If you should find yourself in Chicago for an afternoon

Okay, back to the train adventure.  When I knew we would be stopping in Chicago with a span of a few hours between changing trains, I wrote to my aunt Susie for ideas. She lives in Chicago and came up with a great walking tour for us.  It was too good not to share, just in case you're in Chicago with kids and need a failsafe plan:

"The Sears Tower is just across the river from Union Station...so if you like vistas that's the place to go. To the top, of course.  It's now called the Willis Tower, since it changed ownership last year but it will take a while for the name change to sink in.

You could walk along Adams (east, toward the lake from the train station) and taste some Berghoff's root beer, Chicago's old traditional brew. Great COLD.  

Then find a Chicago red hot nearby someplace, even from a street vendor. Red hot=Chicago style hot dog.  They put their own highly valued combo of condiments on it--don't ask for ketchup or they'll doubt your character. : )  If you'd like more lunch options, walk north along Canal Street or Clinton Street and go to Madison (two blocks north of Adams, which is the street on the north side of the station).  On Madison between Canal and Clinton is the entrance to the Ogilvie Transportation Center where you'll find lots of good options in the French Market area. My favorite name on the list is Sweet Miss Giving's.

Oh, and on the way east along Adams to Berghoff's (or coming back west later from Millennium Park), you'll see Alexander Calder's stabile (unusual for him), Flamingo.  It stands in a plaza at Adams and Dearborn. You can't miss it. Red. Big. After you eat, walk east along Washington (one block north of Madison) and cross the river, keep going till you get to Clark Street.  Stay on the south/right side of the street and very shortly after Clark you'll see a Miro sculpture in an alcove between large buildings. Appreciate Miro!

As you turn back toward the street (facing north), look to your left and see the Federal Court Building (on Clark, facing the plaza north of you (Daley Center Plaza).  That very building (big, old, gray) is where they filmed one of the scenes of Fugitive, where Harrison Ford is running through the city building, down the stairs, etc. At least that's what they say, and the movie WAS filmed in Chicago. Cross over to the Daley Plaza and see Chicago's Picasso.

Picasso made it specifically for this site and when asked about payment, he said he wanted a White Sox jacket, and that's what he got. Full charge for the sculpture--one jacket.  When you're near the Picasso, take a look back toward the Miro and then up, up.  Tall spire at the top of the First United Methodist Temple building--does it bring to mind our Mormon Temple in Manhattan? Maybe, maybe not. I haven't seen the one in Manhattan.

Walk east along Madison further, and see the wonderful old Marshall Field's store [now Macy's : ( ] on the left, separated by one full block from the Daley Plaza.  Worth going inside to look up through all of the levels of shopping in the grand old style.  Keep going east and you'll run into Millennium Park where you can see: Cloudgate (shiny huge round/oblong sculpture great for pictures--you can walk under it and around it to see all its reflections of skyscrapers and sky);

 the Pritzker Pavilion (designed by Frank Gehry--it's the music shell/stage for many free performances on summer nights);

the Serpentine bridge (just beyond the grass of the south end of the Pavilion; also designed by Gehry and worth walking across and then right back); and the fountain on the corner of Michigan Ave. and Monroe Street,  a wading fountain between two enormous blocks with faces projected on them.

Fun to stomp around in, great people watching.  Be sure to wait long enough to see the two faces spit water out toward each other; it's fun.  And if it's hot, lots of people will be trying to get drenched in the mouth spray.  

Just south of that, across Monroe, there's a sculpture garden that's part of the Art Institute. SE corner of Michigan and Monroe. Then the Art Inst. itself, and if you have time . . . you'd surely enjoy that.  You should at least go to the grand entrance on Michigan and Adams and take a photo of Sam with the lions out front. A popular Chicago image.  From there, walk back one block (N) so you're heading west along Monroe.  After you walk under the L on Wabash, keep a lookout for the entrance to Palmer House hotel on your left (south side of the street). Go inside to see the grand entrance/lobby--enormous.

Potter Palmer was one of the early millionaires in Chicago.  He supposedly built this hotel as a gift to his wife. I was really uncomfortable that time Dave built a hotel for me. Greg's probably done it for you, too. It's just too much, don't you think? And I can't find anywhere to put mine.  Then you can make your way back to Adams and back to the station. Voila!"

(Thanks, Susie. That was wonderful. As are you. There should be Aunt Susie guides to every destination.)

. . .

Listen:     Sufjan Stevens ~ Chicago

Train spotting

And there is the headlight, shining far down the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like all parallel lines, will meet in infinity, which is after all where this train is going. ~Bruce Catton

. . .

We loved our train adventure, Sam and I. There were bountiful hours for reading and playing games and talking and country gazing. We didn't care what time it was, ever. The train stations were (and are) astonishingly beautiful. And I loved the gentle rocking of the chugchug at night, the melancholy whistle, the dining car, the efficient space solutions of the sleeping car, and the quick friendliness with fellow travelers. Mostly it felt like a blessing to be in the moment and really notice the acres of our country.

And to be there with Sam on that cusp between childhood and manhood. I remember a moment, catching sight of Sam's profile looking out the big window, with the light of the sunset spilling over the changing architecture of his face. The gratitude for him (and, yes, melancholy!) took my breath away. It wasn't all sunsets and coziness, though. At one point as I was chirping away he looked at me and said, with clenched teeth, "Mom, I don't want to TALK right now."

At the end as we pulled into LA's Union Station Sam said "Is it already over? I could keep going!"

I know the feeling.

Still, when we flew home last week--whizzing over the country we had witnessed, mile by mile, hour by hour-- we landed and he looked at me and said "are we already there? That was fast!"

....

Listen: Train Song ~ Feist & Ben Gibbard

...

Questions about the train trip? Email me (basic dot annie at gmail dot com) or comment here and I'll include answers in an upcoming train tutorial post.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Or, in our case, it begins with Amtrak baggage clerks (crusty Boston guys with soft hearts) taking compassion on this mom and son team, sending us to the First Class lounge.   Sam is pleased with the free newspapers, soda and treats. I'm loving the free wifi (not sure I'll have that after this) and the fact that they will escort us over to board 15 minutes before every one else loads (you know, women and children first).

So far, so good.

All aboard!

We're doing it.

We're boarding the Lakeshore Limited in Boston on Monday, arriving the next morning for a day in Chicago, then traveling on the Southwest Chief to LA, arriving Thursday morning.  I haven't figured out yet whether I am certifiably INSANE to do this (we'll know soon enough!) but I'm also not sure when we'll ever again have a span of days like this, a reason to do it, and Sam's enthusiasm for this kind of trip with his mom. So we're going for it.  At the very least, we'll have some good stories and Sam will remember riding the train across the country with his mom when he was 11.

It did give me pause, I'll admit, when we were in the orthodontist's office for an hour and a half on Monday and the wait just about undid us. We were rolling our eyes and practically moaning--when will we be done? there's nothing to do--and we even had books with us! Joke's on us, I guess!! Next week that little hour and half will seem like an appetizer--no, a bite of an appetizer--compared to the 65 hours on the train.  Hopefully it doesn't end up being our own personal Throw Momma from a Train situation.

So here's my confession: I'm completely romanticizing this adventure.  And I'm okay with that. I have this vision of the Orient Express (minus the murdering) and quality time with Sam.  Maybe I'll begin a novel, a la J.K. Rowling's train scribblings that launched Harry Potter!  Maybe Sam can make a movie! And I'll come up with new insights about life! Plus I'll finish my pre-dissertation work and...and...we can do speeches at every stop to crowds of waiting blog readers, patriotic bunting behind us! I know these are fanciful--I do know--but it's been part of the fun of the planning and anticipation.  

p.s. Do you think it's going overboard to ask G to come and run alongside the departing train with tears in his eyes? With maybe a 1940s suit and a fedora? I have my handkerchief all ready for waving farewell.

she's off!

During this Independence Day weekend I have been remembering that 4th of July three years ago when we watched Lauren's ponytail swing through airport security on her way to work for Aunt Sue in Ireland.

This week she celebrated her (semi)independence by getting on a plane bound for LA (where she met the rest of her group) and then heading to the South Pacific.

She's been planning this for 7 months, completed the AYS applications, raised money (thank you to you dear family and friends who contributed), wrote lists and packed in preparation for this long-dreamt-of adventure.  She'll be gone for 16 days, with a group of young people (ages 16-19) + 4 parents + 1 expedition leader. They will be building a library in Tonga, working on other service projects, learning, serving, discovering. And some fun thrown in there, too--they stopped in Fiji for a day of snorkeling on their way to Tonga, for example. Definitely working hard and playing hard.

. . .

I have been remembering, too, those pesky Braxton Hicks contractions that plagued me in the last part of my pregnancies.  Life has a way of warning us, of designing rehearsals into our systems so that we can gradually prepare ourselves for the real deal.  I've come to think of these adventures and field trips as another set of Braxton Hicks experiences, just preparing me ever-so-slightly for the time when she--they--get on the plane and fly away into a new life. Ever since their births, the leavings just get longer and more distant, more thrilling and bittersweet.  But it's what I signed on for and I have to remind myself that healthy, sprouting, + blooming independence is a thing to celebrate, not mourn. Right?