Sales Tax Trip Tuesday Time – February 2025

I kind of told you a little 'fib' when I introduced our 2025 series last month. This is still the Avalara Sales Tax 'Trip' Tuesday series, but it won't always be road trips, although it will always be scenic and informative. You will see what I mean when we climb aboard "The Rocky Mountaineer" for this month's journey. 

Once again, it is time for Murph and his friend (purely imaginary) to take more trips of the imagination across this beautiful country sponsored by Avalara. This year, we will take twelve iconic trips as we strive to cover all of the "lower 48 states" by the end of the year.

For February, we are taking a scenic train trip through the Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest. This trip begins in Denver, Colorado, and ends in Moab, Utah. We will begin our journey with a stay overnight in Denver before boarding the train to see the extraordinary landscapes of 'America the Beautiful.'

An Evening in Denver

As for our first night, we chose to stay in one of the Aspen Suites at the Limelight Hotel Union Station in Denver. It's a luxury, but when you are getting on the most luxurious train still running in the United States the following day, what's a small hotel bill in comparison? We have a room booked upon our return, and going and coming from the hotel to Union Station for the train is so easy; how could you resist?

We did our planning; many stays at this hotel require a two- or three-night minimum, but many customers like us stay the night before and the night of the return trip, so they let you book as a 2-night reservation with the nights 5 days apart. Still, depending on the month of the year, our suite can cost from $600 to $1,000 per night. 

Luxury abounds: a living area with a spectacular view, a spa bathroom with tub and shower, a wet bar, a comfortable sofa and chairs in the living room, and a luxurious bed.

We are off to Guard and Grace for dinner. This is one of the best 'Wagyu' steakhouses in America, and it's a good thing we booked our reservation when we booked our train trip more than six months ago. You've undoubtedly seen Chef Troy Guard appear on the Food Channel, competing in various cookoffs. 

Let me tell you, we are famished. So we start with a half-dozen oysters on the half-shell and a half-dozen chilled shrimp cocktail ($59). My companion will have the French Onion Soup ($13), and I will have the G&G House Salad with yummy white balsamic dressing ($12). The sunflower seeds and aged parmesan reggiano make this salad.

As for the entrees, we will split something unique at this restaurant, which they call the 'Filet Flight.' It's a sampling of prime, local grass-fed, and wagyu filets (4 oz each), served 'Crab Oscar' style. ($133) And, how could you go wrong pairing those filets with some 'Duck Fat Fries' accompanied by herb aioli? You know I will get the better of this deal because my companion is saving herself for another special here, 'Banana-Misu', made from banana cake, mocha mouse, lady fingers, caramelized banana, and chocolate crunch pearls ($14).

Dinner is over, and it's time to pay more sales tax. Yes, Colorado charges state and local sales taxes on 'prepared foods', and this tremendous meal was prepared with the touch of artists. So let's total it up… $59 for appetizers, $25 for soup-n-salad, $133 for entrée, $8 for those fries, and $14 for the dessert, a food sub-total of $239. I must admit, for the best steak I've put in my mouth this entire trip thus far, I thought I would be higher. Now, we are going to add 8.81% Sales Tax, which includes 2.9% Colorado state sales tax, 3.5% Denver city sales tax, 1.0% Regional Transport district tax, and then a variety of programs, funds, smaller districts, and initiatives with a collective sales tax amount of 1.41%. The $21.06 in sales taxes on our dinner raises the pre-tip tab to $260.06… let's just call it $330.00 with the gratuity.

After a great dinner like that, you just want to stay in bed, and 5:30 AM comes really early, but that's when there is a knock at the door, and room service is ready to roll in our breakfast. It's a good thing we included the in-room continental breakfast for each one-night stay so we don't have to worry about restaurant service before boarding.

As we check out on our way to the train terminal, we'll pay for last night and our return stay. Our total, with taxes and fees, is $1616.34. Remember, Denver's total sales tax is 8.81%. Then, you must add the motel taxes of 6.94%, which means a combined lodging and sales tax rate of 15.75%.

When it comes down to it, we are paying $211.06 in taxes for our $1340.00 2-night hotel room. The hotel also tacks on $65.28 in guest service fees and guest service fee tax. So add that $5.28 to the $211.06, and you are paying $276.34. Aren't you glad Avalara has an online tax calculator at a time like this?

Day 1 - Denver to Glenwood Springs

To our pleasure, we have an escort and porter from the train to ensure we get to the station with our belongings on time for departure. After boarding the train and spending a few moments getting situated to see which train car was what, we joined other travelers in the lounge car for a departing toast. Then, it's up to the observation car to begin our journey. This is world-class service at its finest, accompanied by world-class scenery. During much of the travel, highly competent hosts bring history to life with tales of the westward pioneers, miners seeking gold and silver, and the villains seeking to pray on them.

As we depart Denver, it is easy to see that this is a fantastic tour across the Rockies in a way not easily seen except from the observation car's great windows and glass dome. Yet, the scenery is just as easily taken in while spending time in the lounge car, the dining car, or even from a coach-level window. 

Heading westbound, the train runs along the south bank of the Colorado River with Interstate 70 on the north side of the river. Yet even with the Interstate so close, you have plenty of beauty to enjoy simply by looking outward or upward.

As we make our way toward Utah, we take in the fantastic scenery that is the Colorado Rockies and then the Gross Reservoir Damn as we continue to gain altitude to cross the Continental Divide. We pass by the Phoenix Gold Mine and the Griffin Monument. Soon, we are approaching the skiers' heaven, a group of ski resort areas that makes winter fun for visitors and locals when the snow is heavy on the slopes. I'm talking about Loveland, Keystone, and Frisco-Breckenridge, and then we are railing past Vail, Avon, and Eagle.

There are many areas of the Colorado River basin that are inaccessible except via train. Many canyons carved by the river are too narrow, except for the train tracks laid long before highways even existed. This trip lets us see areas we've only seen from the air.

Continuing along the Colorado River, we change places with the Interstate as we rail through rugged landscapes and canyons, including Byers and Gore Canyons. It won't be long until our evening layover in Glenwood Springs.

Glenwood Spring is noted for its geothermal hot springs. This charming town still has a sense of the Wild West. Half the town is on one side of the railroad, Interstate, and Colorado River, and the other half is on the opposite side of them. But a pedestrian bridge allows you to cross over when exploring. 

Our train trip includes our lodging; tonight, we will stay at the Hotel Colorado. We specifically requested the Hotel Denver for our return trip. Both of these hotels are noted for their history of the days of outlaws, gangsters, ghosts, and, of course, prohibition. But we have just enough time before dinner to take a short soak in the hot therapeutic spring waters called Yampah, which means 'Big Medicine' in the native Ute tongue.

So our tickets, because we are over 65, are only $11.00 at the time of our travel, but we have a bundle of sales taxes that get piled on, and they just went up on January 1. So we are paying 2.9% state tax, 1% Garfield County tax, 1% Rural Transit (RTA) tax, and Glenwood Springs city sales tax of 4.2% for a total of 9.1%. That means that for our two tickets for a meager 30-minute soak, we paid $24.01. I hate to think what those youngsters under 65 had to pay when their ticket was $35.00. Nevertheless, the water was tremendous….I now feel younger than 65, but not by much; I don't want to lose my Sr. discount at dinner.

Returning to the hotel, we decided to partake of the free hors d'oeuvres at the evening 'welcome reception.'  That saved me a bundle of bucks! By the way, this hotel is one of some notoriety. President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt made the hotel his temporary home in 1905 while on a hunting expedition. Just four years later, in 1909 President William Howard Taft visited the hotel. The hotel was favored by Molly Brown (aka: The Unsinkable Molly Brown) and a suite still exists in the hotel even today with memorabilia and period furnishings. During the roaring '20s, the Chicago gangster Diamond Jack (Alterie) made the hotel his 'get out of town' playground. Oh' I forgot to mention, the Hotel is considered to be the birth of the 'Teddy Bear' when a maid gave President Roosevelt a stuffed toy bear.

After a cozy overnight stay, we boarded the train to another 'welcome back aboard' morning reception. Even though the train doesn't have a chef preparing meals, these prepared meals are equivalent to first-class airline quality or better. I've not put a bite in my mouth that wasn't superb.

Day 2 - Glenwood Springs to Moab, Utah

Once again, the morning's travels take us through mountain vistas and desert cliffs as we pass through Parachute Creek and Mount Logan toward DeBeque Canyon, one of the most marvelous sites of the trip. This 15-mile-long narrow canyon has marvelous stair-stepped cliffs with a variety of colors.

Soon, we were served several sweet and savory snacks to keep our mouths occupied while learning more from our host about this vast area's scenery, wildlife, and history as we get our first glimpse of 6,800-foot-high Mount Garfield as we pass by Palisade. Not long after, the Colorado National Monument is just to our south.

In my mind, I am singing to myself, "Over the river and through the woods…" but it's more like "Along the river and by the bluffs…" there is just so much to take in; that's why it's great we are doing the return trip so we can see more of what we missed by traveling in the opposite direction.

Not long after, we left the cliffs and buttes and crossed over into Utah, not too far west of Grand Junction. Then we reach Ruby Canyon, a 25-mile-long venture through more red sandstone cliffs, but this time, it's only the river and the train; the highway can't make it through this narrow passage that leads the way to Utah's five national wonders, which happen to be National Parks as well.   

Next thing you know, we have arrived at Moab. We have a one-day layover before our return trip. It allows us to pamper ourselves in the spa while staying at the Hoodoo Moab and take in the stunning views of the hills surrounding this 'city of the west.'

We also pamper ourselves with a room upgrade, breakfast package, and spa visit. That little change over the train trip room allowance for the hotel, cost me an extra $340 plus tax. As of this year, the combined sales taxes for Moab are 8.85%, of which 4.8499% is Utah state sales tax, 0.75% Grand County sales tax, 1.1% Moab city sales tax, and 2.15% in special sales taxes. In addition, the room tax, which applies to everything at the hotel, is 4.25%. So, my 13.1% sales and lodging taxes on my $340 upgrade equals $46.26, bringing my hotel bill to a total of $386.26 on top of that train fare.

I just realized I hadn't talked about that 'train fare'. For the two of us, our two-way trip from Denver to Moab and return on this luxurious train is a meager $9,500.38 plus the 8.81% Denver sales tax because we commenced travel from Denver. If we started in Moab and returned there, our tax would be 8.85%. So, leaving the way we did, we saved 0.04% in sales taxes. Anyway, this magnificent train 'trip of the imagination' cost me $10,269.92. But what an Avalara Sales Tax Trip Tuesday it was!

Speaking of tax... if you are looking for a source of tax information broken down by address and zip code for everything from sales taxes to motor fuel taxes to food and grocery taxes, entertainment taxes, and almost anything else you can pay in the way of 'at the point of sale' tax... then Avalara is your source of tax information. Be sure to head to the Avalara Accountant Partner website for more information and tell them, "Murph sent ya."

Till next month, safe travels, and keep paying that sales tax!

Disclosures:

Content created or otherwise adapted by Insightful Accountant from source content(s) specified below is furnished for educational purposes only.

All 'Sales and related taxes' discussed herein were provided from Avalara sources, and were current at the time the story was composed. Tax rates and amounts may vary in some cases during different (seasonal) periods of the year, by location, and may have changed subsequent to publication. 

Do not rely on 'any' amounts (for goods, products, services or taxes) specified herein when considering or making travel plans. 

Content is a fictionalized account of persons, places and activities, and is used for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only. Any similarity to actual persons is purely coincidental.

References:

Source content* adapted from material found within the Rocky Mountaineer Travel Guide, Rocky Mountaineer Vacations, Major Rock Corporation, 2024. Specifically, content related to the 'Rockies to the Red Rocks' rail journeys.

Media source content*, including website lodging calculator for Limelight Hotel Union Station, Denver, Colorado.

Media source content* includes the online Guard and Grace, Denver, Colorado menu.

Media source content*, including website lodging calculator for Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Media source content*, including website lodging and services calculator for the Hoodoo Moab Hotel, Moab, Colorado.

*- 'source content' specified above may include graphic images or other depictions adapted by Insightful Accountant from the source(s) specified. All such sources are specified at the base of each image or depiction.

URL links to the above referenced entities are provided as a courtesy to our readers.

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