traveling for 40 years, or thereabouts
Part I: The Train Ride That Would Not End
Steve and I took the train to Pittsburgh for Passover this year. Actually, the weekend just before Passover started, so that I could do something fun with my sister for her birthday. Anyway, there's one train that goes to Pittsburgh daily - the Capitol Limited. This train goes from Chicago through Pittsburgh to Washington D.C., with numerous stops in between. Generally, the trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh takes about 10 hours, leaving Chicago at 6:40pm and getting to Pittsburgh at 4:30am. Kind of inconvenient, but sleeping for most of the ride makes this tolerable.
We pull out of Union Station on time, and get as far as about Whiting, IN when we stop. And sit. And sit some more. There's an announcement that there has been a derailment in Waterloo, IN (which is ahead of us and on route) and we have to reroute around it or face a delay of 24 hours. Not only this, but we will be waiting 3 hours for the train to New York to catch up to us and couple together, and the extra-long train will go through Michigan, adding extra hours to our trip. At the time at which we were supposed to get to Pittsburgh, we were only in Detroit.
We uncouple from the New York train at Toledo, and continue on our merry way, stopping for an hour or so at Cleveland, where Steve and I have breakfast (a first for me!) with a man and his daughter. The station is right by the stadium, the science center, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We all sneered appropriately, of course.
While we were sitting around in the lounge car (because staying in one's coach seat is hellza boring) we had our portrait taken by a 14 or 15 year old girl who was sketching all sorts of people on the train. I was watching her draw for a little while before realizing that it was me and Steve, and once I did realize I told him we should keep still to sit for our picture. She gave it to us after she was done - it's on the fridge now. :)
I also managed to finish my Opus Spicatum - totally adorable in burgundy-purple and teal yarn. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you get an extra 9 hours to do it.
Part II: The Seder, etc.
Not much to report here - the seder went along as it usually does, with a new game that was more or less successful, although it pales in comparison to Passover Survivor. Sarah and Steve and I played Mario Party 8 together (her birthday present) and generally a good time was had. I snorgled lots of kitties.
Part III: The Journey Home.
This was not as Epic as the train trip, THANK GOD, but still eventful in its own weird way. My dad drove us to the airport, and we hit major traffic getting to the Fort Pitt bridge, but couldn't figure out why it was so bad. For those of you not familiar with this bridge, there are five lanes that converge into two lanes on a curve directly before the bridge, so there's usually a bit of a bottleneck here anyway. There was some idiot whose truck broke down at the worst possible location, effectively reducing 5 lanes to 1, and on a curve no less. Ugh. Thankfully traffic was pretty smooth after that, because our flight was boarding when we got to the gate.
While we're standing in line waiting to board, a little girl of about 6 behind me suddenly demands, "Do you like Boo?" and then proceeds to make my little Boo keychain lick me, and narrates it. Her older brother, probably 11 or so, asks me if I play Mario Kart, and talks about how he likes to play Dry Bowser. We have an entire video-game themed conversation while we're slowly slowly boarding (full flight, natch) in which I profess my undying love for King Boo, over and over again. I so love King Boo, in fact, that I pretend I AM King Boo while we're waiting on the jetway and cover my face when the little girl looks at me, and make growly noises when she hides. Hilarity.
Once we finally get seated, everything proceeds much as one expects, including making fun of the Skymall catalog. About an hour or 40 minutes from Chicago we run into the weirdest stretch of turbulence I've ever felt - instead of dipping up and down like a rollercoaster, we shake from side to side. This goes on for probably 10 minutes, but there's nothing visible outside to indicate why this would be. Very strange.
Finally, after we've landed but while we're waiting for a gate, I notice that the man seated on the aisle one row behind me is Joel's brother, with his wife and little boy. He still has that Abe Lincoln beard. His little boy was adorable, with slightly red hair - I wonder if it will stay red or go darker like his dad and uncle? I didn't say hello, mostly because it would be supremely awkward, and also because I couldn't (and still can't) remember his name. I want to say it's Daniel, but I keep thinking that might be Joel's father's name.
___
In summation: Train Ride That Would Not End, with bonus Chibi Portrait and finished Hat. Seder and eating and Wii-ing. Surreal Flight Home.
Steve and I took the train to Pittsburgh for Passover this year. Actually, the weekend just before Passover started, so that I could do something fun with my sister for her birthday. Anyway, there's one train that goes to Pittsburgh daily - the Capitol Limited. This train goes from Chicago through Pittsburgh to Washington D.C., with numerous stops in between. Generally, the trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh takes about 10 hours, leaving Chicago at 6:40pm and getting to Pittsburgh at 4:30am. Kind of inconvenient, but sleeping for most of the ride makes this tolerable.
We pull out of Union Station on time, and get as far as about Whiting, IN when we stop. And sit. And sit some more. There's an announcement that there has been a derailment in Waterloo, IN (which is ahead of us and on route) and we have to reroute around it or face a delay of 24 hours. Not only this, but we will be waiting 3 hours for the train to New York to catch up to us and couple together, and the extra-long train will go through Michigan, adding extra hours to our trip. At the time at which we were supposed to get to Pittsburgh, we were only in Detroit.
We uncouple from the New York train at Toledo, and continue on our merry way, stopping for an hour or so at Cleveland, where Steve and I have breakfast (a first for me!) with a man and his daughter. The station is right by the stadium, the science center, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We all sneered appropriately, of course.
While we were sitting around in the lounge car (because staying in one's coach seat is hellza boring) we had our portrait taken by a 14 or 15 year old girl who was sketching all sorts of people on the train. I was watching her draw for a little while before realizing that it was me and Steve, and once I did realize I told him we should keep still to sit for our picture. She gave it to us after she was done - it's on the fridge now. :)
I also managed to finish my Opus Spicatum - totally adorable in burgundy-purple and teal yarn. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you get an extra 9 hours to do it.
Part II: The Seder, etc.
Not much to report here - the seder went along as it usually does, with a new game that was more or less successful, although it pales in comparison to Passover Survivor. Sarah and Steve and I played Mario Party 8 together (her birthday present) and generally a good time was had. I snorgled lots of kitties.
Part III: The Journey Home.
This was not as Epic as the train trip, THANK GOD, but still eventful in its own weird way. My dad drove us to the airport, and we hit major traffic getting to the Fort Pitt bridge, but couldn't figure out why it was so bad. For those of you not familiar with this bridge, there are five lanes that converge into two lanes on a curve directly before the bridge, so there's usually a bit of a bottleneck here anyway. There was some idiot whose truck broke down at the worst possible location, effectively reducing 5 lanes to 1, and on a curve no less. Ugh. Thankfully traffic was pretty smooth after that, because our flight was boarding when we got to the gate.
While we're standing in line waiting to board, a little girl of about 6 behind me suddenly demands, "Do you like Boo?" and then proceeds to make my little Boo keychain lick me, and narrates it. Her older brother, probably 11 or so, asks me if I play Mario Kart, and talks about how he likes to play Dry Bowser. We have an entire video-game themed conversation while we're slowly slowly boarding (full flight, natch) in which I profess my undying love for King Boo, over and over again. I so love King Boo, in fact, that I pretend I AM King Boo while we're waiting on the jetway and cover my face when the little girl looks at me, and make growly noises when she hides. Hilarity.
Once we finally get seated, everything proceeds much as one expects, including making fun of the Skymall catalog. About an hour or 40 minutes from Chicago we run into the weirdest stretch of turbulence I've ever felt - instead of dipping up and down like a rollercoaster, we shake from side to side. This goes on for probably 10 minutes, but there's nothing visible outside to indicate why this would be. Very strange.
Finally, after we've landed but while we're waiting for a gate, I notice that the man seated on the aisle one row behind me is Joel's brother, with his wife and little boy. He still has that Abe Lincoln beard. His little boy was adorable, with slightly red hair - I wonder if it will stay red or go darker like his dad and uncle? I didn't say hello, mostly because it would be supremely awkward, and also because I couldn't (and still can't) remember his name. I want to say it's Daniel, but I keep thinking that might be Joel's father's name.
___
In summation: Train Ride That Would Not End, with bonus Chibi Portrait and finished Hat. Seder and eating and Wii-ing. Surreal Flight Home.