California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Chicago Day 1

We awoke on Wednesday to fog and rain, quite a change from last night.  The weather forecast says it is supposed to clear after lunch, which we hope is true as we have tickets for the Architectural Boat Cruise on the Chicago River.  After waiting awhile for the rain to stop and the fog to lift we finally gave up and decided to walk over to Millennium Park.  The fog had lifted somewhat and the rain had turned into a sporadic drizzle so we had no problems.  One of the centerpieces of the park is called Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean", which is a silver giant bean shaped sculpture that reflects the Chicago skyline and everything around it... very interesting.

A view of the Aqua Building as we walk to Millennium Park.

Judy and I at the park entrance.

The Bean

Judy, Val and I in front of The Bean.

We also visited the Crown Fountains which are two flat fountains with a shallow reflecting pool between them.  The fountains are made of large LED screens and show videos of the faces of a cross section of Chicago’s citizens.  

The Crown Fountains.

Periodically water squirts from the person's mouth.

After the fountains we were hungry so we decided to try one of the famous Chicago Style Hot Dogs, we weren’t disappointed, they were very good. 

Judy and I enjoying our Chicago Style Hot Dogs.

We had tickets for the Architectural Boat Tour at 3:00 so we headed back to our condo to get ready for that.

Unfortunately for us, the weather prediction was wrong and it was still foggy, but at least it was no longer raining.  We got to the boat tour a little early so we walked along the river which was really nice.  The Chicago Riverwalk was started in 2001 and runs on both sides of the Chicago River from Lake Michigan into the downtown area.  Along the walk are restaurants, boat concessions, kayak rentals, small park areas and plenty of places to just sit and watch the river or the people passing by.  It is still being added to and we were told that it is mandated that any new development along the river must add the Riverwalk.

The Chicago River

One of the access points to the Riverwalk.

Judy and Val on the Riverwalk.

 

Soon it was time to get on the boat and we were off on our tour.  A docent from the Chicago Architectural Foundation narrated our trip and it was very interesting.  He was very knowledgeable and gave us a detailed look at the history and style of the Chicago architecture.  If we come back to Chicago for another visit, I would definitely take that tour again.

Judy and I on the boat.

 

Judy and Val.

 

This huge building is the old Montgomery Ward warehouse

where they used to fill mail orders using roller skates

to get around the enormous building.

After the boat tour we walked back to the condo to rest for a bit before dinner.  Amy Jo, a second cousin of mine who lives in Chicago was going to come by and visit tonight, but she called and said she was sick so we had a free evening.  We decided to eat at Mezcalina, which is a Mexican restaurant near the Aqua Building.  The food was excellent and I would highly recommend it.  After dinner it was back to the condo for the evening.  Every Wednesday evening during the summer they shoot fireworks off the Navy Pier so we were looking forward to watching that from our balcony.  The fog had lifted, but as the time for the fireworks drew nearer some fog moved in so we weren’t sure they would still have them, but they did.  It was great watching the fireworks from the comfort of our condo and even though they were somewhat shrouded in fog they were still entertaining to watch.  That was the end of our first full day in Chicago and we are all pretty tired so I think it will be an early bedtime.

California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Arriving In Chicago

We got off the train and found a porter, loaded our carry-on luggage onto his cart and got a ride into the station since it was quite a walk from the train.  As we rode into the station we saw my Aunt Judy and the porter told her to climb aboard and we continued our ride to the luggage claim area.  The porter said “sit still, I’ll get the luggage” so we thought, wow, what great service.  After he loaded our luggage he drove us out to the cab area where we picked up a cab and made our way to the Aqua building and our rented condo.  The Amtrak porter service was wonderful as it made what could have been a confusing and tiring journey from the train to luggage claim to a cab very easy.

We wanted to stay in downtown Chicago, but hotels were very expensive. Since we needed rooms for both Judy and ourselves, Val started looking at rental units.  She found a corporate suite rental in the Aqua Building which is in the heart of downtown Chicago.  It was fairly pricey, but actually less expensive than getting a couple of hotel rooms.  It seemed too good to be true, but upon arrival we were very happy to see that it not only met our expectations, but exceeded them.  This is a great place to stay and if anyone is interested here is the link to the rental details.

The suite is on the 49^th floor and is on a corner with views of the Chicago River, Navy Pier, Lake Michigan and Millennium Park.  The evening was quite warm and we could stand out on the balcony and hear music coming from the park and see people wandering around below.  After getting settled we went down and found a nearby market where we bought some things for breakfast and since it was late, some things for dinner.  It was a very nice walk on a beautiful evening.  We went back to our suite, had our dinner, talked for a while and then called it a night. It had been a long day.

Here are some pictures we took during our stay.  The first one is of the building and you'll notice the offset and curved terraces give it a kind of a water flowing effect, especially with the blue sky reflected in the building, hence the name the Aqua Building.  We learned that the Aqua Building as won architectural awards, and the architect (a woman) has won awards for her "forward thinking" style.

 

Enjoying a late snack on our first night in Chicago.

The view from the dining room of Navy Pier and Lake Michigan.

A view from the balcony looking down at a small park.

Looking southwest from the side balcony with a view of Millennium Park.

A closer look at Millennium Park.  In the lower
right corner you can see Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean".

Looking northeast with Lake Michigan in the background.

Looking east at Navy Pier and Lake Michigan.

Looking west from the side balcony.

Looking southeast.

California to Chicago and Michigan by Rail - Califronia Zephyr East

We’re finally on our way to Chicago.  It feels good to get going after the long wait and anticipation and then the last minute scramble to find an alternate route after our Empire Builder reservations were canceled.

We left home mid-morning on Saturday and had an easy drive to Davis including a stop at Harris Ranch along I-5 for lunch.  We checked in to the Hallmark Inn in Davis just after 3:00.  Our first order of business was to check on long-term parking at the Amtrak Station.  After checking at the station we decided to park our car in the long term parking that night as we were told the parking lot sometimes fills up in the morning.  We wandered around town a bit and then had an OK Mexican dinner at Tres Hermanos and a dessert at an ice cream place called Cream (delicious) and then back to the hotel.

In the morning we walked over to the Amtrak station, checked our bags and then we returned to the hotel where we had an excellent breakfast.  By then it was getting close to train time so we grabbed our carry-ons and headed back to the station.  After a short wait our train arrived and we were on our way. 

 

The Davis Train Station

Val's waiting for the train.

And it finally arrives.

Time to board.

We're on our way.

One unfortunate thing about our last minute change of plans was we got the last available bedroom, which was also the least desirable because it was a little smaller than the rest.  It wasn’t too bad, but you did really notice the difference when it was time to go to bed because there was much less room to move around when the beds are down.  The rooms aren’t that big to begin with so any loss of space is really noticeable.  Oh well, we are just grateful we could get one at all. It turns out there are quite a few people on the train who were displaced by the Empire Builder cancellations.

As usual, we had a beautiful trip through the Sierras and arrived in Reno just a little late.  It was very dry in the mountains and the only snow we saw was at the highest elevations.   

 

Donner Lake

The Truckee River

From Reno we started the long journey across Nevada where we had a very sad event occur on the train.  Midway between Fallon and Winnemuca, Nevada the conductor announced we would be stopping because of a medical emergency that required the patient to be evacuated.  After waiting 30 to 40 minutes an ambulance showed up along with a sheriff’s car.  After a while the ambulance left and we found out the patient had died and they were waiting for the coroner before the train could leave.  It turns out it was an elderly man who had gotten on the train alone and at some point had trouble breathing and then passed away. Very sad and sobering.  All in all we were probably delayed about two hours, but that paled compared to the tragedy of someone losing their life.  The rest of the day and evening were uneventful and after a late dinner in the dining car, Val and I went to bed.

The ambulance arrives.

Neither Val nor I slept very well, and that coupled with losing an hour with a time zone change, we started our second day on the train pretty tired.  We had breakfast then we spent the morning watching the world roll by from our window.  As we entered Colorado we started following the Colorado River which was very full due to the the high volume of snowmelt.  Our trip through the Rockies was very scenic, but we lost more time in the process and we arrived in Denver around 9:00 in the evening which is about three hours late.  Denver has a new train station, which is much nicer than the temporary one that we were in on our trip to Denver a couple of years ago.  After Denver it was time for bed with hopes that we would sleep better tonight as we were both tired and would lose another hour as we change time zones again.

The Colorado River

The Colorado River and Interstate 70

Tuesday morning we slept late and we both felt pretty refreshed as we slept better than our first night.  We decided to skip breakfast and spent the morning watching the countryside roll by as we crossed Nebraska and into Iowa.  Lunch was a little sparse as they were running out of food, but we both had hamburgers which were pretty good.  Rail traffic was very heavy and we kept losing time and by the time we arrive in Chicago it was almost 7:00 PM which meant we were four hours late.  Oh well, it could be a lot worse.

Entering the drawbridge to cross the Mississippi.

The Mississippi River