You know how sometimes it's easier to spend $200 on a whole pig in the I.D. than $20 on an overpriced plate of barbecue? That's exactly the attitude with which to approach the 2,000-mile trip to the Windy City. Hopping aboard Amtrak may take 45 hours, compared to a flight's four. But if you've got a couple of days to kill, the train's an option you should consider. Even slumming it in coach?which can be done for less than $300 round-trip, typically better than your average round-trip flight?you get seats that make the airlines' first-class buckets sweat. Nightcap? No problem. Pack yourself a box of red for the poor-man's cruise across parts of the U.S. that the highways don't dare roam. There's nothing quite like falling asleep in Spokane and waking up to a snow-covered Glacier National Park. ?Chris Kornelis King Street Station, 303 S. Jackson St., amtrak.com