I woke up to the light shining through the shades and my cold feet hanging outside of the confines of the warm blanket I was so gracious to have. I hoped into the shower to rinse the past couple days off my skin, I was going to a new city, time for a clean slate again. I packed up my stuff said goodbye to Phil and his hilarious, New York roommate Tal. The Metra station is only about a mile and a half from their quad, but with all of my luggage on my back it seemed like a much longer walk. My back was sore and my legs were tired quickly after I took off so I stopped on a park bench to rest and to eat some granola I thankfully packed with me. After a good rest I loaded back up, endured the cold wind, the funny looks and boarded the Metra to Chicago.

I’m sitting on the Amtrak train right now in Union Station waiting to take off to Minneapolis. Looking back on my first stop in Chicago, I had a great time. However, I feel like I stayed in one section of the city and I wish that I could have explored more. Unfortunately I feel like this is going to be the case in every city I visit, two days isn’t really enough time to get to know a gigantic city. Maybe I’ll have to do this again over the summer, although, it’s a little early to tell if I’m going to want to.

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.

It is animals instinct to go to water, and so after my quick rest at Starbucks that’s where I went. Sitting on the lake side, looking at the waterfowl, the people, relaxing. It really is nice to have nothing to do at all. There was a man sitting near me on the lake side who looked to be in deep contemplation, holding his phone. After about 30 minutes I saw him on the phone and he was soon gone.

I sat for a while longer and wondered what and who he was waiting for. A sick family member, maybe an angry girlfriend, it’s hard to say.

A few hours later I met up with Phil in Millennium Park and we went to the metro station to take an hour train ride back to Lake Forrest where he goes to school. It is a beautiful campus in a small town, I enjoy it here. On the ride here a man sitting next to us striked up a conversation. First he asked us for change for a five, which neither of us had. But we began to talk about where we were heading and he mentioned that he was going on a small trip to Minnesota (I think). I started to tell him about my trip and we talked about that for a while. I gave him my blog address and told him to comment (hopefully you’re reading this!)

I’m glad I got to meet a stranger on a train today, I thought it would take a while, and I thought it would be a person on the Amtrak, but there are friendly people everywhere!

Uhhhh…. wow. Well i’m in Chicago now. And I’m currently sitting outside at a Starbucks on the corner of Wells and Adams. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, it’s a bit overwhelming. The train ride was good, I didn’t do much but stare out the window, take pictures, and listen to music. This backpack is really heavy, I think I packed too much so I might have to ditch a few things. Am I really going to need 4 pairs of pants? Well.. probably, but I feel like I need to narrow it down some more as I’m not sure I’ll be able to carry this all around with me everywhere I go. The weather is pretty nice, I’m going to try to stuff my coat in the bag as well once I leave, we’ll see how that goes. Right now i’m just going to sit here and relax for a while, and then I’ll probably head over to Millennium Park to take some pictures.

Here we go. I’m sitting on the train in the Toledo Station waiting to leave. I’m still nervous but I’m also pretty excited. About to leave for Chicago to hang out with my great friend Phil for a few days. I’m planning on visiting Millennium Park when I get there, and then probably just wander around for a few hours until he gets out class. And here we go, the train is taking off, slow steady, bumpy. Goodbye mom, goodbye Toledo, goodbye Emerald Avenue.