day guide including unguided lift ticket, and $35 for single guided run (lift ticket additional). Rentals including mandatory avalanche gear are available.

Steamboat's three-day or longer Springalicious packages though April 12 include free skiing when staying three-nights or longer. Book through Steamboat Central Reservations. If you just want a lift ticket, three days of skiing cost $99.

Telluride has extended the season through April 12. All the terrain off the locals’ favorite Plunge and Coonskin lifts will be open, as will the gate near patrol headquarters at the top of the Plunge Lift to access the USFS backcountry gate at the top of Gold Hill. Hiking access will be along the See Forever trail only. Lifts will operate from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Non-pass holders will find adult ticket prices reduced to $50, with senior and child tickets for $25. Additionally, $25 tickets will be offered to season pass holders or employees from any other ski resort in North America.

Book two nights' April lodging specials at Winter Park starting at $35 per person, per night and the second night is 50 percent off, through April 19 ($26 per person at the Gasthaus Eichler through April 12).

Wolf Creek is re-opening Saturday and Sunday, April 11-12, for "Local Appreciation Weekend" with $31 adult and $18 child/senior lift tickets, no ID required. Of course, all Wolf Creek season passes will be honored too. The Horseshoe Bowl Snowcat Shuttle will be running both days depending on conditions, and the Easter Bunny will visit Wolf Creek on Sunday the 12th to celebrate Easter. An Easter Egg Hunt at Wolf Pup Hollow at 12:30 p.m. will be open to children ages 8 and under with a valid lift ticket.

Palestine: Reflections

Headlines provide signs of hope that Israeli-Palestinian tensions will ease and that peace will prevail

As I was recounting my Palestine/West Bank travel experiences and observations, I made notes to myself about how I wanted to wrap it all up. After all, this wasn't just a sightseeing trip featuring antiquities and sacred places. It was an experience that put me and my traveling companions on the cusp of "future history." Through my membership in the Society of American Travel Writers, I became aware of, but I am embarrassed to admit, not active in a not-for-profit group called the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism.

Originally, I intended wrap up my thoughts and observations unfiltered by politicians' spin and advocates for one side or another. I also was going to include links to IIPTT's site and to peace organizations working specifically in the Middle East and more specifically on the Palestinian-Israeli situation, because I believe that tourism can be a valuable tool for peace -- not just economically in troubled lands but also in allowing visitors to see a place and its people first-hand. This trip certainly was enlightening, even though we did not meet any overtly militant Palestinians or any Israeli Jews at all other than Army guards at checkpoints and security screeners at Tel Aviv Airport.

But today's headline in the New York Times, "U.S. and Israel Shift Attention to Peace Process," reports that "President Obama said Tuesday that he expected direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to begin 'well before' a moratorium on settlement construction expired at the end of September, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel pledged to take 'concrete steps' in the coming weeks to get the talks moving."

Since I'm trying to restrain myself, perhaps I should not point out that in the past, Netanyahu's "concrete steps" have taken the form of pouring more concrete for more settlements in the Palestinian territory. 'Nuff said. I'd rather express a hope that it might be better this time, and that perhaps neither side will provoke the other into escalating retaliation measures. This eye-opening trip beyond the headlines and the rhetoric pointed out the social injustice of the current situation. I mentioned to some of my traveling companions that I am shocked that Israel, a nation established because millions of its people were the victims of such ruthless genocide, could treat other people so badly. One who is smarter than I pointed out that individual people who been abused often become abusers. The analogy was not lost on me or anyone else within earshot.
So I close this series with a wish that maybe, just maybe, the new talks will amount to something and the peace process will begin again -- and maybe, just maybe, it will be honored by all sides and be longer-lasting than in the past.

Travel Thumbnail: The Ski Train to Winter Park

This is the fourth of a series of periodic reports on specific places I've visited -- and which you might want see to as well. Post a comment or let me know directly what you think of this occasional Travel Babel feature.

Iconic Colorado experience: Denver to Winter Park on the Train

The Place: Rio Grande Ski Train to Winter Park

The Story: Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Ski Train was dominated by the Eskimo Ski Club, whose members ranged in age from seven to 17 and who took the train every Saturday in winter to ski at Winter Park. Today, many older Denver natives credit the Ski Train, Winter Park and the Eskimo Ski Club for making skiing an enduring part of their lives. Since the '80s, Ansco Investment Company has owned the Ski Train and renewed it with upgraded rolling stock and experiences.

This past weekend, the Rio Grande Ski Train from Denver's Union Station to the base of the slopes concluded its 2009-10 season of 82 trips. A Colorado tradition for three generations, it is the last dedicated regular ski train service in the lower 48 (the Alaska Railroad operates ski train service too). If there's no traffic on I-70 or snaking over Berthoud Pass, driving is unquestionably faster. But the Ski Train isn't about speed. It's all about experience. It is a nostalgic journey for former Eskimo Ski Clubbers and a singular one for today's families who bring their kids so that they can experience train travel too, perhaps once every season or two. And riding the rails from downtown Denver is a great way for visitors and convention-goers to reach a snowy environment through beautiful scenery and the 6 1/2-mile Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide.

My Trip

The train is supposed to depart from Union Station at 7:15 a.m., but ours was delayed because we had to wait for Amtrak to pull in. Once we got going, we slowly traveled through railyards in north Denver and then through sections of suburbs like Arvada that we rarely see.

It had snowed a lot on Thursday, and the far western edge of the plains between Golden and Rocky Flats were still carpeted in white. Looking out the train window toward the north, it was difficult to recogize this as the edge of the Denver sprawl.

The tracks climb through Eldorado Canyon past open space and Eldorado Canyon State Park.

The train continues toward the Moffat Tunnel via Coal Creek Canyon, Rollinsville and Tolland to East Portal, the tunnel's eastern entrance.

Passengers have about 10 minutes to disembark at Winter Park before the train continues to Granby to turn around and park on a siding for the day until 4:15 departure time. Most people come to Winter Park to ski or snowboard, but some just want the railroad experience with perhaps a snowcoach sightseeing tour of the mountain or perhaps a free bus ride into town to shop and have lunch.

This weekend felt like winter, not spring. The snow was abundant and wonderful.

Even with a high-speed chairlift ferrying skiers to Winter Park's highest point, Parsenn Bowl didn't look or feel crowded. The snow was soft and the views toward the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park and the Never Summer Wilderness were awesome.

The Cost: This past season, roundtrip coach fares were $59 per adult ($49 for ages three to 12 or 62-plus); club seating was $85 per person. All seats in both classes of service are by reservation. Food service is available, and discounted lift tickets can be purchased on board. The train and the resort experimented with weekend overnight packages (leaving Denver on Saturday morning and returning on Sunday evening). This will probably continue as a full-season offer next winter.