Train, train...goin down, down the line...

Day 2 of our Amtrak adventure started out with us boarding from Union Station Chicago. As part of a sleeper car ticket, you get to board from the 1^st Class Lounge. This is really a good deal as the lounge offers a baggage check, soft drinks, and a restroom inside the lounge. Coming back from DC we'll have a 5 hour layover, so instead of schlepping our luggage around like I did this time, we'll park it in the lounge, tour the station a bit, and then come back in. There's wireless access inside the station (but not on the train sitting in the yard) and I used the time to update this blog yesterday. On the whole, the sleeper car tickets are great- you get not only the sleeper, but all meals (good ones, too!), unlimited bottled water, coffee, lounge access, showers in the sleeper car, and a place to get some privacy during the day. The sleeper car is definitely a good way to go, IMHO.

David in the Chicago Amtrak lounge

Traveling on the train is a blast. We've been going for 24 hours at this point. If I'd been flying, I'd be so cramped I couldn't move and it would be rush, rush, rush around the airport. Driving, I'd be white-knuckled, stressed, and would've seen at least a few accidents by now. On the train, I sit here, watch the country go by, read my Kindle, walk around, and talk with with people. It's great. David and I are already talking about getting an 8-stop pass and going from Denver to Seattle.

Speaking of reading on the Kindle, I have several books lined up. I have “The Reason For God” by Timothy Keller, “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith” by David Platt, “Chasing Elephants: Wrestling With Gray Areas of Christianity” by Brent Crowe, and “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller. I'm reading the latter two right now. “Blue Like Jazz” is surprisingly good. It was recommended by a friend, but the reviews I've read on it have been mixed. Well, so far, it's very good with some keen and dead-on observations about the condition of the human soul, as seen from the eyes of skeptics turned believers. In other words, it's not a “yes-yes, drink the Kool-Aid” book, but one that examines the changes of faith of several people, primarily the author. It's what I term a “real-life Christian” book written by a person who's struggled. Chasing Elephants is in the same vein, but hasn't grabbed me as much yet. No doubt it will later. I'll definitely be giving it a chance. I'd be getting more reading done if David didn't talk so much, but that's fine.

Alight... train's moving and we're moving out of Union Station! Time to shut this down and watch the scenery go by!

Saturday morning:

Woke up just after going thru Pittsburg. I kind of wanted to see Pittsburg, but slept thru it. It might have actually been the stop and restart that woke me up. No matter- I'll catch it on the way back. Right now we're weaving our way thru PA. It's really pretty country with lots of deciduous hardwood forests, shale cliffs, rivers (creeks to them, probably), and hilly mountains. There are a lot of tunnels in PA and it's fun when the train goes thru them.

David's doing okay. He thinks he's up and then falls asleep at breakfast, of which he only ate 3-4 bites. He's such a picky eater and won't try anything new that it's hard to feed him on the road. He'll just have to learn to adapt, I guess. Me, I'm finding the train food to be pretty good. I had a NY Strip steak last night that was very decent, along with a good salad and some vegetables. I'm not complaining.

David in the sleeper

We are well on schedule and should be in DC shortly after 1 pm.

Later: We arrived right on time. After a short taxi ride to our motel, we were at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum by 2 pm. It was packed! Saturday afternoon, what does one expect? We still had plenty of time for a quick overview and even worked in a 3D IMAX movie on “Legends of Flight” which was pretty neat. The 3D part was something else. Grabbed a quick and known bite to eat at McDonalds and headed back to the motel. I snagged a Starbucks Venti Dark and here we are- updating the blog. 

At the Air/Space Museum!

BTW- I've been taking these stills with my video camera.  They're all a little dark and blurry- gonna have to play with settings on the camera to see if it won't do better...