David Petlin Was Wide Awake for Every Mile of the American Southwest's Most Scenic Train Journey

There is a train route threading through the heart of the American Southwest that passes some of the most dramatic scenery on the continent. Red rock canyons, shifting desert floors, the slow dissolve of Colorado's mountain ranges giving way to the rust-toned expanse of Utah. And according to travel advisor David Petlin, a staggering number of people sleep right through it. "So many of the comments I got on Facebook were that they've done this train trip and often through a lot of these scenic parts they're overnight, so they're sleeping and miss a lot of this," Petlin says, still a little incredulous at the thought. He, by contrast, was watching every mile roll by from the window of a Canyon Spirit train, wide awake and quietly astonished.

Petlin recently completed a familiarization trip with Canyon Spirit Train Travel, traveling from Denver, Colorado to Salt Lake City, Utah over the course of several days. The format is distinct from the classic overnight sleeper train: guests travel by rail during the day through the most scenic stretches of the route, then disembark each evening to spend the night in hotels at curated stops along the way. Luggage is transferred seamlessly between properties. No dragging bags through lobbies. No waiting at front desks. "It was just a very seamless, easy process to do this trip. You just leave your bags in your hotel room and they do full luggage transfer for you," Petlin explains. For a travel advisor who fields plenty of nervous first-time independent travelers, that logistical grace note was not lost on him.

A Town That Stole the Show

The first overnight stop on the Canyon Spirit itinerary is Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a historic spa town tucked into a narrow canyon along the Colorado River, roughly eight hours by rail from Denver. Petlin will be the first to admit he did not have high expectations. He had privately categorized it as a logistical waypoint, a place to sleep before the more celebrated destinations ahead. He was wrong. "Glenwood Springs was a huge standout surprise for me, something I've never been to or experienced," he says. "I actually kind of complained that I wish we'd had two nights there." The group stayed at the Historic Hotel Colorado, a grand Victorian property whose long hallways and creaking character prompted fellow travelers to insist the place was haunted. Petlin spent his evening walking the town's compact streets and sitting down to a farm-to-table dinner that impressed him as much as anything else on the itinerary. He skipped the famous hot springs, not wanting to travel with a wet bathing suit, a decision he now regards with mild regret. "A lot of people in our group got to do the hot springs," he concedes. "Glenwood Springs, as a stop, was really amazing."

Moab, Arches, and a 30-Year Homecoming

From Glenwood Springs, the train pressed west and south toward Moab, Utah, the adventure capital of the Colorado Plateau, where a restaurant perched above the valley offered panoramic views of the red rock landscape stretching to the horizon. The following morning, the group set out for Arches National Park, and it was here that Petlin experienced something he had not anticipated: genuine personal rediscovery. He had last visited Arches roughly thirty years ago. Returning to it as an adult, and as a travel professional with fresh eyes, caught him off guard. "I haven't been there in probably 30 years," he says, "and I was really surprised how much fun it was, getting to be outdoors and really seeing some amazing sights." The sandstone arches, some spanning hundreds of feet, the burnt orange and amber of the rock walls in the morning light, the sheer physical scale of the place. It reminded him, he says, why national parks travel remains one of the most underrated categories in American tourism.

Busting the Myth of Train Food

One of the more quietly revelatory moments of the trip happened, of all places, in the dining car. Petlin had boarded with expectations shaped by decades of airline meals, functional food designed to be endured rather than enjoyed. What arrived at his table was something else entirely. "The train food was excellent. I was expecting something closer to airline food, but it was really good, crafted food. They had a really good kitchen staff. Whatever they were doing in that galley was amazing," he says. The standard service included breakfast and lunch on travel days, with an elevated tea-time experience on the final leg. On that last day, Petlin's group also had access to Canyon Spirit's premium saloon car, a dedicated lounge carriage with upgraded dining, quality cocktails, and a relaxed, first-class atmosphere. For advisors looking to upsell the experience, Petlin notes it is an easy conversation to have once clients understand what they are actually getting.

Who This Trip Is Really For

Part of what makes Petlin's firsthand account so useful to his clients is his willingness to be specific, not just about what the trip offers, but about who it suits. He describes the ideal Canyon Spirit traveler as being roughly in the 45 to 65 age bracket, likely empty nesters, people whose children have grown and who are ready to explore something beyond the standard beach holiday. National parks enthusiasts are a natural fit. So are couples and groups of friends looking for soft adventure. The seating is roomy and comfortable, the pace is unhurried, and the experience rewards curiosity and a willingness to simply look out the window. That said, Petlin is equally candid about who should probably look elsewhere. Very young children, he suggests, may find the long stretches of rail travel difficult after a few hours. Travelers with significant mobility challenges should also consider carefully, since certain stops, particularly the Arches excursion, require walking on uneven terrain. "This is very soft adventure," he says. "You're sitting on the train for six to eight hours. This is not for somebody who wants to be up and active at every stop."

What He Knows Now That He Didn't Before

Beyond the landscapes and the logistics, Petlin came home from this trip with a broader professional insight, one that he says will reshape how he talks to clients about group travel in general. He had always been somewhat cautious about recommending escorted land journeys, aware that many clients recoil at the idea of being shepherded through a trip in a group. What struck him on the Canyon Spirit fam, traveling alongside roughly three hundred fellow passengers, was how similar the social dynamic actually is to a cruise. "People have no problem going on a cruise with three thousand people," he reflects. "And I think one of the biggest lessons for me was that maybe escorted travel is not so bad. When you're doing group travel, you can often find real value because you have shared expenses, shared guides, shared logistics." It is a reframe he intends to bring to future conversations with hesitant clients.

The practical value of having done the trip himself is something Petlin returns to repeatedly. He now knows exactly what it looks and feels like to hand over luggage at a train station and find it waiting in a hotel room hours later. He knows the temperature drops on the train carriages and that a light layer or a small lap blanket is worth packing. He knows which restaurant in Glenwood Springs is worth the walk, and what Arches looks like at that particular angle of morning light. "I think the biggest difference is sharing my own personal photos and talking about my own personal stories," he says. "I can help visualize the trip a lot better for the client by describing my pictures, sharing my videos, and helping them understand what they're actually looking at." For a nervous traveler weighing up an unfamiliar itinerary, that kind of specificity is the difference between a brochure and a trusted recommendation.

What Comes Next

For Petlin, the Canyon Spirit journey is already receding into the rearview mirror of a year that shows no signs of slowing down. Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas is on the horizon, followed by a Canadian familiarization trip through Vancouver and Whistler, then industry conferences in Nassau and Cancun. Later in the year he has two back-to-back European river cruises planned, one with Tauck tracing the Seine from Paris out to Normandy, another with Avalon traveling from Budapest through to Germany. The year closes with what he calls his capstone, a Christmas and New Year's trip to Prague paired with a festive river cruise. Each journey, he suggests, will feed back into his ability to serve clients with the kind of firsthand confidence that no amount of reading can replicate. The train through the American Southwest was one chapter. There are many more still to come.