Jon had an early call for his matinee on Sunday, July 19. The triplets and I went to Walnut Street United Methodist for their traditional worship service at 11 a.m. We got to meet their new pastor, Pastor Serena Wolfe. She seems like a very good preacher and presider. Walnut Street is fortunate to have two awesome pastors in a row.
We had some trouble deciding what to do for our afternoon activity, but eventually we came to an agreement to go to Lancaster, which included the River Valley Mall, Target, and Michaels. Though the Paints were home we did not go to the game.
On Monday we celebrated the triplets' 14th birthday with dinner at Texas Roadhouse during Nick's band camp dinner break. The girls invited some friends and Jon was able to join us as well. Abbie is very into books this year and provided a list of 12 books she would like. Nick is very into Lego and that is pretty easy to shop for. Noelle... is a wild card. Hopefully she got presents she enjoyed.
Monday and Tuesday included Band Camp for Nick, getting some things ready for the Beetlejuice cast meeting, cleaning the house and packing, and other odds and ends.
Wednesday seemed like a very long day. I said good-bye to Jon, Noelle, and Abbie. I picked Nick up for his dinner break and we ate at Taco Bell. I got a chicken cheese quesadilla, so there was no lettuce involved. Then I headed to Canal Winchester for the beginning of my train trip. My brother Scott was willing to drive my van to Cincinnati, and we left his house around 9 p.m. We got to Union Terminal at 10:45 p.m. The Amtrak station was supposed to open at 11 p.m. It was closer to midnight before the station opened, but the staff provided a chair for me to sit down in the entry way. You can read more about Union Terminal here.
My train, the Cardinal, was re-schedule to depart later than when I booked the trip, and then it was delayed by about 30 minutes, so it was pushing 3 a.m. by the time on got on the train. My ticket was for a coach seat. I sat next to the gentleman who had arrived at the station at the same time I did. I curled up in my blanket and went to sleep. At one of our station stops, he got up and moved to a different seat (I don't know if I was snoring or if he just wanted more space). I took that opportunity to move to the window seat, which allowed me to plug in my CPAP in the outlet and put it on for better sleep. The gentleman got called out for switching seats, but the Amtrak guy did not move him back to where I was sitting so I was able to have two seats for the remainder of the trip. In the morning I woke up and went to the cafe car where I ordered my morning Diet Coke and a Cheese Plate, which was not as exciting as it sounds. We arrived at Union Station in Chicago and I disembarked the Cardinal. I had a few hours layover, but not really enough time to do anything in the city, so I ate lunch in the food court. By the time I was done with lunch, my three-hour window for the Metropolitan Lounge opened up, so I spent the rest of the time there. Complimentary beverages and snacks are provided for first class customers and those in sleeper cars, but the snacks were quickly depleted. At the appropriate time, an attendant escorted the passengers to Track 19 where the Empire Builder was waiting.
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