A Thanksgiving Trip to Michigan's Twin Cities, Part 1 - The other side of the lake
At this point, I got a sizable backlog of entries. I decided that, for trip-related posts, the best approach is to write them in chronological order and (eventually) catch up to the presentish. Which is why I'm writing a post about a trip I took during the Thanksgiving weekend a few days after Christmas, and why I probably won't get to my New York trip until next year. Please bear with me
The "Thanksgiving Special" trip is something that I wanted to do last year but couldn't, because, you know, chemo. To summarize - the Pere Marquette train, which links Chicago to municipalities near the east of shore of Lake Michigan, usually has a schedule that's convenient if you're coming from the state of Michigan, but less convenient the other way around. The train only makes two trips a day - it leaves Grand Rapids, Michigan early in the morning, and comes back in the evening. But last year, Michigan Department of Transportation decided to add an extra train a day before Thanksgiving and on Sunday after Thanksgiving, which leaves Chicago in the morning and comes back in the evening. Which means that those are literally the only two times in the entire freaking year when I could visit the towns along Pere Marquette route by train.
Like I said, I missed it last time around because, again, chemo. But this year, I was determined to try to make up for lost time because (a) fuck cancer and (b) I had some extra money thanks to my dad's gift.
I decided to take the train to Michigan's Twin Cities - St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. There was a practical reason for that - it's the first stop on Pere Marquette, so I would be able to spend more time there than at any stop further north. But I also wanted to go because, for the past few decades, the two cities became known for reasons that were, to put it mildly, controversial.
St. Joseph is mostly middle-class and higher and mostly white. Benton Harbor is mostly poor and black. The two towns are separated by St. Joseph River, within walking distance from each other yet, in many ways, worlds apart.
If you've been following me on this blog, or on any social media network whatsoever, you'd know why I wouldn't want to pass it up.
Getting there
According to the schedule, the extra Pere Marquette train (which I dubbed "Thanksgiving Special") was supposed to arrive at Chicago Union Station at 10:00 AM. But I wasn't at all surprised when I overheard the Amtrak staff mentioning that it was stuck at a junction on the southern outskirts of Chicago.
I quickly realized that Amtrak and MDOT didn't actually put together an extra train. They just planned to have the morning train turned right back around. Which, in on itself, wasn't a problem - Amtrak is notoriously short on free train cars, and kudos on Amtrak and MDOT on using the fleet it has efficiently. But it did put everyone sitting there in awkward position. As the Amtrak staff explained, the second the passengers got off, they were going to send everybody onto the train. And if you happened to be going to bathroom or buying a snack when the train arrived... well, that's the $20 that went right down the toilet. So we had to sit put and wait.
I took some comfort in the fact that Amtrak staff sounded just as annoyed with the situation as we were.
The Thanksgiving Special wound up arriving at 10:30 AM, which wasn't too bad, all things considered. And, true to their word, the staff quickly hustled everyone on board, and the train took off the seconds the control tower gave clearance.
A few words about the train. Usually, mid-range trains like Pere Marquette using single-level cars. But in recent years, Pere Marquette and others started using two-level Superliner cars, with most passengers seated on the second floor.
There were advantages to this set-up - higher vantage point meant better views out the windows, the seats were a bit more comfortable than in older-school mid-range single-level cars, and two levels meant you could fit more passengers in per car. But it did mean that it didn't really have a cafe/lounge car - instead, Amtrak mechanics turned one car's lower level into a standing room only cafe. It's better than nothing, but I kind of missed cafe car tables.
But perhaps most importantly, the set-up made business class seats a bit awkward. See, in the single-level cars, the business class section is basically the second half of a cafe/lounge car. Having a business class gets you nicer, wider seats, plus free non-alcoholic beverages and free newspapers.
On the Thanksgiving Special, the business-class seats were exact same seats as the regular coach seats - they are just in the section separated from the rest of the car by a curtain.
I suppose free beverages and access to Chicago Union Station's lounge still makes the pricier business-class tickets worthwhile.
Aside from the views, there are two things that I liked about the train. One is that it had wi-fi which, for the most part, actually worked pretty smoothly. I wouldn't recommend trying to steam video on it, but you can check e-mail, read articles and make social media updates just fine. You also get access to a GPS-based train tracker that tells you exactly where you are and how much further your stop is.
Another nice touch - instead of your regular, nation wide cafe car menu, the Thanksgiving Special menu had some local specialties. Like a Chicago-style hot dog. And you actually got more than one kind of tea. Sure, it's your regular Lipton tea, but most of the time, cafe car tea is just tea. I was so surprised to hear the cafe car server ask "which tea?" that I honestly thought I misheard.
I took lots of photos on the way to St. Joseph, but a lot of those are places I've photographed during my DC-NYC trip, and I don't want to get too repetitive. So here are some highlights
The Chicago Skyway bridge over Calumet River
The Indiana Harbor Works Inland Steel Mill - the largest steel mill in the Great Lakes region and probably one of the largest on the continent
Last time around, I complained that I, even though the train rode along the south shore of Lake Michigan, I barely got to see the lake because there were so many freight trains in the way. That certainly wasn't a problem this time around.
As the train rode through the forests of Indiana's Porter County, I was struck by the sheer vibrancy of the russet leaves. The photos don't quite do it justice.
According to the schedule the train was supposed to arrive in St. Joseph at 12:45 PM (Eastern Time). But between the half an hour delay getting to Chicago, and some of the other delays we ran into along the way, it wound up arriving almost an hour late. But I wasn't too bothered. With the return train scheduled to arrive at 4:32 PM, I had at least two hours to explore the Twin Cites.
I could work with that.
On the Beaches of St. Joseph
Most of the St. Joseph train station building is currently a pizzeria.
But, as it turned out, there was a actually a waiting room for passengers.
It had a bulletin board with a train schedule and the schedules for local bus system. It isn't a terribly large bus system (only two routes at the time of the trip). Only one of those routes goes into St. Joseph, stopping a few blocks from the station
The waiting room also had a spinner rack worth of schedules and local tourist guides, as well as table with a newspaper published by the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers.
I think vg36 mailed me a copy of it some time within the last two years.
After I finished looking around the waiting room, I got back onto the platform - and realized that the train still hasn't moved.
It took a few more minutes for it to get going, but once it did... I knew that Pere Marquette track went pretty close to the shore of Lake Michigan. I just didn't realize how close.
Imagine that this is summer. You get off the train. On the right, you have a tall hill. The train is blocking your view on the left. But then, the train pulls away... And suddenly, you see a lakefront full of families. Kids playing in the splashpad (which would be visible bit too the left if it was turned on), heading toward the indoor carousel on the right. The Superliner train cars' height helps here, since it blocks practically everything.
As a little kid, I would've been awestruck. Heck, a 30-year-old me only saw it during chilly fall, and I was impressed. I'm not sure if that was intended effect, but it works brilliantly.
After my visit, I found out that this used to be a site of an amusement park. As you can imagine, it was pretty popular. But it closed down in 1971 because of rising crime. Today, it pretty much vanished. Even the indoor caurosel I mentioned earlier wasn't from the park - it's still historic, and the design is similar, but it was brought to St. Joseph from the state of Washington.
I didn't really get a good shot of the carousel, since the building was closed and all, but here's what it looked like on the outside.
After taking this picture, I decided to head toward the beach - which, as I later found out, was called Silver Beach.
The Whirlpool Spash pad, which was turned off until next summer. At time time, I didn't think much of the name, but an hour later, I realized that this was fate giving me a bit of foreshadowing.
Between the chilly weather and it being Thanksgiving weekend, I wasn't surprised that the beach was almost empty. I say "almost" because, as I kept walking, I saw a middle-age couple heading toward the lake, lost in their own private world.
Believe it or not, both of those pictures were taken from the same position - I just turned around to take the second one.
I didn't quite walk all the way up to the shore line - I wanted to give the couple some privacy - but I couldn't resist taking a shot of the lake. Someone where there, past the horizon, Chicago skyscrapers loomed.
Very much conscious that I only had so much time, I headed north, toward the Silver Beach Park dunes.
Imagine what the views are like from here when the sky is clear
I headed further north
Until I reached the artificially straightened mouth of St. Joseph River
I went along the rivewalk relatively quickly, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of some art.
The houses across the river.
And this "Welcome to Twin Cities" sign. I assume it was meant for the boats that, as I later found out, could dock a bit further east.
This is where I realized that I couldn't just keep walking along the river - I would have to turn right, toward the Silver Beach parking lot. Which gave me a change to get a shot of a sand-filled parking lot.
The houses by the Silver Beach
And the train station.
After walking around to get more shots of the station, I headed up the hill, toward downtown St. Joseph.
As I climbed up the stairs, I was able to get some truly amazing shots of the beach below.
And this, I'm afraid, is where I must end this entry. Much as I would like to include my entire trip in one post, it would be way too long, and, as my mom pointed out last time I did a trip log, if you make those things too long, people tend to get tired of reading it.
So tune in next time as I explore downtown St. Joseph - and the very different downtown Benton Harbor.
The "Thanksgiving Special" trip is something that I wanted to do last year but couldn't, because, you know, chemo. To summarize - the Pere Marquette train, which links Chicago to municipalities near the east of shore of Lake Michigan, usually has a schedule that's convenient if you're coming from the state of Michigan, but less convenient the other way around. The train only makes two trips a day - it leaves Grand Rapids, Michigan early in the morning, and comes back in the evening. But last year, Michigan Department of Transportation decided to add an extra train a day before Thanksgiving and on Sunday after Thanksgiving, which leaves Chicago in the morning and comes back in the evening. Which means that those are literally the only two times in the entire freaking year when I could visit the towns along Pere Marquette route by train.
Like I said, I missed it last time around because, again, chemo. But this year, I was determined to try to make up for lost time because (a) fuck cancer and (b) I had some extra money thanks to my dad's gift.
I decided to take the train to Michigan's Twin Cities - St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. There was a practical reason for that - it's the first stop on Pere Marquette, so I would be able to spend more time there than at any stop further north. But I also wanted to go because, for the past few decades, the two cities became known for reasons that were, to put it mildly, controversial.
St. Joseph is mostly middle-class and higher and mostly white. Benton Harbor is mostly poor and black. The two towns are separated by St. Joseph River, within walking distance from each other yet, in many ways, worlds apart.
If you've been following me on this blog, or on any social media network whatsoever, you'd know why I wouldn't want to pass it up.
Getting there
According to the schedule, the extra Pere Marquette train (which I dubbed "Thanksgiving Special") was supposed to arrive at Chicago Union Station at 10:00 AM. But I wasn't at all surprised when I overheard the Amtrak staff mentioning that it was stuck at a junction on the southern outskirts of Chicago.
I quickly realized that Amtrak and MDOT didn't actually put together an extra train. They just planned to have the morning train turned right back around. Which, in on itself, wasn't a problem - Amtrak is notoriously short on free train cars, and kudos on Amtrak and MDOT on using the fleet it has efficiently. But it did put everyone sitting there in awkward position. As the Amtrak staff explained, the second the passengers got off, they were going to send everybody onto the train. And if you happened to be going to bathroom or buying a snack when the train arrived... well, that's the $20 that went right down the toilet. So we had to sit put and wait.
I took some comfort in the fact that Amtrak staff sounded just as annoyed with the situation as we were.
The Thanksgiving Special wound up arriving at 10:30 AM, which wasn't too bad, all things considered. And, true to their word, the staff quickly hustled everyone on board, and the train took off the seconds the control tower gave clearance.
A few words about the train. Usually, mid-range trains like Pere Marquette using single-level cars. But in recent years, Pere Marquette and others started using two-level Superliner cars, with most passengers seated on the second floor.
There were advantages to this set-up - higher vantage point meant better views out the windows, the seats were a bit more comfortable than in older-school mid-range single-level cars, and two levels meant you could fit more passengers in per car. But it did mean that it didn't really have a cafe/lounge car - instead, Amtrak mechanics turned one car's lower level into a standing room only cafe. It's better than nothing, but I kind of missed cafe car tables.
But perhaps most importantly, the set-up made business class seats a bit awkward. See, in the single-level cars, the business class section is basically the second half of a cafe/lounge car. Having a business class gets you nicer, wider seats, plus free non-alcoholic beverages and free newspapers.
On the Thanksgiving Special, the business-class seats were exact same seats as the regular coach seats - they are just in the section separated from the rest of the car by a curtain.
I suppose free beverages and access to Chicago Union Station's lounge still makes the pricier business-class tickets worthwhile.
Aside from the views, there are two things that I liked about the train. One is that it had wi-fi which, for the most part, actually worked pretty smoothly. I wouldn't recommend trying to steam video on it, but you can check e-mail, read articles and make social media updates just fine. You also get access to a GPS-based train tracker that tells you exactly where you are and how much further your stop is.
Another nice touch - instead of your regular, nation wide cafe car menu, the Thanksgiving Special menu had some local specialties. Like a Chicago-style hot dog. And you actually got more than one kind of tea. Sure, it's your regular Lipton tea, but most of the time, cafe car tea is just tea. I was so surprised to hear the cafe car server ask "which tea?" that I honestly thought I misheard.
I took lots of photos on the way to St. Joseph, but a lot of those are places I've photographed during my DC-NYC trip, and I don't want to get too repetitive. So here are some highlights
The Chicago Skyway bridge over Calumet River
The Indiana Harbor Works Inland Steel Mill - the largest steel mill in the Great Lakes region and probably one of the largest on the continent
Last time around, I complained that I, even though the train rode along the south shore of Lake Michigan, I barely got to see the lake because there were so many freight trains in the way. That certainly wasn't a problem this time around.
As the train rode through the forests of Indiana's Porter County, I was struck by the sheer vibrancy of the russet leaves. The photos don't quite do it justice.
According to the schedule the train was supposed to arrive in St. Joseph at 12:45 PM (Eastern Time). But between the half an hour delay getting to Chicago, and some of the other delays we ran into along the way, it wound up arriving almost an hour late. But I wasn't too bothered. With the return train scheduled to arrive at 4:32 PM, I had at least two hours to explore the Twin Cites.
I could work with that.
On the Beaches of St. Joseph
Most of the St. Joseph train station building is currently a pizzeria.
But, as it turned out, there was a actually a waiting room for passengers.
It had a bulletin board with a train schedule and the schedules for local bus system. It isn't a terribly large bus system (only two routes at the time of the trip). Only one of those routes goes into St. Joseph, stopping a few blocks from the station
The waiting room also had a spinner rack worth of schedules and local tourist guides, as well as table with a newspaper published by the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers.
I think vg36 mailed me a copy of it some time within the last two years.
After I finished looking around the waiting room, I got back onto the platform - and realized that the train still hasn't moved.
It took a few more minutes for it to get going, but once it did... I knew that Pere Marquette track went pretty close to the shore of Lake Michigan. I just didn't realize how close.
Imagine that this is summer. You get off the train. On the right, you have a tall hill. The train is blocking your view on the left. But then, the train pulls away... And suddenly, you see a lakefront full of families. Kids playing in the splashpad (which would be visible bit too the left if it was turned on), heading toward the indoor carousel on the right. The Superliner train cars' height helps here, since it blocks practically everything.
As a little kid, I would've been awestruck. Heck, a 30-year-old me only saw it during chilly fall, and I was impressed. I'm not sure if that was intended effect, but it works brilliantly.
After my visit, I found out that this used to be a site of an amusement park. As you can imagine, it was pretty popular. But it closed down in 1971 because of rising crime. Today, it pretty much vanished. Even the indoor caurosel I mentioned earlier wasn't from the park - it's still historic, and the design is similar, but it was brought to St. Joseph from the state of Washington.
I didn't really get a good shot of the carousel, since the building was closed and all, but here's what it looked like on the outside.
After taking this picture, I decided to head toward the beach - which, as I later found out, was called Silver Beach.
The Whirlpool Spash pad, which was turned off until next summer. At time time, I didn't think much of the name, but an hour later, I realized that this was fate giving me a bit of foreshadowing.
Between the chilly weather and it being Thanksgiving weekend, I wasn't surprised that the beach was almost empty. I say "almost" because, as I kept walking, I saw a middle-age couple heading toward the lake, lost in their own private world.
Believe it or not, both of those pictures were taken from the same position - I just turned around to take the second one.
I didn't quite walk all the way up to the shore line - I wanted to give the couple some privacy - but I couldn't resist taking a shot of the lake. Someone where there, past the horizon, Chicago skyscrapers loomed.
Very much conscious that I only had so much time, I headed north, toward the Silver Beach Park dunes.
Imagine what the views are like from here when the sky is clear
I headed further north
Until I reached the artificially straightened mouth of St. Joseph River
I went along the rivewalk relatively quickly, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of some art.
The houses across the river.
And this "Welcome to Twin Cities" sign. I assume it was meant for the boats that, as I later found out, could dock a bit further east.
This is where I realized that I couldn't just keep walking along the river - I would have to turn right, toward the Silver Beach parking lot. Which gave me a change to get a shot of a sand-filled parking lot.
The houses by the Silver Beach
And the train station.
After walking around to get more shots of the station, I headed up the hill, toward downtown St. Joseph.
As I climbed up the stairs, I was able to get some truly amazing shots of the beach below.
And this, I'm afraid, is where I must end this entry. Much as I would like to include my entire trip in one post, it would be way too long, and, as my mom pointed out last time I did a trip log, if you make those things too long, people tend to get tired of reading it.
So tune in next time as I explore downtown St. Joseph - and the very different downtown Benton Harbor.