Year 4 Day 134 “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 9/11/2024. Day 1 of 25-day Alaska to Las Vegas trip. Up at 2am and out by 3am and heading to Lexington, KY airport where we are flying American Airlines to Chicago, Illinois. Lexington Blue Grass airport is very small. It is an easy airport to navigate through.
Our flight departed at 6:27am and we arrived in Chicago at 6:58am with the time difference. The in airtime was 51 minutes from wheels up to wheels down. It was a smooth comfortable flight. Thank you, American Airlines.
We landed at O’Hare which is a huge hustling airport. Although it was early and fairly quiet. No more “sleepy little Kentucky”. After picking up our baggage, while sitting and having some coffee they had a moment of silence for 9/11. We then used the handy dandy uber app and called for an uber. Love that app. We paid $61.97 to get from O’Hare airport to Union Station Amtrak. It was a one hour 17 minutes ride. Our driver was amazing. He was one of the best drivers we have had. This is our first time in the Chicago area. We traveled through some gorgeous areas and some less desirable ones. The River Forest oak park area was really nice. We even were treated to a nice Chicago city skyline with the Willis Tower standing so tall. The Willis Tower was previously known as the Sears Tower and is the tallest building in Chicago and also one of the largest skyscrapers in the world. It’s a 110-story, 1,451-foot skyscraper in the Loop community area. The Willis Tower has an observation deck called the Skydeck, which offers views of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan. The Skydeck also has a see-through glass floor. In 2022, the Willis Tower became the largest building in the U.S. to be recertified as LEED Platinum, a recognition for its environmental and human health improvements. I want to come back and go up to the observation deck of the Willis tower.
Once we got to Union Amtrak station we headed into the building through the main doors and were greeted with a lot of stairs. Uh oh, we have lots of heavy suitcases. A nice man came up to us and said come let me show you the elevator further up the street. Yes, he wanted some money to eat lunch. We have a roomette on the Amtrak Empire Builder train from Union Station to Portland, Oregon. We checked in and received a wrist band so we could go in and out of the Metropolitan Lounge. What a lovely complimentary lounge for first class passengers. We have a roomette in the train, so we are considered first class. After checking our baggage, we enjoyed some wonderful snacks, drinks, and coffee. Then for the next hour or so I had to keep jabbing Steve to stop him from snoring. Our train does not leave until 3:05pm. In the afternoon a bar was set up in the Metropolitan Lounge where you could purchase alcoholic beverages. They were not provided free. In this first-class lounge, there was a huge assortment of non-alcoholic hot and cold beverages that were free of charge. Here’s a video of the Chicago Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge: First try, I turned the video off by mistake.
The train ride is a 46-hour trip. We are in a roomette. Car number 2730, room number 2. This train ride will take us through Illinois. Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and ends in Oregon. It has 37 stops. Empire Builder is a long-distance Amtrak route (and one of the most scenic) that connects Chicago with the Pacific Northwest. There are views of the Great Plains, Mississippi River, Montana Rocky Mountains, Cascade Mountains, Puget Sound and the Columbia River Gorge. Glacier National Park is a top attraction along the way, and there are four stations near the park to choose from.
Here are some interesting facts about our train trip on the Empire Builder.
• The Empire Builder uses Superliner rail cars that have two levels.
• You must travel eastbound to see all of the Rocky Mountains in daylight.
• If you want to see the Columbia River Gorge, start or end your trip in Portland.
• If you want to see Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains, start or end in Seattle.
• Travel in June to see the most scenery in the mountains and in the Columbia River Gorge.
• No WiFi, but cellular reception is available during most of the route (but not in the mountains).
• Empire Builder trains depart from Portland and Seattle around the same time. These two trains are joined together in Spokane, resulting in one long train that continues to Chicago. If you’re traveling westbound, Spokane is where the Empire Builder train is essentially split in two.
• If you don’t want to travel the entire route or roundtrip, stops with nearby airports include Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Whitefish, Minot, St. Paul-Minneapolis
We boarded the train easily and quickly.
There are four sleeper cars. We are the last car on the train. We are in a roomette. We have traveled a few times on Amtrak and also in France on trains. Here’s a link to our other experiences: Train Travel – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count
Our train car personal attendant is Manny. The train is smoke free. You will be escorted off the train at the next stop by a police escort if you are caught smoking. No Wi-Fi on the train. We departed the station at exactly 3:05pm. First stop was Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We could not get off the train at this stop.
We visited the lounge car/observation car in the afternoon before dinner to enjoy the scenery flying by.
The dining car is 4 cars up from our car. We had dinner at 5:30pm. The rolls were superb. The salad was great. Steve did not like the Shrimp appetizer. He ate one of the three served.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
A19 LED Light Bulbs, 60W Equivalent, Efficient 9W: https://amzn.to/3ZiBMqe These are our go to light bulbs. We use them everywhere in our house. The soft white lighting they provide is exactly the light we like, and they last a long time. Oh, don’t let me forget to mention the price is awesome also.
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To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count