CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL...RAIN FOREST CAFE...AMTRAK TO THE WEST SEPTEMBER 3RD TO 7TH, 2009
Chicago…more often than not, our point for beginning one of our journeys! The best part is that we plan each time to spend some quality time with our daughter Bonnie, and Dug, Dugan and Sage. Each day while we were with them we packed a cooler, carried camping chairs and drove downtown to the 31st annual Chicago Jazz Festival. The days were cool and sunny, perfect for being outside with concert goers of all ages. Dugan and Sage enjoyed playing many kinds of games during the concert. What outstanding performances we were all able to enjoy!
Since Dugan had been asking to go to the Rainforest Café in downtown Chicago, we decided to go there as a family on Saturday before the festival. Multicolored tropical fish swam in gigantic floor-to-ceiling tanks, located throughout the restaurant.
Vines covered the ceilings while Disney-like elephants, giant lizards, alligators, gorillas and cheetahs moved in a life-like way on all the walls of the room. While we were having lunch, a simulated tropical storm, complete with lightning and thunder, flashed and reverberated throughout the restaurant.
Our dessert was a huge volcano of ice cream and brownies with a sparkler on top--plenty for all six of us to enjoy!
Afterwards we headed once again to the Jazz Fest venue, set up our chairs and small table, ready to enjoy extremely talented performers from all over the world.
On Sunday, September 6th, after having Dug’s homemade blueberry waffles for breakfast, we loaded our luggage into Dug’s SUV, gathered up the family and soon reached Union Station downtown. Here we said good-by to the family, boarded the Empire Builder Amtrak train and quickly left our coach seats in exchange for a table in the bright and airy observation car. Two National Park Service volunteer rangers greeted us before they began their descriptive and fact-filled commentary about the unfolding sights as they came into view. One of the highlights of the day, before reaching Minneapolis where we were able to detrain for a short walk, was crossing the mighty Mississippi as the sun was setting in the west. 
Meeting new people and making friends on the train is something that we both really enjoy. In the dining car we were placed at a table with two traveling companions from Racine, Wisconsin. One of these men, Terry, told us that his wife had bought tickets for himself and his best friend, Bill, to make a train journey together to many places throughout the country. We were able to share travel stories with them and to tell them about Glacier National Park which we had explored last year and were heading to again this year.
When the lights were dimmed in the coach, we settled into our wide and comfortable seats, covered up with our cozy blankets, and were glad that we were not scrunched into the seats on a plane! What a difference it makes to travel on a train!
Early Monday morning as daylight streamed into the windows, an announcement came that we were approaching Rugby, North Dakota, the geographical center of the United States. That was a new bit of information for us. We were to be on the train all day, so whenever we reached a city where the train made an extended stop, we would detrain and walk around outside. We talked with our new friends, Bill and Terry, a number of times throughout the day and eventually exchanged email addresses so that we can keep in touch.
Views out the windows of the observation car, where we spent nearly all of our time changed from newly harvested fields of hay to fields of sunflowers, miles of flat plains, Indian reservations, and some rocky formations from time to time. Having our laptop with us to continue writing our blog, was always a team effort along the way.
Early Monday morning as daylight streamed into the windows, an announcement came that we were approaching Rugby, North Dakota, the geographical center of the United States. That was a new bit of information for us. We were to be on the train all day, so whenever we reached a city where the train made an extended stop, we would detrain and walk around outside. We talked with our new friends, Bill and Terry, a number of times throughout the day and eventually exchanged email addresses so that we can keep in touch.
Views out the windows of the observation car, where we spent nearly all of our time changed from newly harvested fields of hay to fields of sunflowers, miles of flat plains, Indian reservations, and some rocky formations from time to time. Having our laptop with us to continue writing our blog, was always a team effort along the way. 
When the hazy rocky mountains of Glacier National Park came into view on the horizon, we felt an excitement that could not be explained to be returning to such a spectacular place. This first leg of the trip was 1542 miles through five states in less than thirty hours.
We each had had a box chicken dinner on the train, so we were able spend our first evening walking around the lovely park-like grounds of the rustic Glacier Park Lodge.
A short time later found us relaxing by the gigantic fireplace in the lobby, making our plans for tomorrow’s trip to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, just over the Canadian border in Alberta province.
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