Diamond Jubilee: Chicago (again)

July 2021

In Red Wing I boarded a morning train which deposited me in Chicago at the end of the day. I spent a lot of time while in Red Wing deciding how to spend the final days of the rail pass before boarding the final train to Washington. I wanted to visit one of the Mississippi River towns in Iowa like Fort Madison or Davenport, but the train timings did not work out. Additionally, I was feeling weary from constantly moving.

I made the executive decision to stay in Chicago for a few days. Like a vacation within a vacation, I took advantage of a relatively cheap hotel I had found, so I could walk around the city for a few days. That turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. Unlike visits in the past which were always in winter, it was July in glorious sunshine (and recall my stopover on the way to St Paul had been rainy). Chicago on a sunny day in the summer is very hard to beat.

My only frustration was COVID - many places were still locked down or closed. The flip side, however, was the feeling I had the whole city to myself. I explored and enjoyed Chicago for three days wandering all over. It didn't feel like part of the trip, it felt like a "detour" to do something I should have done years before - spend time in Chicago in good weather. The Diamond Jubilee focused on seeing new places, so Chicago was just a pause (and a good one!).

After a truly great visit to the Windy City, I boarded the train for the last time. I had considered getting off in Charleston, West Virginia for a night, but, again, the train timings did not work. I would just go back to DC directly. One more long, overnight train ride remained.