Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

ray got a lot of his work caught up while we waited. people in the sleeper cars get a vip lounge with free snacks and drinks. even a espresso machine. it’s hard to type on a computer on the train while the table is bouncing. one reason i didn’t do a blog post.

 

here’s something at the chicago station i’ve never seen before.

 

we got on the train to new york around nine pm. this train didn’t ride as smooth as the first one. i’m glad we only had one night on it. the room was nice though.

we got all our meals served in a box. breakfast there was no choice, but lunch and dinner had several choices.

 

a lot of our landscapes were very similar, but different, if you know what i mean. most of these small towns have these three things along the tracks. these are my best shots of them.

a round tower, a cylinder shaped tower, and abandoned brick buildings. what’s going to happen to the thousands of these that are probably ready to fall down.

 

along with all the beauty and charm..

 

 

we had a three hour delay here because of a broken down train in front of us.

we made it to penn station around ten thirty. we had the best redcaps that helped us beyond the call of duty. they got all our luggage (remember tony’s car in the first picture) from the train. then waited for our checked luggage, even went in behind the closed gates and got it. then walked us out the back way to the street to a waiting car that karl had arranged for us. he miraculously got us through new york traffic to our hotel.

we are here. so stay tuned for NEW YORK CITY!

love, jilly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

were off to union station

 

thanks for getting us here tony

 

 

 

we spent a lot of time in the dining car. had great food and the best waitress. myrna and jerry got along great. she treated us all as friends.

it’s hard to get pictures from a speeding train. here are a few when the train was going slow.

 

 

we made it to chicago union station thursday for a change of trains. we were on the ‘southwest chief’ and now would be on the ‘lakeshore limited’. ray had some work to do on the computer. we boarded the new train around nine.

 

stay tuned for more, jilly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

well here it is, what we’ve been waiting on for months, our train trip to new york.  we’ve been planning and dreaming of what we are going to do.  karl, ray and martha’s son, made us a spread sheet of all our wishes and desires. we’ve been going over that and discussing what a great job he did for us. looking forward to every single item.

click on these numbers and a url will appear. click on that and our itinerary will appear – hopefully

2483251

 

we’ve said good-bye to all our friends and family. everyone understands this is going to be a short trip this time. we will be back in two weeks. but midas doesn’t know that. we’ve left him for months at a time before. he’s always here when we get home. it’s going to be hard to say good-bye to him. he’s been in our lives every day. for nine years.

 

this is our good neighbors, the ‘mudges’.  mr. mudge has been in the neighborhood as long as us. his kids played with tony and tracy. since he retired he walks everyday with his wife. she loves cats and gives snacks to all the friendly ones. midas is a friendly cat, so he started getting snacks from her (you can see him enjoying it). it’s been going on for years now. midas sits and waits for them every night. he sees them coming from a block away. they watch out for him, as all the neighbors do.

 

we’ve been learning to play pinochle with martha and ray and they have learned to play domino’s – to keep us entertained on the train.  as we have three days going and three days returning. so we will have a lot of time to play, read, talk, sightsee and nap. and to eat.  all our meals are included in the fare.

 

 

 

now all we have to do is pack.

 

i hope to get some good pictures, so stay tuned and comment.

jilly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »