Trains

  Over the next few days I will be in and around Chicago. I'm hoping that I will be able to get some sort of educational benefit from it. Now there are many different modes of transportation. My family went by the way of a car as well as train. I thought it was going to be the coolest thing in the world, in the hopes it would be somewhat like Harry Potter. Well, I was wrong. There were no platforms. There were no cute little rooms for you and your family to sit in. No magical chocolate frogs or super cool jelly beans. Just about the only similarity is that you are on a train.

     To put it into simpler terms, I was a bit disappointed. The train was supposed to depart at 10 and didn't even end up arriving until 1:25. And it didn't even alert us that it was going to be even later than it originally intended. Not only was this annoying, but it was a rather large burden for my handicapped grandmother.  When your specifically reserve a seat in something that effects your entire trip, I believe that it is only necessary for them to update you about any and every change there is in the trip just as a common courtesy so that you are not sitting on the pavement for over half of an hour thinking you might miss the train if you are anywhere else. Trust me, it isn't pleasant.

     Even with the set backs, there is something that makes it all worth it. The view. Boy was it amazing. Not only do you get to ride over the Mississippi river, which is impressive itself, but you also get to drive through all of these little towns no one had ever heard of. There are plenty of beautiful houses. Ones that you can't see in cities even as big as Cedar Rapids. There are also plenty of opportunities for you to go over little creeks or even under bridges that you might question. You get to see animals, fields of lord knows what, and most importantly, the joy on your younger sibling's face when they hear that they have just crossed state borders.

     There are also all sorts of people you can meet who come from all over the country or even world! I study Chinese and was lucky enough to meet a lady from China! I was able to practice my Chinese at the train stop and learn about their culture from someone other than the teacher I see every week. It was a great experience!

     So while yes, the beginning was a bit annoying, and it wasn't exactly what I had hoped, it was still a great experience and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone else!

In a different state
~Hangin' from a clothesline