Go Cubs, Go Amtrak

Since several of you asked about my Amtrak trip to Chicago last week with my 2 sons, to see athe Cubs play in Wrigley Field, so here's the scoop:

--Amtrak runs from Cinci to Chicago every other day. That schedule didn't work for us, so we drove to Indianapolis and took Amtrak from there. Amtrak runs every day to and from Indy-Chicago. Tickets were $80 for me and my 18-yr-old; my 14-yr-old was free.

--Amtrak leaves here about 2 a.m. From Indy, it leaves at 6:30 a.m. We arrived in Chicago Union Station at 10:20 a.m. local time, or 11:20 a.m. our time. That was more than enough time to grab a great breakfast at Lou Mitchell's across the street from the station, then catch a cab to the Red Line subway at Jackson & State to get to Wrigley by 1:20 p.m. game. Train ran on time on way up. On way home, it was 90 minutes late after being stuck behind a freight an hour outside Indianapolis. Not fun.

--Wrigley is usually sold out, except for the first week of season when its cold. Believe me, it was cold. (The Weds Cubs-Astros game was snowed out.) Also, first week of season are value days, with half price tickets, because its so cold. I bought tickets about 10 days in advance, and got 1st row of upper deck behind the 1st base dugout. And the game wasn't sold out by first pitch.
--Return trip to Indy (and/or Cinci) leaves Chicago at 5:45 p.m. If you want to go up and back in a day, you might have to leave the game early to catch train on time. (I did go up and back in a day with my boys four years ago, but the return train left at 8:30 p.m., giving us more than enough time for the whole game and to catch dinner at the ESPN Zone on Ohio Street near the loop.)

--We opted to stay over one night. We did the ESPN Zone Tuesday after the game. On Wednesday, we caught an express bus from Michigan Avenue to the Museum of Science & Industry and spent most of the day there. (Sears Tower was closed because of low snow cloud cover.) We took bus from museum over to the Red Line, took El back to Jackson Street, and walked 8 blocks to Union Station for trip home.

--Another tip: You can get a 2-day visitors pass for Chicago Transit Authority El/Bus system for $9 each at a machine in Union Station. That saved us a few bucks.

We have a great 2 days in Chicago. I'd recommend it to anyone. What fun!