Train Trip West - Day #2

After a couple hours of sleep I woke up at 6:30am on Friday, August 5 and we were in Sandusky, OH. A little while later we went back to where Grandma and Grandpa were seated across the aisle from each other and ate some leftover pancakes from yesterday morning (I had made extra for this purpose) and grapes for breakfast. This is a great first breakfast for a long train trip! It would have been even better if we had remembered to keep out a jar of peanut butter to spread on the pancakes but, alas, we had checked the peanut butter in Syracuse in the food suitcase and weren't going to be able to access it until we reached Chicago.

BREAKFAST (not the greatest pics - we'd just woken up after sleeping on the train)

This is how the seats usually looked - at least 3 if not 4 or 5 people in the 2 train seats.

Playing games on the train.

We arrived in Chicago a couple hours later than our scheduled 9:45am arrival time. It was probably closer to noon when we arrived. We grabbed our checked luggage (we couldn't check our luggage all the way to Creston, IA because it is not a staffed station) and our ate lunch in the beautiful Great Hall part of the old Union Station.

Lydia enjoyed the Muddy Buddy Chex Mix

Abigail eating with Grandpa and Grandma in the Great Hall

Aren't they cute?

Caleb giving lunch a thumbs up

Hannah modeling after the statue high up in the Great Hall

 After 1 we wandered over to the gate to get ready to get on the train for our 2pm departure but it said "delay." No big deal. We were escorted into the area for seniors and families with children under 10 (Yay! There are benefits to traveling with kids!) and had to wait. I guess that there was something wrong with the a/c in one of the trains. We finally headed out about 4:30 (I think). We all got seats pretty close together which was nice. Further delays (from flooding and work on the tracks) caused us to get to Creston, IA late (we ended up arriving at about 1am, we were supposed to arrive about 9). We had all fallen asleep and the train attendants (who had been waking up passengers about 15 minutes before their station the night before) woke us up as we arrived at Creston so we had to quickly wake and shoe the kids and make them get up and carry all of their stuff off the train so it didn't leave with us still on it. That was stressful but we got everything and everyone off so that was great.

Creston, IA Station - Finally!

Our 12 passenger van was waiting for us and we loaded it and I drove an hour south west through the fog to the town of Clarinda, IA to the Super 8 - where we were staying for the Fine Family Reunion. Stephanie and Grandma Reynolds came down to the parking lot to meet us. We got into the hotel room after 2:30 CST. The kids and I all slept in a king sized bed together in one room while Steve and Debbie slept in a room with 2 double beds with Steph and Brody down the hall. It was nice to sleep in a bed!!

Click here to read Day #1