I’m on my way back to Philadelphia this morning, on Amtrak Northeast Regional #88 that will get me into the city a bit after 1pm. I snapped the photo above of the Phoenix Park Hotel as I waited for the light to change on my walk to Union Station.

As we’re riding along these tracks, I look out at so many little homes and communities and junk yards and docks, and across semi-frozen water as we occasionally stretch ourselves over a bridge, and wonder if there will be any of this to see in a future where the Hyperloop becomes a reality, likely underground. I wonder what the experience will be like as a passenger of an underground vacuum tube at such high speeds and relatively short durations. And I wonder whether the experience of all those in the little homes and places this Amtrak train passes today will become better or worse, and more or less interesting, when trains like this one diminish in frequency or stop although some day. In any event…

When we get into Philadelphia, I’ll head to my office at Logan Circle for a few hours of work this afternoon after a full few days in Washington, and a full week to come, to be spent partially at Penn State and in State College.

The Philadelphia Eagles meet the Minnesota Vikings tonight at 6pm to decide who wins the NFC Championship and gets to advance to the Super Bowl.