Christmas Train 2016

For the second year in a row we spent our Black Friday in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. I'm committed to taking advantage of this awesome Christmas Train while my kids are still into trains and Santa. Once again, we had a fabulous time. (Last year's trip here.)

Here's the man of the hour.

Every year Santa gives the kids rainbow slinkies.

The view from the train is so idyllic.

After our train ride we went across the street to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It really is a great train museum, and we enjoyed visiting all of our favorite engines. Also, the kid's room is really fun, and we let the kids play in there for a really long time this trip.

Riding the Christmas Train is a fun tradition.

A Labor Day Road Trip: Scranton

We decided to take a detour to Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania on our way home from Palmyra. We had heard that Steamtown was an amazing train museum, and, as much as we wanted to see it, it was hard to imagine taking a special trip to Scranton. (And yes, Cornell and Scranton in one road trip. You can bet we were thinking about The Office.)

The biggest draw Steamtown held for us was the prospect of seeing a Big Boy in person. The Big Boys were the longest and among the largest and most powerful of all the steam locomotives. Big Boys could travel at over eighty miles per hour. Even better, Beckett has a model of this very engine, Locomotive #4012.

This is the Reading #2124. It was originally built in the 1920s and then rebuilt in 1947. This locomotive and other like it were heavy-duty engines. They often hauled coal. The engine was retire in 1956 and rescued from the scrap heap and served on a tourist line for steam enthusiasts for a time.

We admired the breakdown train and the view of the yard.

There was a lot to see inside this museum. It really is topnotch. We've been to a few train museums in our day, and we definitely would recommend this one.

This display shows the inner workings of a steam engine.

The machine works.

Every railroad museum needs a mail car.

Posing in front of the turn table.

From there we headed home. We listened to a lot of Nate the Great books on tape during this road trip. When we got home Felix was inconsolable. He kept telling us that we wanted to go to his home with his sisters. What?! Turns out he really liked Mindy's house and her kids. He wanted to go back to their house. We told him he could call them on the phone.

Now Mindy and Matthew live in Florida. We are glad that we got up to New York to visit them before they left. I hope we'll be able to go see them in Florida too.

Christmas Train

It's time for some Christmas posts around here. A couple of years ago we went up to Strasburg and were pleasantly surprised by the Christmas train. I thought it would be fun to go back now that the kids are older, Beckett is super into Santa, and Felix is super into trains.

Strasburg is fun because you get to ride a real steam train. Beckett was so excited on the way up. It was such a pleasant drive (no so on the way back, but I'll take what I can get).

Here comes our train. As the train drove by Santa was waving to the kids from the train. We hadn't told Beckett that Santa would be there because we wanted him to be surprised. Boy was he. "I didn't know that Santa came from the North Pole to ride this train!"

The Strasburg train is so well maintained. The cars are gorgeous with beautiful woodwork, brass light fixtures, and plush seats. At this time of year they are all decked out for Christmas. Our car had it's own coal stove. It kept us nice and warm.

During the Christmas season musicians come and play and sing in each of the cars. They were all quite good. I think the french horn was made for Christmas music.

 

We passed the other train on our way.

Of course, the big attraction was Santa Claus! Beckett brought him a letter. Felix liked Santa a lot. He even liked him when he was a baby.

Santa brought the boys rainbow slinkys, which were really fun until Beckett spend the last 45 minutes of the drive home hitting Felix with his.

The best part was spending some time all together.

After the train ride we went across the street to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It's a great train museum. Probably our favorite behind the California State Railroad Museum.

The boys shoveled coal into the firebox.

We were excited to see this geared steam locomotive.

Our Little Engineers

Fall Means Harpers Ferry

We have a tradition around here: every fall we go to Harpers Ferry. There's really no place that I love more. This year we visited all of our favorite spots and did all our favorite activities:

1. Ice cream in our favorite courtyard.

2. Throwing rocks in the water.




3. Watching trains! We were at Harpers Ferry for about four hours, and we saw FIFTEEN trains. That's a new record. There are two tracks in Harpers Ferry: one that goes by the station and one that goes along a trestle. We ran halfway across the town to watch the train go across the trestle because that is a rare sight.  Lots of trains makes for happy children.

We also did a few things that we haven't done before.

1. We finally hiked up to the cemetery. The boys were tired after all those stairs.

2. We checked out the ruins of St. John's Episcopal Church. The church was built in 1852 and was used as a barracks and a hospital during the Civil War, where it sustained heavy damage. It was rebuilt, but later abandoned when a new Episcopal Church opened in 1895.

3. We explored a little beach and the surrounding cliffs on Virginius Island.

 
It was a beautiful day.

P.S. So many more visits to Harpers Ferry: here, here, here, here, and here