The fantasy: A winter wonderland filled with Christmas joy and snow and jack frost-nipped cheeks.
The reality: So much better.
Our learned lesson from our first trip: Fly first, train home.
This was my first flight in quite a while and I was really nervous about maneuvering around an airport. I'd asked for assistance but once we arrived at the San Jose airport, the agent let us know our gate was relatively close and we were early, I declined wheelchair assistance. I have been blessed with a foot drop brace which has really helped my mobility so along with my vest and two sticks, we were on our way to the TSA checkpoint. I was actually most nervous about this part, especially since the last time I'd been kind of yelled at when getting scanned about bringing my arms down. This agent was actually really nice and when I'd admitted being worried about standing with my arms out and no vest, etc., he let me walk through the straight metal detector and we were on our way.
I'd investigated the food court online and found a sushi place and mister ate at Sonoma Chicken....yummy meal to start the trip. I'd upgraded us to Economy Plus on both flights and chose United specially since our first plane had two seat rows. Boy, those seats are REALLY REALLY tight. I felt like a gigantress on the plane... blech... but it was a two hour flight and we sucked it up. I knew from our flight plan and snow was going to be on the lean side... amazed at how little snow there was. We had a 3 hour layover in Denver, ate at Micky Dees and were ready for our next flight. Denver is a beautiful airport but boy is it long!
Our flight to Chicago was another 2 hour flight and we had a 3 seat row for just the two of us. I must admit that, even though you pay for it, having all the programming choices from DirecTv was great. We got to watch almost all of Guardians of the Galaxy and I loved peeping at our flight path, watching altitude and speed. I had to reflect on the fact that our flights almost exactly covered where we would be on the Zephyr, but instead of 4 flight hours and all day drama, it would be two days of peaceful reflection coming home.
We arrived on time at O'Hare, picked up our fully loaded bag from baggage claim (if you're going to charge me $25, I'm going to get my moneys worth!), wandered stupidly around trying to find the Shuttle Center (ps - exit out of baggage claim and walk toward the hotel and the gates are all lined up on the opposite side of the road - a very long walk) and caught our hotel's shuttle bus. It was nice and chilly and the decorations were really cool. I was getting happy!
I have a co-worker who lives in the area and Saturday morning, bravely picked us up and away we drove, in to the wilds of Chicago! She was nervous but traffic was really light - hurrah! Our GPS was really confused by Chicago but with a bit of "No, I think this is it" we actually found our first stop ... Christkindle Market at Daly Plaza. Our first obstacle was to find parking. Once we got over the sticker shock, we hurried left the lot and re-found the market! The good news: It is really amazing. The bad news: We arrived before 11 a.m. so not much was open. The good news? We didn't spend a lot of money! It is a beautiful market and we enjoyed seeing the tree and I loved taking pictures!
We hustled back to the car and moved on to try and find our next destination - The Magnificent Mile... Again, the GPS thought we were where we weren't and we ended up in some random under bridge place so we just parked at the nearest garage. Imagine our surprise when we took the elevator up one floor and realized we were at Trump Hotel... right where the water taxi had dropped us off. After a photo op and more fighting with our GPS, we wandered down Wabash and ended up doing some shopping at TJ Maxx - which ps by the way... ended up being right across the street from Lawry's! Moving on, we hit Michigan Avenue and ran smack in to all of Chicago walking up and down the avenue. For some reason, we took a right in to one of the stores and was wandering around when we decided to try and find Macy's and the Walnut room.
For those of you not in the know - there are two Macy's... one way down Michigan Avenue and another not on Michigan Avenue... the not on Michigan Avenue is the one we wanted but that's for later in the story. So we turned around and walked with the crowds down Michigan Avenue. I had had us on a time budget and we needed to be headed back to the car by 1 pm... so we were trying to walk fast BUT.... the decorations were pretty and I found the sewing machine store front and there was Tiffany's... a visual and chilly piece of Christmas bliss. It was very evident that once we finally made it to Macy's that we'd gone to the wrong one and we were probably close to where we wanted to be but we'd hit our time limit so back to the car we tromped...staying off Michigan Avenue, running in to Due and then Uno... and finally to the car, where we demolished some blueberry muffins.
We had another chore trying to find our hotel... finally parked the car and we got out and wandered until kind people kept pointing us in the direction of our wonderful Buckingham Athletic Club Hotel.... on the 40th floor. Beautiful room. We hugged our friend good bye after finding out Chicago Union Station was a 10-15 minute walk away (if you know where you are going), thanked her for her gifts and away we walked to Union Station. Did you know that you cant walk to the fancy front where it says Union Station... oh no.. you have to retrace your steps and go in down the escalators.
We caught the Hiawatha from Union Station to Milwaukee and cabbed it to The Harbor House where we met some AU friends for an absolutely amazing dinner. They were generous enough to be tour guides - showing us Christmas lights and Miller Brewing and Miller Park. After thanking them for more yummy gifts, we hopped on the last Hiawatha and made it back to Chicago by 9 pm.... walked to our hotel and CRASHED!
I woke up early the next morning and went to the lounge to enjoy an amazing sun rise... viewing Midway Airport and Gary, Indiana. A quick breakfast at the hotel and we were off once again... We actually walked in a giant circle and finally found our way to Jackson and then to Michigan Avenue. We were on the prowl for the elusive Bean..... after questioning strangers, we found the Bean! After a few minutes exploring and watching the ice skater, time was our enemy and we were off... to find the Walnut Room!
A tick of confusion with our GPS and finally found the Marshall Fields and Company sign. Many escalator rides, an accidental separation from mister ( and a tick of panic on my part since I never carry my phone) but we were reunited on the 7th floor at the Walnut Room. Photo captured that and we were off and running. Had to be back to the hotel by 11:30 so we could check out by noon for the walk to Union Station.... and we hit all our marks! Checked in at the Metropolitan Room, dropped our bags, went photo crazy in the Great Hall, bought out the Amtrak Store and while there, ran in to my favorite coach attendant from our Lake Shore Limited run...Barbara! We'd seen her again on the Zephyr from Reno so it was great to recognized her again! Another picture, a return to the lounge for a drink of some Pepsi and we were boarded!
This was an absolutely amazing crew... Mike was our attendant... Marvin was in the next car.. Stacey was our LSA.... We made a lunch out of the yummy food gifts from friends and sat back and enjoyed the ride... trying to spot snow where ever we could find it. Dinner came and we both made the unfortunate choice of the light menu.. Round of Beef with couscous and carrots with a wine sauce. The wine sauce was okay but otherwise... pass. I had the yummy chocolate mousse and mister had the ice cream. I regretted the mousse when I couldn't sleep... at least that's what I blamed on my lack of sleep...that or the fact that the night crew was trying to peel the paint off the train
I will tell you that the only stops were for stations... I don't think we slowed for freight at all.
We were ready for Denver on time. It's really cool they way the maneuver the train back in to Denver. We did disembark at Denver. I really wanted to see inside the station and it did not disappoint. So beautiful, especially decorated for Christmas. (Tip... you don't need to walk all the way around.... take the elevator down and the stairs up to the station... it's a lot shorter!)
Leaving Denver was incredible. We ate breakfast (french toast) and went to the lounge. The train almost felt like a private car. It was not a full load.... so we had plenty of room in the lounge. As we moved up the mountain, I missed a shot of Denver. Ah HA! The railfan window! I'd forgotten that since all the sleepers were up front the railfan window was in coach - and free! I scurried to the back and stayed for all the tunnels... except Moffet. By then I was tuckered out and since all the great views were out the right side, we slipped back to our roomette and just gazed and gazed and ohed and ahed. We took a ton of pictures and loved all the canyons. By 5 pm, we were thrilled with the dark and the rest and so were our cameras!
So we had dinner - steak for mister and lasagna for me... and I was ready for bed by 10 pm. That is when the perfect trip went off the rails... So my question: Do they not tell passengers that are getting ready to board after 10 pm that it's quiet time on the train? 3 people boarded... a woman and toddler son... and a lady friend of our oblivious one next door.... grrrrr.... The woman and toddler had visitors because all I'm hearing is "SCREAMMMMMMM" and "Grandma loves you" and kick, kick, thunk, thunk and lady friend next door gabbing at full volume. I finally got so mad that I stomped off to the lounge but not before observing lady friend standing in the doorway of the roomette.....
An hour later and a couple moved in to the lounge car and were playing a movie at full blast, the train started moving and I walked back in utter defeat, hoping to find our attendant. I walk in to the bath and there is lady friend... who didn't lock the door. I went downstairs then back up. Mister informed me when I returned that the toddler got worse and worse and finally someone stepped in the hallway and said "You're being too loud" and that quieted down the toddler. Lady friend and our buddy were still rolling.... I rang for the attendant but he was off for the night and looked and looked for the conductor and finally... finally about to blow my top, pounded on their door and (very surprisingly) told them very politely to "STFU" and if they wanted to continue talking they could move to the lounge car to talk... and finally to bed... and growling for a bit finally settled down.
The Sierras were sad... barely any snow... but I love the canyon and learned more about it from the Rails and Trails folks! When we went to lunch, I went up to Stacy and asked her to NOT seat my buddies with me ... and sure enough they came in after us... and were not seated with us.
An almost perfect trip...filled with friends and magnificent views.... Ready to make it an annual trip - but I'll pass on the SLC drama!
Hope you enjoyed this report and the pictures!
