You can actually see some Chicago skyline if you zoom in. (The Loop is about 45 km from the location of this photo.)
This clearly-unofficial hand-painted sign was affixed to a signpost in Downtown Downers Grove.
A friend asked me (via the Eff Bee) about my recent trip from Chicago to Portland, and back, on Amtrak’s Empire Builder. (I just got back yesterday.) I wrote a fairly long comment on Facebook, and I thought it would be good to reproduce it here (lightly edited):
It cost me $376.20 for a round-trip ticket from Portland to Chicago. I got a reserved coach seat instead of a sleeper car compartment.