Urbana: Housing (and taking the train)

I had originally hoped to stay with friends while in St. Louis, however their schedule didn’t allow it (not to mention their two-week old infant). We were blessed to visit with them, however, before they drove off to Kansas for a wedding.

Instead we are staying at a bed and breakfast called the Park Avenue Mansion on Lafayette Square. We stayed here on vacation, and the least expensive room is nary more than hotels in the area (not to mention nice (real) breakfasts, free parking and no “hotel” taxes).

This morning at breakfast in the inn we met a Kansas City couple taking a break from their children for a couple of nights. They had taken the train (Amtrak) from their home with the intent to do, well, mostly nothing! One of the other couples at the table was quick to point out how nice it must have been not to drive.

I was very presently surprised at this latter comment. When taking a community planning course in college, our text (The Geography of Nowhere) made mention of people’s inability to qualify why they like car-free environments such as living history museums, or even Disney World. Thus, this comment (I believe it was made by a young woman from Boston) seemed very astute.

The couple who took the train said they played a game of Scrabble on the ride, and couldn’t believe there was actually time in their busy schedules for such a thing.