Blacklisted Green.list.ed: Catching the train

Happy Earth Day, everyone. This last weekend was a successful experiment in mass transit for Daniel and I as we went up to Chicago for a wedding sans automobile. Our hypothesis: we could get to and around Chicago better without our car. For those in public transit-friendly towns, feel free to start scoffing....now. But with St. Louis and Los Angeles as my 2 cities of residency, let's just say I haven't lived anywhere noted for it's spectacular public transit system and taking trains still falls under the category of cool in my little book. I can say with complete confidence that I rode more trains on our way home Sunday than all of my previous years combined (the exact number of years shall remain undisclosed).

At least feign exhaustion when you read of my extraordinary Sunday travels:
1st leg: Metra . Chicago suburbs (location of the wedding we attended) to Chicago Union Station
2nd and 3rd leg: Chicago El . Union Station to my brother's apartment (and then back to Union Station later in the day)
4th leg: Amtrak . Chicago Union Station to St. Louis
5th leg: Metrolink . St. Louis Amtrak station to nearby our house

But anyway, the choice to go rail (the insider's term for taking the train, or perhaps I just coined it) was an excellent one. We relaxed on the Amtrak - watching unique viewpoints of small central Illinois towns as we passed; we avoided having to drive in downtown Chicago and - far worse a fate - find and pay for parking; we had fun walking around Chicago with only the next station as our final destination rather than getting back to where we parked the car. All these are enough to make me book another trip on a train - the fact that it is more eco-friendly than cars or planes* is icing on the cake. I love icing.

*At least marginally, depending on the stats you view. I would really love to delve into the ecological impact as well as the future of rail in the U.S., but it is late and that will have to wait for another day.