Train Riding

Last weekend we took the Amtrak from Normal, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri.  Lotta and Ben were SUPER SUPER excited.  The thing that struck me about the whole trip was how incredibly contrasting the train passengers were.  For example, when Lotta and Ben and I walked to the snack bar, several passengers, looked up from their seats utterly gleaming at us.  It felt as if we were friends.  Not just a friendly smile, but as if they wanted us to stay and chat for awhile.  I felt like asking, not just, "Do I know you?"  but "Are we related?"  That was how incredibly friendly they were.  Then there was the opposite extreme.  Passengers and/or workers who were just grump-ity grump grump. Like the woman sitting in front of us who kept turning around to glare at my children as they talked in their indoor voices.   I guess I am spoiled living in Madison where so many others are as entertained by my children or at least act as though they are.  Won't even air my grievances here because it seems petty and mean.  It was a bit confusing having such vivid extremes side-by-side.

The most exciting part of the whole train trip was walking to the snack bar for lunch.  We'd bought lunch at a deli to take as a picnic, however, Ben was not pleased with his selection.  It tasted funny to him as new things sometimes do in a 7-year-old mouth.  I knew it would be a loooong train ride if he were hungry so we set off to see what Amtrak had to offer.  The gentleman serving up snacks was, once again, highly highly friendly.  Not fake friendly.  Sincerely so (he could moonlight at Trader Joe's if he wanted seriously).  Ben enthusiastically proclaimed the train hot dogs as one of the best he'd had.

We had expected the train we were on to have an observation train and a snack car and be a double decker, as the train that pulled up right before ours was.  Unfortunately, we were a single level with no observation car, making traveling through the train repeatedly offering up only the very slightest of entertainment value.  About half way through the trip, Ben became boredom.  I was feeling slightly bored myself and wasn't much help.  The backpack I'd packed for our enjoyment had lasted about 15 minutes of our 3 hour train ride.  The couple sitting in front of us de-boarded and I allowed Ben to move to that seat, while Lotta traversed back and forth between the two sets of seats.  To overcome his boredom, the rest of the train ride, Ben sat propped up against the window, just looking.  Noticing how the sky was getting darker with rain, noticing every single hawk, and the highlight--a couple of turkeys in a field.  I was once again amazed at how Ben was able to turn his fun button on and transform a disappointing, joy-less ride into something spectacular.