Friday, June 5th, 2026, Chicago
It’s 11:15 am, and I’m sitting in the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago’s Union Train Station. This place is huge! I had heard that it was spectacular, and it is. I found lots of architectural detail that I would like to draw. This trip will certainly keep me busy for awhile at the drawing board. The picture below may well be turned into pen and ink.
I will be boarding Amtrak’s SW Chief at 1:30pm, bound for Newton, Kansas. I will arrive there at 1:30am, if all goes well and the train is on time. That’s not always a given with Amtrak, but you don’t travel by train for the speed, you go for the experience. From there Amtrak provides a bus that will drop me in Wichita at 3:45am. My cousin Meg (and her dogs) will be picking me up. She says that her dogs (Great Pyrenes mix, and a greyhound) were VERY excited as she was setting up the futon. I’m really excited to see her and the menagerie.
This has been a really fun trip, and I really needed to get away and see something new. Phase I, the Empire Builder train from Seattle to Chicago was everything I had hoped. It was a terrific way to see more of my country. The United States is vast. And the more I travelled in Europe, the more I realized how much there is here at home that I haven’t seen. Travelling by train is a great way to remedy that.
Phase II, Chicago, was a really fun surprise. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t what I found. Chicago is a city of amazing architecture, friendly people, huge green spaces and river walks that run for miles, and is an astonishingly clean place. I will certainly come back. There is so much more that I want to see. Everything here is big. Lake Michigan, all of the museums, the parks, etc. Even the weather seems to be that of extremes – very hot, to very cold with something called Lake Effect Snow. I’ll be able to picture it much better now. And since all the trees are deciduous, I want to see Chicago in Indian Summer. The color of the leaves must be extraordinary. The only thing I didn’t do that I really wanted to was the architecture boat cruise. One more reason to return.
Phase III, Wichita, is next. I always enjoy visit my cousin Meg. We grew up together, and she lives a long way away now, but it makes for great vacations!
So that’s it for now. I want to write about buildings. I’ll write more when I’m on the train.
Amtrak SW Chief – Chicago to Newton, KS
The train ride was all I hoped for. Restful, good food, and great scenery. I really enjoyed having the roomette. The roomette had two facing seats which turned into a bed, and an upper bunk that folded down. The stairs were two ‘tables’ at the side of one of the seats. They looked doable. But it would be pretty tight for 2 people.
It was raining as we pulled out of Chicago. We hit the weather absolutely perfectly during out time in the city, although it was a little hot for me on Thursday. I spent the afternoon and evening with my headphones on, and finished one audio book and started another. I thought briefly that I should have brought some stitching with me, but I think that would have been too difficult in the moving car.
Dinner was in the dining car with an older Amish couple and a man from Kansas City. The communal seating has been fun. I’ve met such interesting and friendly people. Travelling by train is not for getting to a place fast – It’s more for the experience of it. I will definitely to more of it. It’s a way to relax and unwind.
My only problem is that trying to walk on a moving train on the upper level of a double decker car is clearly what set my knee problems off. I wore my brace and that helped.
I really enjoyed seeing the small towns and houses along the way, and watched as the landscape change though Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and seeing the clouds over the open fields, and the hills of leafy trees. We went through Fort Madison and the over the Mississippi River, saw huge open spaces, and dense deciduous forests. The clouds were amazing to see – all the interesting formations. I loved seeing it all. Here are a few pictures from the trip. Many more at the end of the post.
I went to bed at about 10pm. We were in Kansas City for quite awhile and I feel asleep as we pulled out. I had an alarm set for 1:10am, as we were supposed to pull into Newton, KS at 1:30. I should have checked the schedule as it was more like 2:20am. Newton is a really cute Kansas town. I’d like to see it in the daylight sometime!
I picked up the Amtrak connector bus to Wichita at 3am, and Meg picked me up at the transit center in Wichita at 3:45, together with her dogs, who thought the whole out of routine thing was really fun!
We talked for a while, then crashed. I woke up to her two cats in evidence – one on the bed with me, and the other nearby. We’ve had a lovely quiet day, catching up. So not much going on today, so I’m getting caught up on my blogs.
Meg’s Menagerie:
The train as I was getting off in Newton, KS – Looking back, then forward. My roomette was on the top floor:
Various pictures from the SW Chief Train route:
