Our AMTRAK Adventures….The return from Florida…..

We boarded the Silver Meteor and found our roomette…..Jerry did too….one last goodbye….

Didn’t take long and my GPS indicated we were zooming along at 81MPH!

Short stop at Sebring, FL…..home of the famous races!

Catching up on some internet surfing……

 

Lots of Orange groves!

Getting further North, green grass and trees are fading away…..

Hello again Winter!

After changing trains in Washington DC again, we’re headed West……Somewhere in Ohio (?) during the night, the GPS recorded a max speed of 91.6 MPH!

One of many steel mills and plants in Northern Indiana and nearing Chicago…..

And we’re just about to Chicago again!

Graffiti approaching the station….pretty artistic…..too bad that talent can’t be aimed in the right direction……

After arriving in Chicago, I decided to do a little exploring…Marcy was quite tired, so she waited at the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge…..it was only a couple blocks to the Willis (Sears) Tower….the tallest building in Chicago.

Here’s some views from near the top……the 103rd floor….

Navy Pier and Lake Michigan….

They have what is called the SkyDeck Ledge…..protrusions made entirely of glass that extend 4 feet away from the building…..you can walk out in them…

This is looking straight down through the floor of one….

This gal is doing a handstand in one….kinda looks like she is falling at first glance…..

And this was my first reaction when I had just stepped out in one…..LOL!

But after adjusting to it, it was kinda fun!

These 2 were taken by a photographer in the tower…..

Back on the street, I found a Giordano’s Pizza place…..they are famous in Chicago….

So……I decided to try one…..

Back on the street…..

And after a short walk, I was back in the Metropolitan Lounge….

 

Where Marcy was patiently waiting….

It was after dark when we boarded the California Zephyr for Omaha, so no more pictures…..but Jamie picked us up again at the Amtrak station in Omaha, and after a visiting with Jamie and Kris for a couple hours and treating them to breakfast, we drove home to South Dakota……this was a wonderful trip…..We are already planning our next Amtrak Adventure for September, this time heading West to California to see my cousins and stopping in Seattle on the way back to visit Marcy’s cousin…..Meanwhile, stay tuned for our summer adventures between now and September!

AMTRAK Adventures…..Our visit in Florida…..

After a relaxing 3 day AMTRAK trip, we arrived in West Palm Beach, FL and were greeted by nice warm weather! Jerry, Carolyn and Lexie were waiting for us at the depot!

It didn’t take us long to get to Jensen Beach and start enjoying the hospitality at Jerry and Elaine’s….

Ahhhh…..this is the life!

Jerry and crew have a very nice Florida home! We spent a lot of time on the patio and pool area…..

Jerry is in the process of building an outdoor kitchen…..it will have 3 grills and a brick pizza oven when it is done….ambitious fellow!

Lexies birthday was on February 7th, so there was a lot of opportunities to wish her a happy one!

Grandpa and Grandma Dietz treated everyone to Hot Dogs and beverages!

Grandpa and Grandma Munson treated her to supper out at a new restaurant she wanted to try…..Jerry has his arm in a sling as he tore a shoulder ligament really bad….he will have surgery on it in march…..

The next night, Jerry treated me to Grilled Red Snapper at home…..Mmmmmm….goood stuff!

Well, all good things come to an end……Jerry drove us back to West Palm Beach to catch the Northbound Silver Meteor…..

It’s always hard to say good-by, but we took our time and made it last……

And here’s our train, right on time……

one last good-by…….

Jerry found our sleeper window! Bye Jerry!

Watch the blog for our adventurous trip back home!