Wednesday, March Fourth
Late this morning we crossed the grand Mississippi
River and arrived in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It was the most incredible view. We
were able to get a view through our side window of the Mississippi River, along
with a view through the back window of the bridge we were crossing. What a
blessing it is to be able to see more and more of God’s wonderful creation as
we ride along. The scenery in Wisconsin has so far been beautiful and classic-
barns, silos, and cute small houses with screen porches (which are, as my mom
told me, for the mosquitos here that are as big as birds).
To get to the diner car of the train from our sleeper,
car 3028 room #7, you have to walk down the hall of our sleeper, through two
coach cars, the observation car, and one more coach car. We’ve named the
hallway of our sleeper “The Hallway of Doom,” mainly because it’s a narrow
hallway with room doors on one side, and windows on the other side. When the
train begins to sway, you immediately hit the room doors or the windows. Before
you’ve even eaten at the diner car, you have already burned off the calories of
your meal by walking through the aforementioned cars, dodging people and their
many belongings hanging out in the aisle (including feet and heads), and
walking side to side to keep your balance while the train is bouncing along.
We ate our lunch with a mom and her son, who were both
friendly and polite, but rather amusing. He carefully applied a thick layer of
hand sanitizer before eating, and talked our ears off during the meal, while
she remained quiet most of the time. He scientifically discussed and analyzed everything
we saw out the window, and constantly compared the train we were on to other
trains he had been on.
“They served lobster ravioli on that train. Nothing
like the food we’re getting served here!”
Thank goodness I wasn’t on that train! No thanks to
the lobster ravioli. This all made for a rather interesting mealtime.
This evening, we said our goodbyes to the wonderful
train crew, and embarked on a journey through Chicago, Illinois. We arrived in
Chicago around 4:30pm, and walked quickly through the undercover train yard of
Union Station. It was exactly 4:44:44pm when we finally got inside the entrance
of Union Station. People in the station were like swarms of bees, constantly
zipping and buzzing around our heads. We had assured our attendant that it
would be simple for us to carry our own small bags and get through the
undercover train yard, and find our way in Union Station, but I had never
expected that many people would be going through the station in all opposite
directions.
After looking at Google Maps one more time, we headed
out of Union Station and walked to our hotel, which was about seven blocks
away. The cold was invigorating at first, but after that brief moment it became
an instant earache. I’ve always enjoyed colder weather, but we haven’t had much
of a cold winter this year at home, and I wasn’t ready for it.
When we arrived in our hotel, I immediately flopped
onto the bed with my furry boots dangling over the edge, and my jacket and
gloves still on.
Giordano’s, a famous Chicago style pizza place
recommended by our hotel concierge, was delicious. We waited forty-five minutes
for a classic stuffed pizza that was dripping with warm, gooey cheese.
Apparently the hotel was expecting me and knows me
well, because I found a full stock of my favorite cold coffees (the very same
ones we stopped for in Montana). It was a gold mine!
The constant swaying motion of the train hasn’t left
our brains yet, so my Mom and I keep wondering who’s moving the hotel floor. I
think someone secretly put the entire hotel on a train, because this floor
won’t stop moving.
No comments:
Post a Comment