My husband had the brilliant idea (and yes that is dripping with sarcasm) to take a train all the way up to Boston to visit his family in Chelmsford, MA. It took a total of just over 61 hours, but we made it to Boston in one piece. Word to the wise, don't take a 4 year old with an exorbitant amount of energy on a train for three days. We made it unscathed, but definitely a little more road weary than desired. Despite the numerous games, movies and video games we had, it was probably a bit much for a 4 year old to be cooped up in a little train cabin for that lengthy of a time period. All in all it was a good experience, but I can say without a doubt it is not something we will be doing again in the future. I guess at least we can say we have done it.
We started the trip out early the morning of Saturday, December 8th. James was filled with excitement and after waiting an hour to get onto the train (they told us we needed to get there an hour early, but that definitely was not the case) we were on the road. It is interesting to note that there are no real security measures used when taking a train. They didn't check any of our carry on luggage and as far as I know they didn't check the checked luggage either. It really surprised me that in this day and age they wouldn't be more cautious about what people are bringing onto a mass transit mode of transportation, but I guess it's the same with buses. Anyway, with much excitement and anticipation we headed north to our first destination, Chicago. Our little room was definitely small, but cozy. We actually had our own bathroom and shower in our cabin, although they were in the same small compartment, but it was nice to have our own unshared bathroom. We had a full day on the train of playing games and relaxing, stayed one night on the Texas Eagle (the name of the train) and made it to Chicago around 1 pm the next day. In Chicago we had a 7 hour layover. We had planned on maybe venturing out, but it was a cold and rainy day so we decided to hang out in the Union Station. Little did we know there was pretty much nothing to do in the Chicago Union Station. We had anticipated that it would be like the DC or Boston train stations with things to do, but despite a crappy food court, a couple of stores and the great hall, there was nothing there. Luckily they were holding a Christmas type event in the Great Hall that preoccupied James for a bit. They had someone doing balloon animals (which we waited in line for about an hour for) and an acrobatic/gymnastics type of show. After that, we were left trying to figure out what to do with a four year old. We walked a couple of blocks and found an Irish Pub style restaurant to get snacks and drinks at, which was far better than the crappy food at the station. We preoccupied James with the IPad and proceeded to drink three bottles of wine (oops!)...probably not the best idea when you have to get back onto a train. Needless to say, the next day we were not feeling the greatest, but we were luckily in the home-stretch to Boston. After an incredibly LONG day on the train (trust me, you do not want to be hung-over on a train EVER!) we made it to Boston around 9:30 pm on Monday ready to relax with Mike's family...post to come about that soon! Here's some of the photos from the momentous train ride...sorry some of them aren't the greatest, they're phone pics:
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| James at the SA train station ready to go |
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| James & Daddy on the train |
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| James enjoying a movie |
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| James on his top bunk in our cabin |
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| The Grand Hall at the Chicago Union Station |
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| Waiting in line for the balloon hat |
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| James sporting his balloon hat |
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| James and Daddy (after 3 bottles of wine) :-) |
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| James and Daddy in downtown Chicago before we boarded our next train |
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| James chilling in our cabin playing cards |
