Long Way North

so thursday morning I got on the train and very excitingly opened my fortune cookie only to be disappointed. Tell me if I'm wrong but this is not really a fortune as much as a command -" you find beauty in ordinary things, do not lose this ability." Nice but maybe not for a blog name, but I'll keep that in the back of my head while I'm out seeing the country.
The first leg of my journey was 1160 miles northeast to the windy city. I am in love with the trains though. Its like a flash from the past. All of the carts are 2 story tall. Attached to the coach carts are a lounge cart, a dinner cart, and the sleeper carts. The lounge cart is an observatory deck with a window ceiling, lounge chairs, and a downstairs snack bar(which also sells alcohol jajaja). And the dinner is like stepping back into a 1950s dinner which attends by reservation only. Its super cute. I became friends with these two black ladies who were on their way to Springfield for the h.s class of 1975 reunion. Their names were Mary Lots and Mary Acres, jajajaa, and they had been best friends since the 6th grade. They kind of reminded me of Daf and I. Black people are funny, when I told them I was going to St. Louis to a wedding one of them grabbed my hand and said "Girrrrrrlllllll.....you betah get your nails done before the weddiiiingg!!!" jajajaa


We encountered some mechanical errors on the train and were delayed a couple of hours. That ment I wouldnt get to roam around Chicago on my layover there as Id planned. But its ok, I'll be back a few more time in the remainder of the trip. I met up at Union Station with my cousin Laura and we almost missed our train to Holland, MI.
But we made it, only to arrive at Holland and discovery a new journey was awaiting us, we would be leaving to Niagra Falls the next morning at 4am. That was a 10 hour car ride to New York State. In the end it was all worth it. That place was incredible and we got to see the edge of Canada!














so today we're off to the beach. I leave Michigan thursday morning for St. Louis. Cant wait for the wedding fun to begin, then the research will begin fooohh suurreee, thats the scary part.
-E