# Washington, DC to New Orleans, returning via Chicago



## Ashland Train Enthusiast (Feb 6, 2013)

Last summer, my fiancée suggested that for our next trip, we visit the Big Easy. Naturally, my planning drifted to how I could maximize my our rail travel. Thus was born the plan to take the _Crescent_ from DC to New Orleans for a few days, and then return via the _City of New Orleans_, connecting to the _Cardinal_ in Chicago. (We had previously traveled Chicago to Washington on the _Capitol Limited_, so wanted to try a different route, as well as see the New River gorge. Checking our AGR balances, I realized I would have enough points for a 2 zone roomette redemption, making the trip that much easier to go forward with.

Once this was all planned, the first hurdle was presented in early November: trackwork. I got the call at work one day that our trip on the _Crescent_ had been cancelled, not a fun call to get! Calling Amtrak back, I got a great agent who was able to look up the ARROW posting (as checking on Amtrak.com provided me no information), and let me know the duration and impact of the trackwork; I had him wait to make any changes until I could confirm with AGR that I could make the return trip work, as well as work with the inn to make sure rooms were available.

After calling the respective parties, I was able to get things 99% of the way worked out. The 1% hitch? We would have to arrive in New Orleans on Sunday, February 3rd. Superbowl Sunday. That was the only trip that worked with my and my fiancée's work schedule, as well as allowing us to avoid trackwork, connect to the _Cardinal_, and avoid expensive Mardi Gras rates on rooms. While our Inn was able to move our reservation around, they were unfortunately unable to accommodation us that night; between the two of us, we hit up the social media to find anyone we knew in the area who would be willing to put us up for the night, and were able to find a high-school friend of hers who graciously offered.

So, with that backstory being told, on to the trip! I'll be writing this in parts, 1) so I don't ramble on too long and delay getting things posted, and 2) so I can write pieces while my memory is still fresh.

*1. DC to New Orleans on the Crescent*
_2. _New Orleans
3. New Orleans to Chicago on the _City of New Orleans_
4. Chicago to DC on the _Cardinal_

Our journey began leaving home a bit later than expected, due to forgetting to pay rent on the 1st of the month (oops). From where we live, it's a Bus + METRO to get to Union Station, and fortunately, both were running on schedule, and we arrived early enough into Union Station that I could stop by the Barnes and Nobles there and use a Christmas gift card to get some reading material for the train. I'm a huge maritime history fan, so I settled on _Ship of Ghosts_ by James Hornfischer. We checked into the Club Acela and had about a 20 minute wait, just enough to set up the final away/out of office messages to emails and check last-minute websites before shutting ourselves off from the internet, with the exception of my smart phone (but not that big of a data plan) for a day.

#19 was on time into Washington, and we were shortly thereafter walked down to board. There was a group of 7 or 8 boarding the sleepers, ourselves included. When we got down to the train, the yard crew had already cut out the engine for replacement with the diesels, and I saw the familiar round Amfleet silhouette so knew then that the sleepers were on the rear. I had expected it based on previous threads here, however was kind of hoping for them to be up front, as that meant less of a walk for us. 

On the walk back, I noted that our diner was 8558, and the consist was 4 Amfleet II coaches, a Long-Distance Cafe/Lounge, the Diner, 2 Sleepers, and bag, so fairly typical.

We were greeted at the door by our SCA, Jonathan, who seemed to be younger and newer in his role than others we have had, but he was quite earnest and enthusiastic about providing service, being sure to check in on us once he got everyone on board and make sure we were familiar with all of the amenities as well as letting us know that as soon as we left Washington (which we did on time), we could head back (forward) to the diner for a 6:30 dinner seating.

We were in roomette 2, and across the walkway from us was an elderly woman named Nellie, who was traveling from Cleveland to Birmingham to visit family, and had gotten in on the _Capital Limited_ earlier that day. She was an occasional train traveler, not frequent, but she'd done it before, and after talking, we asked her of she would like to join us for dinner, and she happily obliged.

When we walked up to the Dining car, it was about half full, and the LSA, noting how Ellie was braced given the train movement, seated us at a table close to the door. The special that evening was the roasted Lamb Shank, which I got; my fiancée got the Steak, as she had been thinking about it all day, and then Nellie got the Crab Cakes. I was excited about this, as it gave me the opportunity to get three different dinner pictures for my side project. All were served with a choice of starch (baked potato, mashed potatoes, or rice) and the mixed vegetables, which were a green and white bean medley.

I found the Lamb to be quite delicious, fork-tender and just falling off the bone. The potatoes (I got mashed) were good, probably dehydrated, but still hot and not at all soupy. I also found the vegetables to be quite good as well, hot all the way through, and tender without being mushy. I'm not sure if it was just these choices vs. their carrot/pepper medley that I've had before, but this easily was a better option. The steak was reported to be decent as well; ordered medium but came out medium well, but beyond that still hot and tender. Nellie declared after one crab cake that she was full, and graciously shared the other with me to try. Now, knowing full well from discussions here (like this one), I set my expectations accordingly. I know Amtrak cannot make a true Maryland Crab Cake (nor can many Maryland places either... gotta go to hole-in-the-wall joints on the bay that catch their own crab, like Abner's down in Chesapeake Beach, or the place right by the Bridge in Knapps Narrows), and I'll just say that the crab cake barely met my low expectations. It at least tasted crabby, and was sufficiently warm, but as mentioned elsewhere, the meat they used was not back fin jumbo lump, and there were far too many fillers. This may have sufficed for the average consumer used to commercial crab cakes elsewhere, but I would call it a stretch to compare it to true Maryland cakes.

For dessert they offered the Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Caramel Torte, which after seeing a picture of it here and having it described, I had to try. Let me just say that it is as delicious as you'd expect with a name like that.

While we were in the middle of dining, in a lull, I got a moment to take in the entire crew. It looked to me like they only had one cook, one SA, and the LSA crewing the car; I'm not sure if this was a lighter run or something, but I've usually seen the Heritage diner staffed by at least the LSA and 2 SAs. The LSA was also seating couples to tables individually (to re-create that romantic dining alone experience perhaps based on commentary here?) unless there were groups of 3 or 4. I had a chance to talk to the SA, who's name was Keith, and he said he'd been with Amtrak since 1990, was based out of NY, and worked the Eastern routes (New York to Chicago, Washington to Chicago, and New York to New Orleans). Overall I found the crew to be quite competent personable, helpful, and professional. 

Following Dinner, we retired to our rooms to do some reading and relaxing before bed. When that time rolled around, I discovered that the reading light above one of the lower seats wouldn't turn off. As I am a decently light sleeper, this would have bothered me, so I let Jonathan know, and he immediately jumped into action; his first task was to try to fix it himself, and when that failed (short of pulling the entire fitting apart), he went and consulted with the conductor, and was able to move us into another roomette in his car that apparently wasn't sold any further down the line. He apologized for the condition there, and was gracious in helping us move into the new compartment down the hall. Following that, we promptly configured the room for night, and were asleep before too long.

Woke up the next morning during the Atlanta break. Apparently we had made good time overnight, and were about 15 minutes early into Atlanta, so had an extended extended stop there. Breakfast service was to resume after we got going from Atlanta, so after taking a moment to get some Hot Water from the dining car crew, I brewed a cup of my own tea, sat back in the bed (I had the lower) chaise lounge style, and enjoyed the morning.

Once we got going out of Atlanta, my fiancée and I picked up Nellie, who hadn't eaten yet, and was wondering where we disappeared to overnight, and headed for Breakfast. The diner was mostly empty when we arrived, so we were promptly seated. The special was Corned Beef with Scrambled Eggs, which I had, my fiancée had the Continental, and Nellie had the Pancakes (score again for more pictures!). All were quite good and filling.

The rest of the morning was spent alternatively reading, watching the countryside go by, and just talking and relaxing. We had only done a turn at Atlanta on the _Crescent_ before, so the track south of there was new to us, which is always fun. I love watching the GPS on my phone to see what's coming up, especially rail yards or abandoned spurs, and then seeing them out the windows.

We were on time or early for all stops into Birmingham, which was where Nellie detrained. We helped her off the train, and then took a moment to walk the train, as well as take a look at the station. It was obvious that Birmingham in it's heyday was a more major station; there were clearly 2 platforms, and what looked like the remains of a third there, as well as at least 4 tracks, and where a 5th looked to be graded for, all except for the one our train was on looking like they hadn't been used for years. Across the tracks from where we were sitting by the second platform was an interesting rail car that looked like it has been there for years. It was an old heavyweight era baggage car that had been painted white, with a prominent Civil Defense logo on the side. I'd love to know the story behind that piece of history.

Moving on, once we left Birmingham, my fiancée and I headed up to the Diner for lunch. When we were there, the LSA jokingly asked us where our other party was, and when we told her Nellie had detrained in Birmingham, she was a bit surprised, as she'd thought the three of us were together. No, we laughed, trains just bring good people together and make friends of travelers, to which she agreed before taking our orders. Given that I hadn't gotten much exercise at all that day I had the entree salad, while my fiancée had the special, which was a pressed ham and cheese sandwich on flatbread with chips. The salad was exactly as described; all of the vegetables were crisp and fresh, no wilted bits or anything, and it was a good change from a heavier meal. I also got to try a bite of the special, and thought it was also pretty good; one thing I noticed though as since it was pressed, the cheese had melted it together. When served with the lettuce tomato/onion on the side, it was pretty funny trying to open the sandwich to put those fixings on. 

We were offered dessert for lunch, and my fiancée, after having tasted my torte last night, selected one for herself while I tried the cheesecake. When Keith brought out the torte, he had let us know that he heated it up for just a couple of seconds, which he said made it that much better; with the chocolate filling warm and the caramel the same, I'm told it absolutely took a good dessert and made it better. I found the cheesecake to be good, nothing spectacular, but not a flop either.

After lunch was spent more scenery watching, reading, and a cat nap before Jonathan came by to brief us on the timing of the express dinner. While we were laying over in Birmingham, I got to chatting with a couple of the conducters who were also taking advantage of the fresh air, and their scoup was that as long as you made it into Meridian on time, it was a flat 4 hours from Meridian to New Orleans. We made it into Meridian on time, and were only a couple of minutes out, so things were on schedule thus far.

We had an early dinner right after Hattiesburg; it was the express dinner offerings, so the Vegetarian Pasta, the Herb Roasted half chicken, or the Angus burger. I had the burger, and my fiancée had the Chicken. The chicken was steaming hot and fork tender I was told, but a bit dry; of all things over the meals, my fiancée loved the vegetables the most, as apparently this batch of green, lima, and I think butter/white beans cooked up well without being overcooked. The burger was cooked through and not too greasy, which was fine, and to add a nice touch, the cook had also toasted the bun (again, reading the forum comments perhaps)? By that time, we had eaten enough for the day, so we passed on dessert.

Following that, we were just about in Slidell, and I knew that the crossing of the Lake Pontchartrain was coming up, and it was just about sunset, so we retired to our room to watch the crossing. We crossed shortly after sunset, so still in the twilight; having never done that before, it's a pretty surreal experience, as when you look out the window, it's as if you're just floating across the water, at 60 miles an hour.

Beyond that, an uneventful final ride into New Orleans proper. We arrived about 20 minutes early, and slid in past the Superdome while the game was in progress (but before the 35 min blackout), collected our luggage, and then headed out from UPT to continue the next leg of our journey.

EDIT: Meal pictures for the first leg of our trip have been uploaded to my site Dinner in the Diner: The Crescent. Enjoy!

To be continued...


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## Railroad Bill (Feb 6, 2013)

Enjoyed Part 1 of your trip report. We took a similar trip CLE-WAS, WAS-NOL, NOL-CHI, CHI-CLE last year and loved it. The Crescent is a great train with lots of different types of scenery across the South. Look forward to your future reports.


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## Bob Dylan (Feb 6, 2013)

:hi: Most enjoyable, Thanks for Posting! bet New Orleans was even Crazier than Usual, which is saying Something!  Looking forward to the next Chapter of ya'lls Trip!


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## JayPea (Feb 6, 2013)

Great report so far! I took the Crescent as part of an AGR trip northbound from New Orleans four years ago. It was my first trip through the Deep South. I remember that baggage car with the Civil Defense logo on the side at Birmingham; I too wondered what the story was behind it. Looking forward to the rest of your report!


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## OlympianHiawatha (Feb 6, 2013)

Great report! I do want to get a few more turns on the East long hauls before the Heritage Diners go away.


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## Ashland Train Enthusiast (Feb 7, 2013)

Sitting here in the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, it's drizzling/raining/sleeting out, so after grabbing lunch over in Greektown (something I highly recommend for anyone with a layover looking for something a bit different), I've got some time on my hands, so here' part 2 (and maybe part 3 if I have enough time):

1. DC to New Orleans on the _Crescent_
*2. New Orleans*
3. New Orleans to Chicago on the _City of New Orleans_
4. Chicago to DC on the _Cardinal_

When we got into New Orleans, detrained, and made our way out in front of UPT, the first thing I was struck with was the weather. When we had boarded in Washington, DC it was about 30 degrees out and snowing... in New Orleans it was a balmy 65. Consulting the RTA transit website on my phone (a great site by the way, very user friendly), we determined what bus we would need to take to get to our host for the evening. The bus was clean, and the driver helpful in making sure we got off where we needed; the streets as we drove through town were empty, as everyone it seems was either at the Superbowl or at their own party. We met up with my fiancée's friend, who let us into her place, and then promptly retired to her own party for the remainder of the evening, so after planning a bit our route for the next day, we turned in.

While we were planning, however, I got a call from Amtrak. Apparently I had left my hat in our compartment when we detrained. I'm impressed that the cleaners found that, and then looked up who was assigned to that compartment, and even with us moving roomettes, identified me, found my number, and called me to let me know. As it was already late, I asked them to hold it at the Baggage desk for me, and I'd pick it up tomorrow, which they happily obliged to do. Try getting that kind of service from an airline! (I know, it's an apples to oranges comparison, but still, it's the sentiment of the idea).

The next morning, we got up pretty early to walk to a nearby store and pick up some 3 day RTA passes for the New Orleans transit systems, as we were planning to use busses and streetcars to get to some places we wanted to visit that were beyond walking distance. Where we were staying was in the Garden District, so our first stop was UPT to pick up my hat, which we did via the St. Charles Streetcar line. What a piece of beauty; if you get the chance while you are layed over or visiting, ride the St. Charles line specifically, as those green cars with handsome wooden interiors are a sight to behold. After walking from the stop to UPT, and claiming my hat, we picked up one of the new Loyola ave cars (which I knew about being available courtesy of discussion here) to take us within walking distance of our Inn, which was on the far side of the French Quarter. We were staying at the Hotel Provincial, based off a recommendation from the New Orleans thread here, as well as other reviews about it, and it was a great place to stay for the price. Right on the edge of the French Quarter, it was a short walk to many of the neighborhood highlights, including Frenchman St, as the music scene much more interested us than the whole drunken debauchery of Bourbon St.

For lunch our first day, we wanted Po Boys, so on some recommendations from friends in the area, went to the best place you can get one, Parkway Bakery and Tavern. It's a bit of a trip, but quite accessible via Streetcar, and well worth the journey. I had the Roast Beef, which was thick cut, more like pot roast, and not at all salty in the gravy. That afternoon, while touring the Quarter, we stumbled upon a Used Book store, which we both quite enjoy. Perusing there, we were informed that there were 7 or 8 of them in the immediate downtown area, and provided a map to them all; this put us on a challenge to visit them all while we were there. While visiting one of the stores (Librairie Bookshop), I found a great history of the C & O railroad, Chessie's Road (the link is for an updated edition, the one I picked up was written in 1956) that had been signed by the author. This will be my reading material as soon as I finish the book I bought in Washington Union Station. That night, after dropping our loot off, we hit up several of the jazz clubs over on Frenchman street for an enjoyable evening before turning in.

The next day, we had breakfast at Cafe Du Mond (just to say we did) before spending a good chunk of the day at the National World War II Museum (_née _National D-Day Museum). It's a place that even though they recommend about 3 hours to see it, if you want to do all of the interactive visits and see all of the movies, it's an all-day affair. The remainder of the day was spent with more walking/touring, and taking the Canal Street - Algers Point Ferry across the river. Algers Point was a neat old neighborhood, and provided some cool vantage points for pictures looking back at downtown New Orleans. The highlight for that day was dinner. On the word of one of my coworkers who was living and working from New Orleans, we were told that _the _place to go for authentic Creole food is Jaques-Imo's. Thankfully for us, due to some roadwork the St. Charles streetcar line was running the entire length of the route, so we didn't have to transfer to a bus, and could take the streetcar the whole way out (almost to the end of the line). The wait wasn't that bad at all for us (15 min or so), and let me just say that it is well worth the reputation. They not only had some dishes you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else (shrimp and aligator sausage cheesecake?!) but it is all served flavored perfectly, and with efficient service that doesn't make you feel rushed, but keeps things moving. If you've got the time, and are willing to make a ride out of your way, definitely worth a visit. Feeling stuffed following that, we decided to walk a chunk of the way home, along the streetcar ROW, until we tired out, and then rode the streetcar the remainder of the way back.

The next morning, we got up with a leisurely breakfast, packed up, and then meandered back to UPT to day-check our bags (there were closets in the back of the Magnolia Room for this purpose, and given that the room is locked and the code is only given to other sleeper passengers and the staff, I was comfortable with the level of security) before checking out a few places over in the Garden District, before it was time to head back to the terminal for boarding the _City of New Orleans_

That trip update, however, will have to wait.


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## Ispolkom (Feb 7, 2013)

Great trip report. My wife and I made the exact same itinerary as yours on our honeymoon in 1992. We also loved the used bookstores. In defense of Amtrak's crab cakes, they taste better the farther from salt water you get. I especially like the crab cake breakfast the Empire Builder sometimes has.


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## OBS (Feb 8, 2013)

The dining car crew you saw is the standard crew for 19/20. Very occasionally a second waiter will work NYP to ATL or BHM and turn back, but not often.


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## ScottRu (Feb 8, 2013)

Thanks for the wonderful report. I'll be taking the Crescent from NYP to New Orleans on 2/25 - and your report just got me more excited.


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## Ashland Train Enthusiast (Feb 9, 2013)

Back in DC, so taking a break from getting unpacked and generally ready to re-enter the working world to type up the next part of the journey.



OBS said:


> The dining car crew you saw is the standard crew for 19/20. Very occasionally a second waiter will work NYP to ATL or BHM and turn back, but not often.


OBS, thanks for the note; I've previously taken 19/20 before, but only turning at Atlanta or points north, and they were pretty busy travel weekends, so that probably explains why I saw a second SA before.

1. DC to New Orleans on the _Crescent_
2. New Orleans
*3. New Orleans to Chicago on the City of New Orleans*
4. Chicago to DC on the _Cardinal_

About half an hour before departure from New Orleans, an Amtrak agent popped into the Magnolia Room, where by that time half a dozen sleeper passengers were waiting, and brought us out and ahead of the line of queued up coach passengers to the boarding gate. One of the conductors was there, who scanned all of our tickets, and then walked out to board the train. The _City_ was lined up on one of the middle tracks, and in the walk out to it, to our left, was what looked like a BNSF business train, complete with a Theater Car. Never seen one of these before (so had to look it up, by googling "rail car with picture window across the end"), and man, that looks to be fun riding in one of those.

We were met at the door of the 5800 sleeper by our attendent, Terry, who directed us upstairs to our roomette. Shortly after the sleepers were boarded, I was looking for some ice, and went to find Terry, who was lounging in his room. He had the ice in there in a cooler, and let me know that apparently a Train Manager was aboard, so he had to keep the ice where he was the only one providing it, per regulations (as has been discussed here previously). At that time, I also inquired about dinner, and was informed that we could have either a 5 pm or 6:45 sitting; given that we had just eaten lunch, we opted for the later sitting. Barring that encounter, we never saw Terry for the remainder of the trip, except a couple of times fleetingly at station stops; it didn't really impact us as both my fiancée and I know our away around on a train, but it was more the perception that he never even stopped in to check on us, ask if/when we'd like our room converted for the night, or anything that rankled me a bit.

We left UPT on time, and made good time out of the city, up until right before the tracks dropped to a single track to curve around Lake Ponchatrain, right on the approach to Louis Armstrong International Airport, where we stopped and cooled our heels for about half an hour while the Southbound _City_ passed through the single tracking area. This put us about 45 minutes down in total, which we kept until we could make it up in by cutting the dwell time short at both Jackson and Memphis. The route up around the lake and through the bayou up through McComb was great to sit in the Sightseer Lounge and just watch out, seeing small waterway after waterway, and the occasional fishing shack or even full blown house out there in the middle of nowhere where the only access was via airboat. My fiancée kept a sharp lookout for the wayward alligator however we didn't see any this go-around. On the segments where the tracks diverge from the interstate and are right at the shoreline of the lake, it was pretty foggy, so looking out that side, the water and sky just blended together into one expanse of gray.

As we got more inland and it got to dusk, we retired to our room, and I read while my fiancée knit (both her hobby and profession) until dinner. When it was about our sitting hour, we headed to the diner for dinner. The diner on our trip was a refurbished Cross Country Cafe, with about a third of the car in the U shaped booths of the Lounge section that went un-used, the middle portion the Cafe upstairs galley, and the remaining half of the car traditional style Amtrak booths, with the LED lighting at each table. I think that the CCC idea in concept has merit, as I could definitely see the utility in having the car available during non-meal hours, however in place as a traditional diner, it seemed like the majority of the features of the car, including the upstairs attendant area, and galley prep area, went un-used on the _City_. I wonder, if there might be some way to pair a CCC with a full diner and a Sightseer Lounge, and re-configure the lower sections for one full kitchen, and one with maybe storage space or a prep kitchen, and then use the CCC on other LD routes like the Pacific Parlour Car on the _Coast Starlight_ for a Sleeper lounge, or even just as additional seating to expand the number of diner seats and allow for more capacity on some of the routes where a single diner is already at or near capacity.

It was apparently a light load coming out of New Orleans, as the second sitting was only half-patronized, and we were seated to a table by ourselves. I got the Marketplace Special, which was the pork ribs, and my fiancée got the Vegetarian Linguini with Peppers. When they came out, I was a bit disappointed to see what I think of as the "standard" Amtrak vegetable medley of carrots, broccoli, and green beans, which are not quite my favorites; I made a deal to trade them for some of the pasta, as with the salad, I had already gotten in my vegetable for the day. :giggle:  I found the ribs to be quite good, tender enough to fall off the bone, but still retain their consistancy as meat, and not too over-sauced. One other thing that I noticed was that the kitchen staff (of which there were two whom I saw, as after we ate, they cae upstairs for a bit) had some fresh herbs (parsley by the look of it) that they had chopped and garnished the dinner with. I forgot to mention that I saw this too on the _Crescent_, and it added a nice touch. (I'm also reviewing my _Crescent _meal pictures to be uploaded to the page on my site, which I hope to do tonight, and then get the _City_ pictures uploaded tomorrow or the next day). The pasta was also pretty good, it wasn't rubbery or overcooked, and the sauce actually had some flavor to it, and wasn't just bland ketchup or anything. I felt the vegetables were medeocre, but my fiancée enjoyed them, so more power to her.

For dessert, I had the Cream Puff, while my fiancée again had the Sorbet, and when it was brought up, it had been warmed, and the chocolate was just melted, which made it quite delicious. We then retired to our room, relaxed a little, and then by Memphis had decided to turn the room and go to bed. I had no trouble sleeping in the lower, however the combination of the smaller space for the upper (I had offered to take it, but my fiancée prefers them, as they can be made darker), and the proximity to the engine gave her trouble sleeping.

The next morning, we woke up to a snow-covered dawn (quite the change from the balmy temperatures of New Orleans the day before). Breakfast was the Express Breakfast coming into Chicago, with one seating. We were seated across from a couple who had gotten on at one of the flag stops overnight (the exact one escapes me), and were going somewhere past Chicago to visit family. Beyond sharing that, they didn't talk much, which was fine, as we were waking up as well. My fiancée again had the Continental, with Oatmeal, while I had the Scrambled Eggs and Turkey Apple Sausage. The Eggs and Sausage were good, as was the Oatmeal, however I'm told it was a bit too soupy in her opinion. The quantity of fruit was also less than on the _Crescent_, but it was still oranges, which were a good selection.

By that time, the sun was up, and we were nearing the outskirts of Chicago, so we retired to our room again to pack up. Coming into Chicago, it was fun watching the outer suburbs give way to South Chicago industry, to then more middle city high-rises and office buildings. We had to wait a few minutes for a Metra train to pass before we could then back-up into the terminal for an early arrival. It was only then that we saw Terry again, who was off to the side talking with other Amtrak staff and only reluctantly it seems helping people with their baggage to de-train.

Bags in hand, we made our way to the Metropolitan Lounge to stash the bags for the day, spend a few minutes with internet to get caught up on emails, and then head out and spend some time in Chicago. 

While surfing the internet, I struck up a conversation with a fellow passenger who had de-trained from the _City_ with us, who was an ex Marine then defense contractor who had recently retired, and was spending the time to travel the country by rail. He was next connecting to the _Empire Builder_ to Portland, before then heading down the coast, and then on from there. I had a delightful conversation with him about a whole number of things, as he had some fascinating experiences, both in the corps as well as professionally to share stories from.

Once we'd wrapped up our business, we decided to brave the cold and head out on the streets of Chicago. It was sleeting by that point, but not too heavy, so we had a pair of destinations in mind. As I mentioned above, my fiancée knits for her profession (she's a designer and instructor), so one of her requests was that during our layover in Chicago, that we visit one of the local yarn stores, Loopy Yarns. It was about a mile walk, but it was good to get some exercise after being on the train where all you could do was walk 500' back and forth. It was a good visit, as I've been told, as they apparently have one of the best literature libraries among stores, and it was a good networking opportunity as well.

By that time, we were getting peckish, so wanted to head over to Greektown for lunch, as we both prefer that to the greasy Deep Dish pizza (there's a time and a place for everything). We settled on a place called Greek Islands, and walked there, about another mile. I'll spare you the details (one of these days I'll get around to writing up my review there on Yelp, and link back to it here), but lunch was good; I enjoyed what I got, and while my fiancée didn't quite enjoy what she'd gotten, it was an experience in a new cuisine, so that was taken in stride. While eating lunch, we briefly debated looking for a used bookstore to visit for the afternoon, but the weather was turning worse, and as cold as it was, we decided to head back to the lounge and spend the rest of the day there. I split the time between fielding a couple of call for work, and writing up Part 2 of my Trip Report, and before you know it, we were ready to board #50 for our final return leg.

To be concluded soon!


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