Our train was supposed to leave at 6:45. When we got to the Amtrak station this is what we were met with.

We didn’t want to leave because the time kept changing so Donny ran out to get McDonald’s and we just hung out in the lounge, walked around and people watched. There was a little library where you could borrow and leave books and there were also vending machines. It wasn’t too bad, just added hours to what was going to be a long night and afternoon ahead.

We finally boarded about 8:30. I thought we had assigned seats, but we didn’t. There were only two seats together. So until, I think it was Little Rock, we weren’t able to all sit together.

Trains are MUCH different than planes. There’s no security to go through. Once the doors close it starts moving so you need to hurry up and get situated. The leg room is fantastic and not only does the seat recline but there are also leg rests that fold out.

Quiet time is from 10:00 until 7:00. You can talk, just not loudly, watch movies or be on your phone. You must use headphones so you don’t disturb anyone trying to sleep.

There were stops along the way where you could get out and stretch your legs.

Once it got light outside the cafe car is open. You can get food and drinks. We brought stuff from home so on the way there we didn’t buy anything off of the train.

If you look real hard you can see the Chicago skyline in the far back.

After 20 hours on the train we finally made it to Union station.

Union station is huge. We found a taxi to take us to Logan Square where our Airbnb was. Because we got in right at rush hour it took about 35 minutes to get there. The traffic is crazy!

Once we arrived and got all of our baggage up the stairs we needed food. I had read about the Punch bowl Social. So we arranged an Uber and off we went.

It’s what they call a scratch kitchen which means everything is fresh and made to order. It takes about 45 minutes to get your food, but they have games you can check out to play at your table.

The food was delicious. Jackson has chicken and waffles with Sriracha maple syrup. Hannah has garlic shrimp tacos, Donny and a bison patty melt and I had a burger.

Afterward we went to the arcade and played some games. It wasn’t a huge arcade, but all the other ones you had to be 21+ and since this one was in the restaurant it was all ages.

We played Jenga by the fire. The kids also played darts. They had a giant Scrabble board, an oversized dice game, corn hole, shuffle board and a whole lot of other games. It was a really fun place to go on our first night there.

We definitely could have spent hours there, but we were really tired and needed sleep to get ready for day 2.