Chicago Trip!

It was a gorgeous sunny (but cold) day on Sunday so randomly we decided to hop a train and go to the city to see the Sears/Willis Tower. Naturally we brought Serena. Our journey started at the Lake Bluff train station. We waited at the handicap area for the train.

 I thought Serena would freak out when the train pulled in but instead she just turned her head and stayed in a sit stay. The conductor checked her vest and looked at my ID and was very nice about letting her on the train. I wasn't sure how she would feel about getting on the train and walked over there to have Serena just jump on and go "now what?" She spent the trip at our feet watching people and looking outside the window. She got a little restless at the end but after an hour of being cramped at my feet I don't blame her.

 We got to the train station and realized they had handicapped doors with buttons so I worked her on the "up" command and got her to open all the doors for me!

 Off we went to find some food and ended up running into a random McDonalds since it was way too cold to keep walking to find something better. We ate our food and just as we were about to leave the manager came up to tell us that pets were not allowed in the store. I explained the law and showed her my ID but she was still a little hesitant. Part of me just wanted to get up and go since we were leaving anyway and probably would never be back at that exact McDonalds again but we stayed and explained some more. She ended up taking my ID to make a photo copy of the law. She came back and was very nice and said "I didn't know about that law, thank you for explaining it." It was annoying at first but it worked out and we educated one more person/establishment!

Afterward we headed over to the Sears/Willis Tower. Their handicapped entrance buttons were not working so we had to use the very heavy side doors that no person in a wheelchair could have opened (it took two of us pulling to open it). That was frustrating but after that it was smooth sailing! We took the elevator to the security level. We had to wait for the main guy to check my ID for Serena. The security people were very nice and let us right through once my ID was checked and they said hi to Serena. We went up another elevator, then another, then another. All were packed tight like Sardines but Serena just sat there. We finally made it to floor 103! They have the glass boxes up there now so we walked out on them. I thought Serena would freak out since the bottom is glass too but she just walked out there calmer than most of the people. We practiced the stay command to get some pictures of her hanging out over the city. Tons of other people were taking pictures of her too!

 Eventually we left and rode the multiple elevators down again. Some of the staff knew her name by then and all said "bye Serena!!" We practiced some more button touching at the train station and boarded our train home! She was exhausted at this point and passed out for most of the ride. About 15min until our stop she woke up and popped her up. Everyone in the train car had no clue she was there and were like "OMG there is a dog here! We didn't even know she was even with you guys" Mission accomplished! Overall it was a great experience and I am finding the city is a great place to take her since a lot of the places down there see service dogs a lot more than up where I live!