(Due to the number of photos, I'm going to have to break this trip into a few posts.)
Stressed with my job, people, and life in general, I checked the employee schedule to see if I could take any time off. Miraculously, they had some openings, so I jumped on them. We are very, very busy in the summer, and lots of people take vacation time, so it's not unheard of for our employee calendar to be red (i.e. "no requests honored") from May to October.
I managed to get Mon-Wed off and then turned to my AGR account to see how many points I had. Two phone calls and a helpful AU thread later, I was booked for a trip on the CONO, Crescent, and CL, leaving on Saturday and returning on Wednesday. This was one of the best impulsive decisions I've ever made, and it was awesome not having to sit here and feel impatient about an upcoming trip. I believe the time from booking to departure was approximately 40 hours.
Since KAL no longer has a 2:30 PM departure (due to track work), I took the 9:30 AM Blue Water to Chicago. This gave me an entire day to play around in Chicago (oh darn). Amtrakwolverine was on the Wolverine, literally right behind my train, so we planned to meet up for lunch. Hessjoe was also on the Pere Marquette at this point.
At one point, we stopped to let the Wolverine pass us. The conductor told us there was a VIP on board who could not miss an appointment, so we let them by. We pulled into Chicago about 10 minutes behind them, and Hessjoe was waiting by the gate. We kept an eye out for Amtrakwolverine but didn't see him.
Hessjoe walked to the Metropolitan Lounge with me, and the plan was to drop my bags, look for Amtrakwolverine on the north concourse, and then Hessjoe would head out to get some Garrett's popcorn. Unfortunately, the redcap was on break, so I told Hessjoe to go get his popcorn (his train was boarding in an hour). The redcap came back 30 minutes later, at which point I dropped my bags and then ran over to the north concourse to say hi to Amtrakwolverine before his points run to MKE departed.
After I talked to him for a bit, I went back to the lounge to say hi to everyone transferring from the east coast trains to the CZ. Hessjoe was back at this point, fully popcorned. I talked to pennyk, jis, AlanB, shanghai, and a few others for about fifteen minutes before heading off to find some lunch. I ended up in the Metro Deli, as usual, and then went to the Metra area to get a CTA pass.
I did stop to take a picture of the restored "To Trains" sign and one of the many packs of Scouts waiting to head to Philmont:
I decided to walk around the Loop for a while and started to head toward the bus stop along Jackson St. Seeing these boats gave me an idea:
I had never been on an architecture tour, and it was really muggy that day, so I thought it would be nice to take the combined architecture and lake tour. It's a longer tour that includes a trip out on Lake Michigan to see the skyline from a bit farther away.
While on the bus, a couple seemed pretty lost. It turned out they were going to take a boat tour, as they had time before catching the CONO later. What a coincidence.
I told them how to get to Michigan Ave. and where to get off to catch the tour. They said, "See you on the train later," thanked me again, and got off. I headed into farther into the Loop to do some shopping. It was supposed to storm pretty soon, so I figured I'd just wait it out and get on a boat later in the day.
Later that afternoon, the rain had passed, so I walked toward the Wendella dock. It's right by the bridge on Michigan Ave, at the base of the Wrigley building. They have a sign at the top of the stairs, so you can't miss it. While walking there, I saw multiple wedding parties having their pictures taken on Michigan Ave. The median is a popular spot, as you can get a lot of the major buildings behind you.
This is exactly where they were standing:
People were yelling out, "Congratulations," and telling the brides they were beautiful as they walked around. It was really sweet.
Due to the storms, the water level had gotten pretty high. Even though I'd purchased the lake tour, they told me they wouldn't be going out on the lake that day because opening the lock would flood the Chicago River. You can see how close it is to the sidewalk here:
They said since they'd cancelled the lake tour, they'd just do a longer architecture tour (this would later prove to be a lie, but it was no big deal). Instead of using the regular tour boats, we had to use the water taxis, as they have a lower profile and could get under the bridges. It was still pretty tight.
I definitely recommend the architecture tour, even if you live in Chicago or have been there a million times. It gives you a completely different perspective, and you get to see parts of buildings that aren't visible from the bridges or street. Plus, it's informative and relaxing. Nobody talked or stood up, and the kids weren't running around. Most people just sat there enjoying the lecture and taking pictures.
Another wedding party!
The Montgomery Ward HQ. The owner wanted all of the executives to be equal, with no preferential treatment, so he designed the building that way on purpose. It meant that nobody had the much-coveted "corner office". Everyone had the same number of windows.
One of my favorite buildings. I tell people the Morlocks live here. (Pretend it's underground.)
Once the tour was over, it was really muggy and hot again, so I took a bus back to Union Station. I tried to hook up with MetraUPWest during his layover, but the timing didn't work out. They were running extra Metra trains for the Taste of Chicago, so his layover was cut short.
I sat in the lounge for about two hours, and then they announced that we'd be boarding a bit late, as they were waiting for an engine. I'll continue the CONO trip report in a separate thread.
Stressed with my job, people, and life in general, I checked the employee schedule to see if I could take any time off. Miraculously, they had some openings, so I jumped on them. We are very, very busy in the summer, and lots of people take vacation time, so it's not unheard of for our employee calendar to be red (i.e. "no requests honored") from May to October.
I managed to get Mon-Wed off and then turned to my AGR account to see how many points I had. Two phone calls and a helpful AU thread later, I was booked for a trip on the CONO, Crescent, and CL, leaving on Saturday and returning on Wednesday. This was one of the best impulsive decisions I've ever made, and it was awesome not having to sit here and feel impatient about an upcoming trip. I believe the time from booking to departure was approximately 40 hours.
Since KAL no longer has a 2:30 PM departure (due to track work), I took the 9:30 AM Blue Water to Chicago. This gave me an entire day to play around in Chicago (oh darn). Amtrakwolverine was on the Wolverine, literally right behind my train, so we planned to meet up for lunch. Hessjoe was also on the Pere Marquette at this point.
At one point, we stopped to let the Wolverine pass us. The conductor told us there was a VIP on board who could not miss an appointment, so we let them by. We pulled into Chicago about 10 minutes behind them, and Hessjoe was waiting by the gate. We kept an eye out for Amtrakwolverine but didn't see him.
Hessjoe walked to the Metropolitan Lounge with me, and the plan was to drop my bags, look for Amtrakwolverine on the north concourse, and then Hessjoe would head out to get some Garrett's popcorn. Unfortunately, the redcap was on break, so I told Hessjoe to go get his popcorn (his train was boarding in an hour). The redcap came back 30 minutes later, at which point I dropped my bags and then ran over to the north concourse to say hi to Amtrakwolverine before his points run to MKE departed.
After I talked to him for a bit, I went back to the lounge to say hi to everyone transferring from the east coast trains to the CZ. Hessjoe was back at this point, fully popcorned. I talked to pennyk, jis, AlanB, shanghai, and a few others for about fifteen minutes before heading off to find some lunch. I ended up in the Metro Deli, as usual, and then went to the Metra area to get a CTA pass.
I did stop to take a picture of the restored "To Trains" sign and one of the many packs of Scouts waiting to head to Philmont:
I decided to walk around the Loop for a while and started to head toward the bus stop along Jackson St. Seeing these boats gave me an idea:
I had never been on an architecture tour, and it was really muggy that day, so I thought it would be nice to take the combined architecture and lake tour. It's a longer tour that includes a trip out on Lake Michigan to see the skyline from a bit farther away.
While on the bus, a couple seemed pretty lost. It turned out they were going to take a boat tour, as they had time before catching the CONO later. What a coincidence.
I told them how to get to Michigan Ave. and where to get off to catch the tour. They said, "See you on the train later," thanked me again, and got off. I headed into farther into the Loop to do some shopping. It was supposed to storm pretty soon, so I figured I'd just wait it out and get on a boat later in the day.Later that afternoon, the rain had passed, so I walked toward the Wendella dock. It's right by the bridge on Michigan Ave, at the base of the Wrigley building. They have a sign at the top of the stairs, so you can't miss it. While walking there, I saw multiple wedding parties having their pictures taken on Michigan Ave. The median is a popular spot, as you can get a lot of the major buildings behind you.
This is exactly where they were standing:
People were yelling out, "Congratulations," and telling the brides they were beautiful as they walked around. It was really sweet.
Due to the storms, the water level had gotten pretty high. Even though I'd purchased the lake tour, they told me they wouldn't be going out on the lake that day because opening the lock would flood the Chicago River. You can see how close it is to the sidewalk here:
They said since they'd cancelled the lake tour, they'd just do a longer architecture tour (this would later prove to be a lie, but it was no big deal). Instead of using the regular tour boats, we had to use the water taxis, as they have a lower profile and could get under the bridges. It was still pretty tight.
I definitely recommend the architecture tour, even if you live in Chicago or have been there a million times. It gives you a completely different perspective, and you get to see parts of buildings that aren't visible from the bridges or street. Plus, it's informative and relaxing. Nobody talked or stood up, and the kids weren't running around. Most people just sat there enjoying the lecture and taking pictures.
Another wedding party!
The Montgomery Ward HQ. The owner wanted all of the executives to be equal, with no preferential treatment, so he designed the building that way on purpose. It meant that nobody had the much-coveted "corner office". Everyone had the same number of windows.
One of my favorite buildings. I tell people the Morlocks live here. (Pretend it's underground.)
Once the tour was over, it was really muggy and hot again, so I took a bus back to Union Station. I tried to hook up with MetraUPWest during his layover, but the timing didn't work out. They were running extra Metra trains for the Taste of Chicago, so his layover was cut short.
I sat in the lounge for about two hours, and then they announced that we'd be boarding a bit late, as they were waiting for an engine. I'll continue the CONO trip report in a separate thread.
