Spring Break Vacation–Days 2 and 3

On Wednesday we had a quick breakfast in the hotel room and took off for the Railroad Museum (that reads like a quick sentence but it is a summary of the first two and a half hours of our day!).

We got to the museum and the ticket attendant knowingly mentioned “It’s a museum, not a playground” in response to my question as to whether the trains the kids would be allowed to climb up into would be clearly marked.  He explained that some trains would be staffed and would have clear signs marking where you could climb onboard.

Josiah wanted, of course, to climb on everything.  It turns out his expectation was that he was going to a playground full of locomotives.  We walked past some locomotives and into the kids play area – all three quickly found themselves at home with the toy trains for about 20 minutes…

I may have been a bit premature in urging the kids to leave the play area and move out to the "Main Hall”.  The museum has 5 tracks full of locomotives and assorted rolling stock.  The kids went quickly to climb on whatever they could and quickly exhausted their options.  We were surprised they weren’t interested in looking at more…

Josiah walking down “Track 1” – he just kept walking and walking all by himself, unaware I was behind him, taking everything in…

Lilly playing in the kids area

Noah and Josiah playing

Quick stop for a picture on our way out

Josiah off checking out everything he could…

Ultimately, we left when Noah got himself worked up (he hadn’t had his 10am - 11am morning nap… by 11:15 he was a bit testy).  We got some snacks in the car and opted to go back to the hotel for lunch and a nap.

Lilly’s had her sleeping troubles over the last few months (I’m sure we’ve written about it on occasion) and since we’ve been on vacation, I’ve been laying down next to her until she falls asleep.  A purely coincidental benefit is that I get to nap until Bethany comes in and wakes me back up!

After everyone was a bit more rested (and fed), we hurried back to the museum.  In honor of school being closed for spring break, a math word problem:

Your family arrives at the museum at 4:20pm and it closes at 5:00pm.  How much time do you have to see the museum?

Hint: 40 minutes is not the correct answer.  At 4:30pm, they started driving around in a golf cart telling everyone they were closing soon (“Sir, we’re closing at 5pm okay?”).  At 4:40pm, they were herding people towards the entrance and the lights were out at 4:45pm.

Despite the brevity of our trip back, we were very glad we went.  Josiah broke out in tears as we walked past the last locomotive: “But I looooove them.  I don’t want to leave!”.

Lilly running outside

Josiah and Lilly in the “Cab Simulator” which wasn’t working but it didn’t stop them from having fun.

I tried to talk them into stopping for a picture together as we were leaving.  They were confused (probably thinking “but you already took our picture a bunch of times, is this really necessary?”) but were somewhat accommodating…

 

On Thursday (Day 3), we stayed around the hotel in the morning.  Making sure Noah got his morning nap was an investment in our afternoon plans.  We played at the park, explored the hotel, and Beth even took the kids to the grocery store to pick up a few things…

We left the hotel at 11:20 for the 20 minute trip to Strasburg.  We would have arrived at 11:40 as you would have expected, except that leaving the tickets on the table back at the hotel complicated things.  Fortunately I realized I’d left them behind and we were able to turn around, pick them up, and make it to the train station by 11:55.  We raced up the sidewalk and boarded the train just two minutes before it left the station.  Just imagine the despair had we missed the train (and had to stand there and watch it leave the station)!

The Strasburg Railroad runs 4.5 miles to an Amtrak junction – the locomotive then decouples from one end and couples to the new head end of the train before heading back to the station.  The whole trip is about 45 minutes, including a 5 minute stop while the locomotive is switched around.

On the trip back, both of the kids loved looking out the window

Back at the station, we watched as the locomotive switched ends again and a new group of passengers boarded the train.  It looks like Noah didn’t understand what was happening!

To the left of the tree you can see Lilly on my shoulders.  You’ll notice in the second picture, she’s in my arms, Josiah is holding my hand, and we’ve moved.  While standing right next to the whistle (first picture), we didn’t get any warning (other than the obvious signs the train was about to leave and the common sense that the engineer would blow the whistle before moving) before the whistle blew and scared us all (yes, I jumped too).

Lilly walked right up to me and kissed the camera lens – she thought she was pretty funny!

Before we left, I wanted to at least attempt (with very conservative expectations) a picture of the kids.  You’ll notice this isn’t an exact science…

Josiah loves to just do his own thing.

When we got back in the car, we raced (safely) to several grade crossings to watch the train go by.  Bethany took a few pictures of the train off in the distance.

And that’s it!

It’s currently Friday morning – Noah is napping, Beth and the kids are playing outside, and I’m finishing this up before I put the computer away and finish packing.