Headed Home

Usually heading home from a trip is a solemn affair.  For me, it is usually a time that I think about the fun I've had and the work that waits for me once I get home.  This time it was different.  We had another train trip to look forward to, and this one would be during daylight.

We started very early in the morning with a 5:30am shuttle back to the train station.  The shuttle in Leavenworth is really good.  They let us sit in the car until the train arrived so that we could stay nice and warm.  It was about 25 degrees outside, so I definitely appreciated that!

Before we knew it we were back on the train.  The attendant let us stay in the bottom of the car so that we wouldn't have to fold down the stroller.  We had the whole area almost to ourselves, there was just one other couple in the room with us.  The way back was filled with amazing views.  They were hard to catch inside the moving train.

Not hard to catch?  Charlie's enjoyment as he watched everything speed by.  I think even he appreciated that he was seeing areas that you can't see when you head down by car.

At one point he took his little stuffed friend and ran to the back of the room we were in to show him all the sights.  I love his expressions in these photos.

Ephram was asleep for most of the ride, but woke up to enjoy the last 45 minutes or so.

It was a great train ride.  We stopped to say goodbye to the train as we disembarked.  Charlie has asked me several times when we can take the train to Leavenworth again.

Soon, Charlie.  Soon.

Getting to Leavenworth

Charlie loves trains.  From the time he came to live here, he has been fixated on them.  We own three different train sets, and he plays with all of them.  We've gone to look at trains at various places.  But we had never taken him on a real, live passenger train.

We love Leavenworth.  It's a quaint little town in the Cascade Mountains of Washington that has been done in a German style.  My grandparents used to live close to Leavenworth, my dad grew up not far from there, and so it has even more appeal to me due to nostalgia.  However, I hate driving through passes.  So we almost never go to Leavenworth.

One day this summer we had the brilliant idea to take the Amtrak train to Leavenworth.  Our time share has a condo there, so we reserved a few days in November and booked our tickets.  We were very excited.  Charlie seemed ambivalent ... but as we got closer he started to get really excited too.  When the day finally arrived, we packed up and headed to the train station in Everett.

Charlie saw one of the Sounder trains go by and then he was beyond himself with excitement.  I think he finally understood that we were going to get on a really big train.  He started reviewing his ticket and asked me where they were going to punch the letters.  "Um, this train isn't quite like the Polar Express."  I hoped that he wouldn't care that this train wasn't going to take us to the North Pole.

 On board the train it was dark outside, but we could see the cities as we rolled by.  Ephram and Charlie were both wide-eyed and enjoying the ride.

Then Andy and Charlie went on an adventure to find the dining car.  They had a good dinner.  Charlie chose a hot dog and potato chips.  Ephram was asleep so I stayed in the passenger car with him.  They came back with a piece of cheesecake for me.  It was very good.  Ephram woke up and played with Andy.  He did train travel very well.

Shortly after this picture we noticed that Charlie wasn't making noise anymore.  He had so much excitement that he couldn't take it... he passed out asleep for the last 30 minutes of the ride.

When we pulled into the Leavenworth station it was freezing (literally.)  Luckily the shuttle was there for us and drove us straight to the condo.  We will be taking the train to Leavenworth more often - it was so much easier than the drive... and much more of an adventure for the kids.

CA: Train Museum

While we were in California, Andy's dad offered to take the kids to the Train Museum in Perris.  Because we were there during a big heat wave, I didn't think it would be good for Ephram to be outside for a few hours on the trains... so Andy and Charlie got to have a day out with Grandpa Kovar.  They had a lot of fun!  We need to visit the train museum here now...  And we'll probably go back to this one the next time we are in California!