St. Louis(?) Site: Train Ride

Where have I been? I've been right here. Busy with work. Busy with keeping up. And honestly, I haven't wanted to blog. I've even thought about shutting it down once or twice. But then, I was sitting outside on Friday during lunch, taking in the cool breeze and thinking about pumpkin spice lattes [coming to a Starbuck's near you on September 1]and I wanted to blog again.

So here I am.

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Two weekends ago, Hubs dropped me off in Kirkwood in the morning. I had my weekend bag and settled in at a local coffee shop [Kaldi's Coffee] for an expensive breakfast. One where they still take the time to make the foamed milk so stiff it can stand on its own. One where they even put designs in your foam.

It was very good. But, soon the time came for me to catch my train. That day, I was taking the Amtrak to Kansas City for a quick 36 hour trip. So, I walked across the street to the cute little station.

Inside were friendly volunteers to help us attach luggage tags and to chat with us while we waited for the train to arrive.

Soon we all began to gather on the platform, waiting for the train to approach. All I could think of was Harry Potter at this point. And really hoped to see that the Hogwart's Express was coming to pick me up. Okay, not really.

And then, it arrived.

There are friendly conductors to help you find the right car based on your destination. Then you just choose your seat and get comfy. Turns out, the inside is nothing like Hogwart's Express. But, it is pretty comfy. The seat are bigger than airplane seats and the train was nowhere near full so I got to spread out on two seats. There was a snack car that had booths and limited food. This is when I began thinking of White Christmas and started singing, "Snow. Snow. Snow. Snow!" Just kidding. I didn't really do that.

For a round-trip ticket, it cost $66.00. Which was cheaper than me driving; plus, I didn't have to drive. Which means I got to relax for the entire trip. Which is worth it because spending the weekend driving is no fun. The biggest downside is that they don't allow dogs.

All in all, it was a great trip [both the time in Kansas and the time of the train]. I'm looking forward to doing it again!