It’s a little ironic that a train trip has to start with an airplane trip (and before that a car trip). Though my brother and his family (Vancouver BC residents) offered to meet us in Denver on the train, we weren’t excited about that route, and we wanted more time with them. So we offered to fly to Seattle in order to ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder route.

Before I get too far into this, I want to give Delta Airlines a shout out for the great customer service we had at Colorado Springs airport and on the first flight leg. Even TSA at COS was pleasant and efficient. It makes the lack of food options in the airport much more livable. Speaking of food, the next shout out is to our local fromagerie, Springside Cheese Shop, where they helped me select just the right cheese for our in-flight meal when our first choice was sold out. It’s Montamore cheddar by Sartori, which tastes more like a Parmesan. She wrapped it for in-flight consumption too. Of note (since I had to look this cheese up online), some of our friends have their cheese purchases recorded so that they can refer to them later. I feel spoiled to have this in my medium-sized City.

And yet, I still hate flying. It will hopefully help me appreciate the train even more…