More Summer Vacation Fun

Chicago's public transportation includes eight different train lines, all named by colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Brown. In my 13 years living in the Chicago area, I've had the opportunity to ride on most of them.

To me, boring adult that I am, trains are a means of transportation and, for the most part - after years of daily commutes, their novelty has mostly worn off. However, for my train-brained five year old son, everything about the El trains is still sparkly and exciting. So, while I say, I've ridden on "most of them" and am ok with that, the truth is that I've ridden on all but one (the Yellow line) and that omission is nigh unto painful to him.

The contrast of the way we view this Yellow line is actually pretty funny. To me, the Yellow line is an afterthought of a route. It's only three stops long and it links a near suburb to another near suburb, both of which I've never really had any practical need to visit via train. However, to Townshend, those three stops are equally interesting and important as any other and he can't fathom how I can stand to be so close to a perfect and complete list of train lines on which I've taken rides and not feel a need to fix it.

Enter Summer Vacation.

On our list of things to do, we included a day trip to drive up to Skokie to catch the start of the Yellow line and ride to the end and then transfer at the start of the Purple and ride up to its end, then back again. The boys were excited about the trains, I was excited to discover that the Baha'i Temple was just a couple blocks from the end of the line. And so it was: trains for them, sightseeing for me.

It was a day of trains and trains. Yellow, then Purple.. though, on the way back we stopped in Evanston for lunch before hopping back on the train and heading back to Skokie (followed by snarly traffic heading back into the city). Townshend was excited 'cuz that meant we rode on five trains in one day.

Years and years ago, I'd visited the Baha'i Temple but not when the gardens were in bloom, so this visit was extra lovely. Townshend was less than impressed (he let me know it was a very boring building), but I felt that, all in all, I'd earned a it.

It's a gorgeous building and, before leaving, I even dragged the boys to the visitors center to read a little about the symbolism of the architecture and more about the Baha'i religion. I was glad to have visited, and it was a beautiful day for all that traveling.

Despite there being a silly detour to a boring building, Townshend is very pleased to now be able to say that I've been on every one of the CTA fast transit routes.