Chicago Revisited

The trip from Minot was late getting started and slow to progress. We ended up 4 hours late into Chicago – my first real experience with Amtrak’s reputation for being late. I have learned a few things about Amtrak that are important to know if you find yourself frustrated. First is that they don’t own the tracks on which they travel, the freight companies do. So, if a freight train needs the track for shuffling cars or just needs to use the track for hauling freight, Amtrak trains must wait. As we did, for an hour and a half, in Minot.

Amtrak is also highly regulated for safety reasons, like the airlines. After several severe wrecks of steam engines going upwards of 130 mph, the federal government set a maximum speed limit of around 75 or 80 mph. If there’s bad weather or lots of water on or near the tracks the speed limit is lowered to 30 mph. As a result when we woke up the next morning after leaving Minot, we were 4 hours behind instead of 1½ hours, and stayed between 3 and 4 hours behind for the rest of the trip. In addition – and again for our safety and their health – Amtrak personnel must have at least 8 hours break between shifts. So if the train on which they arrive is late, they can’t board the next train for 8 hours, regardless of its scheduled departure time. And so we passengers must wait, happy or not.

The Gingerbread Shoppe in action

Once we reached Chicago, Ken and Jean were kind enough to offer up their hospitality to us again. It was wonderful to be with them for a second visit and to introduce them to Beth. The Gingerbread Shoppe had opened its doors earlier this week, so we got to see it up and running. They had completely redone the floors and painted the walls, giving the shop a more welcoming, up-to-date feel. Jean has stocked it with a wide variety of interesting crafts from around the country and potential customers were beginning to find their way into the store.

Chicago from the Willis Tower Skydeck

Looking down!

Since Beth had not been to Chicago before, we went back into the city on Thursday to see the sights. Ken, Candice and Ryan served as our tour guides – what a great group and fun adventure! Ryan’s dad works as a conductor for Metra, so we took advantage of his offer of free tickets to ride the Metra commuter train from Joliet to LaSalle Street Station.  First on the agenda was the Willis Tower Skydeck, a must-do that I didn’t do on my last visit. A tad skeptical of paying $17 to ride an elevator to the top for a great view, I had no regrets. The weather was perfect so the views were long range and amazing. As you might imagine, stepping out into the Plexiglas view boxes to look down at the street 103 floors below was literally breathtaking and quite thrilling!

Willis Tower through the "L"

From Willis Tower we revisited Millennium Park and “The Bean” and then squeezed the 5 of us into a cab to go to Fadó’s Irish Pub for dinner. I was very excited to see that they carried Kilkenny beer (though Ken wasn’t too sure about it…), which was a favorite of Tony’s and mine when we visited Ireland 10 years ago. Thinking that it was a beer that couldn’t travel far, we had given up the hunt for it several years ago and here it was! For once my memory served me well – it was just as good as I expected.

Our lovely borrowed shoes

After Fadó’s, we had some time to kill before the next Metra to Joliet, so Ken suggested the Redhead Piano Bar that was just around the corner. What a find!  I haven’t enjoyed myself that much at a bar in a long time. From the very first minute, when they required us to borrow nicer shoes than the “gym” shoes we were wearing, to the last martini, we laughed and sang and enjoyed each other and the place immensely. After postponing the train twice, we finally resigned ourselves to undertaking the 2-hour journey back to Plainfield and the headache we were bound to face the next morning.

Friday morning, though still recovering from Thursday’s entertainment, we left Ken with Jean to continue setting up the shop and headed back into Chicago for more sightseeing and the eventual goal of catching the train to DC. This time we mostly walked, covering Chicago’s upscale outdoor mall known as the Magnificent Mile, a quick trip to Navy Pier and a stroll along Lake Michigan. We indulged in Chicago-style deep-dish pizza at Gino’s East (without the usual beer for some reason), which left us overstuffed to the point where we gave the last piece to the staff for their “salvage” table. It was different and good, but I believe I prefer New York style pizza.

A "small" Chicago Style Pizza

Satisfied that we had sampled wisely from downtown Chicago’s best offerings, we boarded the Capitol Limited to Washington, DC, the final stop of our train adventure before heading home.

[A note to Tony and my family: I have missed you every day of this trip, but especially today on my birthday! I look forward to celebrating it with you in person when I get back. *BIG HUGS*]