More off the Summer Vacation Bucket List

For the last while, trains have been a major part of our lives here. More specifically, El trains have been a major part of our lives here. And it has long been the dear desire of Townshend's heart to travel the Blue line from end to end. As this summer has been the summer of granting wishes, this trip made our list.

Starting off

We went on a day where Hubby could watch Moon, so it was just Townshend and me. To start, we got ourselves to the Forest Park stop and thus our journey began. We traveled through the 'burbs, into and out of downtown and then north up to O'Hare. Despite the gentle rocking and the rhythm of the wheels, I was expressly forbidden to fall asleep and, though difficult at times, I struggled through successfully.

We made it!!!

On the ride home, we made a detour at the (2nd) Western stop for lunch. Western Avenue is the line between the Logan Square and Bucktown neighborhoods and right near where Hubby and I lived when we were first married. It was fun to visit the old neighborhood and see what had and hadn't changed. And of course, we stopped by Margie's Candies.

It's such a classic staple of the neighborhood! Love that place. So much history and charm. They've got these little jukeboxes at the tables. I didn't have any quarters with me, so we couldn't see if they actually worked, but the little flipper was still fun.

And, though our grilled cheese sandwiches were not bad, it was the ice cream that brings the people in. They make their own ice cream in various flavors (I'm partial to the coconut)  and their hot fudge comes in these little silver boats... soooo tasty.

Despite Townshend's dislike of ice cream, he enjoyed the lunch - and the extra cookies on the side. After a quick photo stop, we headed back to the trains.

It was clear that Townshend's enthusiasm was faltering as we finished our trip back to Forest Park. Our conversations took a turn that was entertaining.. lots of quick flip-flopping between very bored and super engaged:

Townshend: This is not as fun as I thought

Me: It is long. 

Townshend: Maybe to you! 

Me: Are you tired of trains yet? 

Townshend: Yes. But I want to start back at O’Hare and do it again 

Townshend: I'm so tired. 

Me: You could take a nap, we've got a long way to go still

Townshend: No!! I can't miss any of it

And my personal favorite.. as we were coming to the last couple stops, Townshend was sighing and getting majorly fidgety (which is pretty impressive considering we'd started about 10:30am and it was nearing 3pm):

Me: Are you glad we'd made this trip? 

Townshend: I'm done with this.

Brief pause, then: Can we do this again on Tuesday??

Sorry it's sideways, but he's just too cute!