A president slept here...

The home that future president Ronald Reagan lived in when he was between 9 and 12 years old in Dixon, Illinois, and located just off of US Highway 52.

I've been abandoned...

Originally a Mission style Taco Bell, most recently a place called the Shrimp House sits abandoned on US Highway 30 on the west side of Joliet, Illinois.

Flying through New Lenox on a sad morning

A Chicago Metra commuter train on the Rock Island line flies through New Lenox  outbound on its way to Joliet at sunrise. It was a sad morning waking up to the news of the Las Vegas tragedy that happened the night before.

Riding the rails

Amtrak's Illinois Zephyr is departing the La Grange Road station in suburban Chicago on its journey to Quincy, Il.

A Wet Day in Chicago

Metra train at Big Timber, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

As mentioned in my previous post, in April I attended the national convention for the American Planning Association in Chicago.

On the final day I took the "Behind the Scenes of Union Station" Tour and then had the afternoon to explore. The area was being hit by severe thundershowers so I decided to take a METRA train from Union Station so I could be dry for a couple hours.

I took the train out to Big Timber which is right outside the town of Elgin. I irony of going out on this route is that I almost moved to the area about three years ago before something fell through (which turned out to be a blessing in multiple ways).

I was able to take a couple of pictures while the train laid over at Big Timber before the rain started to fall again.

The next day I was supposed to fly to Detroit to visit my Aunt whose only child (and someone I had spent a lot of time with in the summers growing up) had passed away earlier in the year,

However, because of severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings in the area I couldn't make the trip.

Chicago Union Station-What the public doesn't see...

Chicago Union Station tour, a photo by Dornoff Photography on Flickr.

Back in April I spent a week in Chicago to attend the American Planning Association conference.

On the final day of the conference I was part of behind the scenes tour at Chicago Union Station.

One of the rooms that we went into were once the woman's restroom and lounge which is now used for storage and a prep are for caters and others that work the special events that are held at the station.

You could see the beauty that this room once had with the murals and the decorative ceiling. While the ceiling had been damaged in the late 50's/early 60's by the installation of a lowered ceiling, you can see still the beauty that was once there.

Hopefully someday this section of station will be restored.