I got up this morning, packed up my day bag, and set out to photograph Lake Forest. After a quick stop to the university mailroom I wandered around campus looking for good shots, but I found trouble finding pictures I liked. So I set off through the town filled with big houses and nice cars. I soon found myself again heading towards the water. The air was crisp, clean, and cold. I could hear the beach before I saw it, the sounds of the waves crashing into the shore. I took a brief walk down the shore, played in the sand, and took plenty of pictures. Unfortunately there was a smudge on my lens for the entire duration I was on the beach, so all of those pictures are plagued with a small blurry spot. I sat on a hillside overlooking the shore, reviewing the pictures on my laptop, recalling my day so far. I got lost in the moment on the beach and suddenly realized that I had to catch my train to Chicago in 15 minutes over a mile into town.
I contemplated running, but then I remembered my conversations with Roger before leaving “if you miss a train, so what? You have no plans, no where to be, there’s no wedding you have to make it to by Saturday.” He was talking about Amtrak, but the same concept applied for the Metra train in my head. So I packed up and took my time walking across town. It’s nice not having a timetable to live by. In typical train fashion the Metra was late, so I ended up having plenty of time to spare, I’m glad I didn’t run.
An hour train ride seems pretty long, but compared to the length of some of my other rides it’s nothing. I found it as a good opportunity to look over the pictures I took in Lake Forrest and to pick out and edit the ones I put up on Flickr. I got into Chicago, pulled out my camera, picked a direction, and started trekking through the city. I was looking for a used bookstore to purchase some books I could leave wherever it was that I finished them at, but I got distracted by the delectable offer of free wi-fi at Borders. So I stepped into the familiar bookstore and found a window to post up next to. I checked Facebook, uploaded pictures, and reviewed my blog; time flew right by. I looked out the window and came to the realization that the sun was about to set, so I put my computer on hold and went off to capture some more pictures before I lost sunlight.
I set out walking, knowing perfectly well that I wasn’t very sure where I was, but I soon found myself back at the wonderful Millennium Park. I hung around the bean for at least a half hour while the sun disappeared behind the city taking pictures of people, and experimenting with different techniques.
The light was gone, I was getting tired, and I had only a faint idea how to get back to the Metra station. So I took off from Millennium Park in that direction. And after grabbing some well needed Starbucks, I found my way to the station, bought my ticket and wondered where my train was. My train was not there. It said 6:31 PM. I bought my ticket at 6 and it was now 6:45. “Well.. I’m only an hour away from Lake Forrest” I thought to myself “I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine.” Pacing up and down the lower concourse convincing myself I’d be fine, an intimidating looking Metra worker in a green blazer comes up to me, holding a big metal chain “Closing!” he yells for all to hear, “closing!” Panic sets in. I headed up to the tracks and went to talk to the ticket agent, I told her my dilemma, but she simply gave me a funny look and said that the train leaves at 7:35. A great relief indeed, but I’m still confused why the time table says 6:31, I have it in my bag right now, it says 6:31. Some things will always remain mysteries I guess.
The platform where my train was "supposed" to be
The train should arrive in Lake Forest in about 10 minutes now. I’ll be off to Phil’s for my last night in Lake Forest and then off to Minneapolis at 2PM tomorrow.