Roseyland

WARNING!!! This blog post may be in violation of the Patriot Act. Continue reading at your own risk. Details to come later in this post. I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time over Memorial Day Weekend. You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I road the St. Louis MetroLink from Shrewsbury to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. You might have noticed in my posts about Chicago and San Francisco that I have a little thing for light rail public transportation. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it has something to do with that big city feeling. Riding the Metrolink (or subway, or El, or T,…) is an experience you share with other people, yet you remain completely autonomous. Also, trains are cool. Here is a picture of the Shrewsbury station where I parked my car and started my journey at 11:56 a.m.

I purchased an all day pass for $4.50, because I knew I wanted to get on and off a couple times. I wanted to get a few pictures of the cool underground stations near WashU, so I got off at the University City - Big Bend station, which you can see in the picture below. I love the underground stations because they make me feel like I’m in a bigger city and they have cool colored lighting effects. The pink lights in the picture below change from pink, to red, to green, to blue. I’m easily amused.

A random fact about me: I got my engineering degree at WashU. One of the campus apartments I lived in is right by the new University City MetroLink station. The station didn’t exist when I was in school, which is too bad, because that would have ruled. I used my elite Microsoft Paint skills to mark my old room in the picture below, let me know if you can’t find it.

There is a cool little tree lined path that links WashU and the loop. I was hungry, so I followed the path.

Here is a picture of the loop. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, but I love the loop. So many unique shops, restaurants, and a diverse mix of people. The loop is another thing that reminds me that I live in a big city with a lot to experience, if you remember to look.

I love Noodles & Company, I ate at Noodles years ago when they first started in Colorado. I was thrilled when they expanded to St. Louis. I had the seasonal asparagus pasta. I love asparagus, and I was a little disappointed that they didn’t put very much asparagus in the asparagus pasta. See? Look, where’s the asparagus?

I walked to the Skinker station to get back on the MetroLink. Here is a picture of a cool mural and the ramp leading down to the tracks. If you look close, you can see that the colored lighting effects are now blue. Woah! colored lights are awesome!

I had to change trains if I wanted to go all the way to Scott Air Force Base, so I got off at the Arch-Laclede’s Landing station. I got a cool picture of the Arch inside one of the stations arches. I call it arch in an arch.

I hadn’t see the new Lumière Place casino yet, so I took a walk to check it out. I have to say, I’m impressed. Lumière Place is by far the most Vegas like casino in the St. Louis area. I love the way the cool/trendy restaurants are mixed in with the casino floor. It reminded me of the Mirage casino in Vegas.

It rained just a tiny bit over the Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis. I got stuck out in the rain as I was walking through Laclede’s landing, so I hid under an awning and took pictures.

I debated whether or not to go all the way to Scott Air Force Base or to just head back to Shrewsbury. I kind of knew that there wasn’t anything I wanted to see in Illinois, but I also knew that I wouldn’t feel like I had completed the mission if didn’t go all the way. So I got back on the Metrolink and headed east. Once I got past East St. Louis, this is what I saw.

I pretty much felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, I love the country, I just don’t want mixed in with my Metrolink. The farm fields kind of ruin the whole big city feeling. Below is a picture of the Scott Air Force Base station to prove that I went the whole way.

After about 40 minutes, I arrived back in civilization. I had to change trains to get back to Shrewsbury, so I got off at the Convention Center station. This is another underground station, and it’s cool because overall it has a modern look, but the Metrolink tunnel entrances are old. I got this cool picture of the train entering the station.

See the picture above? This picture may get me sent to Guantanamo Bay. Right after I took the picture, the train driver came over the loudspeaker and said “SIR! DO NOT TAKE A PICTURE OF THE TRAIN!”. “Huh?” I stood there bewildered for a moment, not quite sure what had happened. “SIR! PUT YOUR CAMERA AWAY TAKING PICTURES OF THE TRAINS IS ILLEGAL”. I put my camera away and sat back embarrassed, confused, and a little angry. How in the world could taking a picture of a train be illegal, and why was publicly yelling at me over the loudspeaker the appropriate way to inform me?

When I got home, I did some research on the web. Initially it appeared that the Patriot Act had made any photography of trains, planes, tunnels, bridges, airports, etc… illegal. I was shocked. After some more research, I found that this is probably not the case. It isn’t very clear, and there is a lot misinformation out there, but this article (Should Photography be Illegal? by Jim McGee) does a good job of summarizing the situation.

Basically, there is good reason for police and public transportation agencies to be weary of anyone who is showing a lot interest in a potential terrorist target. Apparently, a few individuals with sketchy backgrounds have been caught extensively photographing and videotaping various cities’ transportation networks. Which is scary. That being said, legitimate photography does not appear to be illegal, nor should it be. Let’s face it, a little rule about photography is not going to get in the way of a psycho religious fundamentalist hell bent on killing innocent people in the name of god. I’m just saying. Also, if you want to make something against the rules, post a few signs or something. Publicly chastising people when they do something wrong is not an effective communication strategy. Yeah, um, I’m still a little hurt.

Here’s a picture of my entire route including the portions that I walked. You can click on the picture for a larger version.

There you have it, one long MetroLink ride. Overall I traveled 70 miles in approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes. 2 hours and 45 minutes of that was spent riding the Metrolink. You can see more pictures of my trip in my flickr set here. I highly doubt that I will ever repeat this trip, but I am glad that I can check it off my list now. This website is interesting, it is dedicated to the expansion of the Metrolink. I would personally love it if I could ride the MetroLink to work and/or the airport. I know I could ride it to the airport now, but I have to go all the way to Forest Park, then change stations, and that’s just too much. Okay, that is all, thanks for coming with me on my crazy long MetroLink ride.