Southwest
Chief round trip, Los Angeles to Chicago
June, 2008 By Dan Mays,
Hemet, CA
Our Locomotive in Albuquerque
(Click any photo for a
double-sized copy; Click BACK in your browser to return to this report.)
I made reservations for this trip back in March online. We elected to
pick up our tickets at the station. I started in LA even though
Riverside or San Bernardino is much closer to where I live because I
wanted to make sure the three of us would be sitting together. That was
a good idea because the train was pretty full and it is questionable
whether we could have gotten three seats together at Riverside or San
Bernardino. We got seats 23, 27 and 28. Seats 27 and 28 were
right near the stairwell and we liked the fact that we had more legroom
than other seats. My wife and
other kids were able to come on to the train and see how the car was
laid out.
We pulled out of LAX on time. My kids turned around before Fullerton,
the first stop, and said that this may be a long trip. They had been on
commuter trains so they were not so charmed with riding trains. The
train had two engines, a baggage car, three sleeper cars, a diner, the
lounge/observation car and three coach cars. The bathrooms in our car
were TINY. Some of the other cars had larger ones that were much easier
to use. I was glad to see our car had outlets at every seat.
We got to ABQ (below) almost an hour early so walked around downtown
for quite a while. It was pretty warm but good to be out of the train
and walking around.
Back part of train in ABQ
Kids next to train
Front part of train in ABQ
Albuquerque
About 10-15 mins outside of Lamy, NM
We saw a lot of pronghorn in NE NM and SE CO both coming and going. I
was surprised to find out there was only one tunnel on the whole trip
and it took about a minute and a half to get through it.
We crossed the Mississippi river right after Fort Madison, IA. I have
crossed it in Minnesota and near Memphis and it seemed wider both other
times so I wasn't even sure we crossed it until we saw a "Welcome to
Illinois" sign on the other side of the river. I suppose I should know
the geography of the US a bit better.
We pulled into Chicago about 15-20 minutes early on the 10th of
June.
Sears Tower from the train
CUS engine
A few observations about the train--
Some bathrooms are incredibly small. It
wasn't until I explored the train a bit more than I discovered other
bathrooms with room enough to turn around in.
I thought it was great that they had cold water and ice available.
The seats were very comfortable. I had no trouble sleeping in them. It
was a bit like camping though where I woke up every hour or two. But I
got 5-6 hours of sleep each night I think plus I took a short nap or
two during the day.
The train folks were all very pleasant. The snack bar attendant we had
on the way to CHI was very funny.
I enjoyed the scenery east of the Rockies much more than that west of
the Rockies. I have been throughout the southwest and seen much more
impressive scenery but I really enjoyed the different scenery in MO, IA
and IL.
I felt safe on the train and was not the least worried that my baggag
or valuables were in danger of being stolen.
The train was pretty cool (72ish) the entire trip but I found that very
nice. I know some were a tad cool during the day and especially at
night but I was not one of them.
What we did in Chicago--
Day 1
after arriving at CUS on SWC about 3 PM.
Stayed in the TraveLodge
downtown which was nice enough for me (I am not picky) and was close to
the station (one mile cab ride). Cheapest place I could find (about
$160 per night w/ taxes).
Ate at Giordano's--GREAT PIZZA
and service. Loved it.
Went to top of Sears Tower--enjoyable
view.
View from Sears Tower
Walked around Millennium Park--It
was nearby and we all enjoyed the fountains and sculptures.
Day 2 Field Museum--only spent
3 hours there but could have spent all day. Wonderful place.
Alder Planetarium--nice place
but the two hours there was probably plenty.
Shedd Aquarium--nice aquarium
with good selection of animals. I think we could have spent more than
two and a half hours there had we had the time.
Took redline to Pizzeria Uno
but too crowded so went up a block to Pizzeria Due. We were not there
in time to have the deep dish pizza but the food we had was very good.
Cubs game at Wrigley Field. A
big highlight as we have been Cubs fans for 45 years and now we finally
saw a game at Wrigley. Plus the Cubs won so can't beat that for a good
time.
View of Wrigley Field 061108 Cubs vs Braves
Cubs win..left field bleachers
Day 3
Breakfast at Billy Goat Tavern
on Washington Ave. Decent food for a good price.
Art Institute--I am
not big on art but this is a great museum. My daughter does love art so
she had a good time.
Walked around town looking at buildings and outside art.
Returned to LA on SWC. 3:15ish, left on time.
On the trip home we had the same cars plus a parlor car that was
attached to the rear of the train but not used.
Parlour car on the back of SWC, in La Junta, on return from CHI
to LAX.
We sat in seats 65/66 I
think. They were the front seats in the car and like the other seats
had plenty of legroom. The only downside was that every time anyone
went to the lounge car that the doors opened and were noisy. The train
was FULL at CHI. Over 100 Boy Scouts got on and rode it to Raton where
they got off for their big camp thing at Philmont. The car attendant
said scouts took the train out all summer. The train was virtually
empty until we got to ABQ where it filled completely up again.
Inside observation car
During the evening of the 12th we went very slow in MO. The conductor
came on to say we were going slow because of possible high wind. We saw
lightning about every 2 seconds but it didn't look windy at all. Do you
think that the high wind warning was a euphemism for possible tornado
watch? We lost an hour there that we never did make up until we got
off. We got off in Riverside because we had arranged for someone to
pick us up there.
