Train

Last weekend we took our first (and possibly our last) train trip.  I had a crazy idea that it would be fun to ride the train somewhere a little farther than Chicago, so I booked Amtrak tickets from Chicago to St. Louis to see my brother and his family.  My parents where there also (they drove) so we made it a quick trip, spending one night there and heading back on the train the next day to come home.  A train ride, a visit with relatives, and a train ride home. 

Ideally this would have been a great little quick trip.  We did have fun on most of the way there.

The kids liked the freedom to move around, use the bathroom en route, eat in the snack car, do coloring and play dough on the tray tables, and have attention from mom and dad who are usually too busy in the driver and passenger seat to play.  Emily was a little more work since she didn’t want to stay on our laps, but she was manageable and took a nice 2 hour nap in Luke’s arms.

Then within sight of the St. Louis train station, the last car on our train derailed.  Yes, it fell off the tracks.  (See the news story here: Amtrak train derails in downtown St. Louis.)  It felt like an earthquake.  The power went out, and they kept us on the hot train (no air circulation in 90 degree weather) for 90 minutes while they tried to figure out what to do.  They ended up moving everyone forward into the front three cars of the train to unhook the back two cars.  A very unpleasant end to our train trip there.

Waiting on the hot train.  This isn’t fun anymore.

At Darren and Rachel’s house we had a great time!  The kids started playing together immediately, and we had some great laughs among us adults.

Yum, we went to Fritz’s Frozen Custard for a treat.

Cousin time is the best!

We figured the way home had to be better.  No more derailments. 

Well, our train didn’t depart when it was supposed to from St. Louis.  It was an hour late in departure, and because it was late it had to make more frequent stops to allow the scheduled trains to use the tracks.  It should have taken us 5.5 hours to get home, arriving in Chicago at 8:30 p.m.  Instead, it took us 8 hours to get home from St. Louis, arriving in Chicago at midnight (in our beds at 1 a.m.).  I think we’ll drive next time.