The Southwest Chief and Chicago

As Amtrak says: “Ride the Southwest Chief through the heart of the West,” so I did. The brochure promises “wheat fields, ranches, missions, pueblos, mountains and deserts.” Some of these didn’t sound too convincing to me, but you never know. Unfortunately, since I was on the train from 6:45pm Friday (2/15) till about 3:30pm Sunday, I think I slept through some of the more interesting scenery. I did see a lot of:

some of:

and even:

I also got to ride over another brochure highlight: the “mighty Mississippi River”!

Then finally, no worse for the wear, I arrived in the former “Second City,” the supposed “Windy City,” the temporarily not raining or snowing city (it was 4 degrees C and apparently had been raining before I got there and started raining after I left), Chicago, where I got to really stretch my legs.

the Sears Tower

Marina City

My quick layover foot tour of the city included:

1. Union Station—built 1913-25 when Chicago was the rail center of the U.S.
2. Sears Tower (photo above)
3. Rookery Building—built 1885-88 by Burnham & Root (lobby, which I did not see, was later redone by Frank Lloyd Wright)
4. Auditorium Building—built 1886-90 by Adler & Sullivan
5. Art Institute of Chicago
6. Lake Michigan
7. Michigan Avenue Bridge and Esplanade
8. Marina City (photo above)
9. Reliance Building—built 1894-5 by Burnham & Root