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.
My quick layover foot tour of the city included:
- Union Station—built 1913-25 when Chicago was the rail center of the U.S.
- Sears Tower (photo above)
- Rookery Building—built 1885-88 by Burnham & Root (lobby, which I did not see, was later redone by Frank Lloyd Wright)
- Auditorium Building—built 1886-90 by Adler & Sullivan
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Lake Michigan
- Michigan Avenue Bridge and Esplanade
- Marina City (photo above)
- Reliance Building—built 1894-5 by Burnham & Root
Wow it looks like No Country for Old Men. I’m still jealous that you got to go on such a cool trip!
somehow you make it look more interesting than when i was growing up