The Trip Back East

 

Coming back home the same way we came was interesting.  Ana was now an Amtrak pro and knew exactly what to order in the dining car and what to do on board.

I’m pretty sure she had five pieces of their flourless chocolate torte since they serve dessert with lunch as well.  She barely touched the grilled cheese in this pic.

We passed the same smoky mountains, the air was really bad that day:

We also got to stop in some really old transcontinental railroad stops:

And then there was sunset just outside Denver:

This time, we finally made it to the lake in Chicago.  It was a half an hour walk from the station but I managed with a bit of a sit down.  It’s insane how squeaky clean Chicago is.  It makes NYC look like a garbage dump which it sadly pretty much is now.  Just look at how blue that water is!  And there’s no bad smell!

We actually took a different route back to NYC, the Lake Shore Limited.  Someone had a private car attached to the back which was so cool.  Cars start at around 20K to purchase and then there are some fees plus 2 dollars and change per mile.  It’s a luxury for sure.

This route goes through upstate NY and that was a real treat, I’ve never been higher than Orange County.  Some of the leaves were already starting to change colors.  Fall was definitely in the air.

We saw more vintage trains in Albany:

After that, the rest of the way was really fast back to NYC.  The track is the same one metro north uses so we passed through Sleepy Hallow and parts of Yonkers that look like shit.  We even got to see the clean up from the mudslides.

Travel by rail is peaceful, slow and pretty relaxing.  I’d love to do it again.  I think next time I go to Florida I’m gonna try the train.  It’s way cheaper than flying and then I don’t have to sit in a car on I-95 for 12 hours with my legs killing me.

I’m glad to be back home of course.  Grandma Linda called me today and said Auburn finally got some thunder and a downpour.  Hopefully they can start to see some green again. As for us, the air is getting crisp, fall is definitely on its way.

🚂