metraUPNW – The Yard Social Club

When: Saturday, August 5, 2017
Where: Far Northwest Suburbs, ends in Palatine
Metra Line: Union Pacific Northwest
Cost: $8 Metra Weekend Pass, $8 McHenry County Fair entry at the gate (or $6 if you pre-pay online)
Hashtags: #YardSocial #CountryCrawlUPNW

Another train crawl? Get out of town! Way, way, WAY out of town… Join us for our first-ever Country Crawl on the furthest reaches of the Metra system! This all day crawl takes us waaaay out into the hinterlands of McHenry County with stops in Harvard, Woodstock, and Crystal Lake, with a special stop at the McHenry County Fair. We’ll wrap it up back in suburban civilization at a perennial Yard Social favorite, The Lamplighter Inn in Palatine.

Coming from the city? The UP-NW line conveniently shares the Jefferson Park terminal with the CTA’s Blue Line and several CTA bus routes including the #81-Lawrence.

Important Note: No alcohol is allowed on Metra trains on August 5 due to Lollapalooza.

Itinerary

8:48am: Depart Jefferson Park outbound
9:24am: Depart Palatine outbound
10:30am: Hub Lounge, Harvard
11:35am: Depart Harvard inbound
12:15pm: McHenry County Fair, Woodstock
2:45pm: Public House of Woodstock
3:48pm: Depart Woodstock inbound
4:00pm: Williams Street Tap, Crystal Lake
5:00pm: Matt’s Tavern, Crystal Lake
6:00pm: Depart Crystal Lake inbound
6:30pm: Lamplighter Inn, Palatine
Inbound trains depart Palatine at 8:25pm and 10:25pm

Transit Connections

The Metra UP-NW line begins at Ogilvie Transportation Center and runs almost directly northwest out of Chicago, paralleling Milwaukee Avenue and Northwest Highway. There are several transit options to connect with the UP-NW line outside of downtown.

CTA Blue Line – Runs 24 hours a day, every 8-15 minutes at most times

The Jefferson Park Terminal offers direct connections between the CTA Blue Line and the UP-NW, as well as the following buses:

CTA #56-Milwaukee
CTA #68-Northwest Highway
CTA #81-Lawrence (24 hours)
CTA #81W-West Lawrence
CTA #85-Central
CTA #85A-North Central
CTA #88-Higgins
CTA #91-Austin
CTA #92-Foster
Pace #226-Oakton (also serves Des Plaines UP-NW)
Pace #270-Milwaukee Avenue

Pace Route #250 – Dempster Street – Operates every 30-60 minutes from 7:10am to 12:15am

Pace Route 250 serves the Des Plaines UP-NW station and also connects with O’Hare Airport, Metra MD-N trains at Morton Grove, Metra UP-N trains at Evanston – Davis Street, and CTA Yellow Line trains at Dempster-Skokie.

Travel Guide

Interactive Map

To open the map in a new window, click here.

When: Saturday after Thanksgiving
- 2017: November 25
Where: Northwestern Suburbs (starts/ends in Palatine)
Metra Line: Union Pacific Northwest Line
Cost: $8 Metra Weekend Pass

A new Thanksgiving tradition starting in 2017, the Christmas Kickoff Crawl will cover the most ground of any Yard Social train crawl along the Union Pacific Northwest Line, stretching from McHenry County’s oldest bowling alley in Fox River Grove all the way back to the inner-ring suburb of Park Ridge, then back out to wrap up in historic Palatine. Join us on Small Business Saturday as we check out six different venues in six different small communities radiating northwest out of Chicago.

We’ll be stopping at The Lamplighter Inn for breakfast before we head out, if you’re joining us in Palatine. The crawl also ends in Palatine where a wide variety of options await for your final stop of the night (although we strongly recommend going back to The Lamplighter Inn).

Itinerary

10:00am: Breakfast at The Lamplighter Inn, Palatine
11:45am: King-Pin Lanes, Fox River Grove
2:00pm: Grab-and-Go at Top Shelf Liquors, Fox River Grove
3:00pm: The Harp and Fiddle, Park Ridge
4:05pm: Miner Street Tavern, Des Plaines
5:15pm: Sam’s Place, Mount Prospect
6:30pm: Choose your own adventure in Palatine – See map for recommendations

Interactive Map

To open map in a new window, click here.