Greetings from Chicago

We arrived yesterday, only about 45 minutes behind schedule, into Chicago.  The train was uneventful (the best kind!).  Our bedroom was perfectly adequate - the bathroom was actually more spacious than I was expecting.  The only downside was the configuration of the train cars.  For the Lake Shore Limited only, our sleeper car and the dining car were 8 train cars apart, so it was quite the hike at meal times.  Dinner was fine.  I had steak - not the best, not the worst I've ever had.  Dad had fish, against the recommendation of our server and our tablemate.  He should have followed their advice.

There are two very different tales of sleep on the train.  Dad just needs to think about sleeping to actually fall asleep.  I could not fall asleep at all, and it did not help that my ipod was dead and the only soundtrack offered to me to lull me to sleep was dad's snoring.  It was a long night.  But rest assured, the ipod is now fully charged so that shouldn't happen again.  I hope.

The route itself was kind of underwhelming.  The only parts of it in the day light were parts of upstate New York and then northern Indiana into Illiois.  Neither of those areas were particularly exciting. 

We took the commuter train to Susie's and then hung out together for the afternoon.  Dinner was in the city with a variety of extended family.  It was enjoyable (and very filling -lots and lots of food!).  We also got to meet Corinne - she's such a cutie. 

The Empire Builder leaves today at 2:15.  Fingers are crossed that all goes well.  Last time we took a train out of Chicago, things didn't go quite as planned...