JourneyLeaf: Life a Page at a Time

California State Railroad Museum

Arriving in Sacramento...

 

The walk from the Sacramento Amtrak station to the California State Railroad Museum is so short that three year-old Eli could do it while dragging his own suitcase.  Easy and convenient!

We stayed overnight in Old Town Sacramento and went to the museum on the second day...

 

 

Meeting the conductor who punched our entry tickets...

 

And entering a world of wonder...

 

Many of the old trains had life-sized figures with them, which I think helped Eli (and me) better envision the trains at work. 

 

Other trains had docents in costume.  The 1944 engine below was Southern Pacific's last new steam locomotive and was the second largest steam locomotive in the world.  Eli was in awe of both the knowledgeable volunteer inside dressed as an engineer as well as all the levers and knobs that he was allowed to tug on.  It took a while to coax Little Guy to move on to other displays.

 

The mail train was also a hit.

 

Days later, Eli is still talking about the fact that he got to put a letter in a slot all by himself.  (It was a junk mail business reply envelope.  Glad to know they are useful for something!)

 

 

Another favorite was the long sleeper car.  Visitors could walk through and peek at the beds made for the night.  Some of the berths had mannequins sleeping in them and vintage travel items on display.  But the best thing is that the lights were dim, train sounds played in the background, lights occasionally flashed outside the windows, and they had a mechanism to gently rock the whole car.  You really felt like you were on a train moving through the night.

 

The sleeper car was connected to a diner car.  That was my favorite.  I love cooking and antique kitchen equipment.  That tiny, rolling gourmet kitchen was fascinating!

 

 

The second floor of the museum has a children's play area and a big display of toy trains.

 

 

One Mama's Two Cents:
This is a really wonderful museum.  It was worth the trip and I wish we were going to be able to visit it over and over again as Eli grows up.  It offers a lot for all ages.  We arrived just after the museum opened at 10:00 a.m. then left to get lunch after noon.  We were able to see most of the museum, but I think Eli would have happily stayed all day.  Except for climbing into the displays, the facility is definitely stroller friendly.  Old Town Sacramento is just outside, so there are places to eat a picnic or grab a bite to eat.

 

 

More about Old Town tomorrow...

Weekend Train Adventure

Just for fun, we caught Amtrak in Emeryville.

 

Eli and I have spent happy times atop the pedestrian bridge at Emeryville station.  This time we were the ones boarding the train!

 

We all settled in to watch for familiar landmarks. 

 

The Golden Gate Bridge  

 

Point Pinole (where the monarch butterflies winter)...

 

Our beloved "Stick Beach"...

 

The Carquinez Bridge...

 

The C & H Sugar factory in Crockett that you usually only get a glimpse of from the interstate...

 

The towns of Benicia and Martinez...

 

and Mt. Diablo...

 

Eli, Pat the Bunny, Mama, Papa, Granddad, and Grandma enjoyed talking and snacking and watching the world go by for just under two hours.

 

We saw cows, horses, a goat, and a wild river otter.  We zipped through a tunnel, crossed the Carquinez Straight on a tall bridge, and sped through flowering orchards.  

 

 

 

One Mama's Two Cents:
        The train was a great way to travel with a small child.  Eli loved that he could move around and didn't have to be buckled in.  (We held his hand when he walked to the dining car or bathroom.)  There were plain seats, but we chose a table so our family could all face each other and Eli could use the rimmed tabletop for toys.
        Catching the train was easy.  We picked the Emeryville station so I could ride down memory lane, but Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Martinez are also East Bay station possibilities.  Parking our car in Amtrak's lot next to the station was free; we were given a parking voucher once we purchased our tickets.  This particular train line doesn't allow advance reservation for tickets, but we had no trouble finding clusters of empty seats when we boarded on a Saturday morning.  A snack/dining car and WiFi make the trip easy on everybody.  We wondered if it would be difficult not having a car when we arrived, but Old Sacramento is an easy stroll even with suitcases.

More about the trip tomorrow -- Old Town Sacramento and the California State Railroad Museum...

Mama, I Can Do It!

It was a tough one, but he was so darned determined to flush it himself.

 

Oh, the deep, true joy of self-sufficiency.  

Almost Silent Saturday -- February 25, 2012

Mooooooo...

Yo Ho a Pirate's Life for Me

"Weigh anchor, launch the row boat, and pull hard for land, Matey!"

 

"I got my telescope so I can search the horizon..."

 

"Or maybe look for jellyfish."

 

"Now what else does a pirate need?  Oh, yeah.  That peg thing."

 

"D'oh!  I just remembered.  It's supposed to be a a peg leg, not a peg arm!"

The Wandering Leprechaun

I never thought about St. Patrick's Day much until I moved to Savannah, Georgia in 2000.  They have the second largest parade in the country, which sometimes includes turning the whole river green!  They have special ceremonies for dyeing the fountains green in the historic district.  Grocery stores have a green aisle in March akin to the Christmas or Valentine's aisle in case you need any green hot dog buns or green pretzels.  After several years of living there, I can't imagine letting this breath-of-fresh-spring holiday go by unnoticed.

Last year Eli and I celebrated St. Paddy's by stringing leprechaun rainbow beads -- uncooked dyed pasta tubes on sky blue yarn with a "pot of gold" bell on the end.  (Click HERE for instructions and photos.)  And we also adopted a wee leprechaun.  The leprechaun behaved rather well last year, but now that he feels more comfortable in our house, he seems to jump off the mantel and find places to hide whenever Eli's back is turned.

Earlier today, that pesky leprechaun hid out in the mailing tube that Eli uses as a tunnel for his toy cars and trains.

 

Brian and I get a big kick out of hiding the leprechaun for Eli.  We've read him several books about leprechauns, so Eli knows how wiley they are.  In the morning he bounds down the stairs to see where the leprechaun has gotten to this time.

When Eli finds the leprechaun, he makes sure to grab him quick and put him back on his spot atop the mantel.

 

Eli's reward for finding and catching the leprechaun is a piece of the wee one's gold.  (Luckily for our bank account, we got twenty coins for a two dollars at the party store!)

 

The leprechaun keeps his gold coins in a stack atop the mantel.  When Eli catches him, then Eli gets to take one coin and add it to his own stack.  When he's won the whole stack from the leprechaun, he can exhange them for a book and the game starts over.  So far the hiding places are fairly easy.  But I've warned Eli that once the leprechaun loses all his gold then gets it back in exchange for a book, he'll be far trickier.

So much fun!

 

 

I noticed at the book store that there are some beautiful Irish folktale and St. Paddy's Day books for older kids.  Eli will be earning one or two with his leprechaun gold.  In the meantime, he has a couple that aren't lovely yet fit the bill nicely when it comes to explaining the holiday to a young preschooler...

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day (Reading Railroad series)
by Natasha Wing (NY:  Grossett & Dunlap, 2009)

Hooray for St. Patrick's Day
by Joan Holub (NY:  Puffin, 2002) 

The other book pictured is Salina Yoon's board book, Countdown to St. Patrick's Day.  (London:  Price, Stern, Sloan, 2006).  It only counts down from five and is geared for small toddlers, but Eli still seems to like it and often pulls it out of his holiday/season book box.

Tiny Beach at Sunset

After nap, we headed out for a little fun.  The sun was getting low and the tide out on a surprisingly warm winter's day.  We settled in to the small beach next to the mud flats...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wascally Wabbits

"Hum de dum...  Just hanging out, enjoying the camaraderie and the late afternoon sunshine..."

 

"Uh oh.  What's that?  RUN!"  

 

"It's a small boy!!!"

 

 

"Ha ha!  He's slowing down!  Now I'll double back the way I came and pass him by!"  

 

 

"Uh oh!  Another human!  Quick, veer left!"

 

"Bounce!  Whew!"  

 

Eli's grandparents live part of the year in an RV park north of us so they can be near Eli and his cousins.  Little Guy loves to go visiting because it not only means fun with Granddad and Grandma, but it also means the chance to run after the dozens of jackrabbits that hang out in the nearby fields.  Last week on the drive up, Eli said with great conviction, "Mama, I think I'll catch a rabbit this time!"

After several minutes charging up and down the field after zooming balls of fur, Eli finally decided he'd try again later.

  

And he already had one rabbit.  One rabbit in the hand is worth two in the field, right?

 

Anyway, there's always the fun of ringing Granddad and Grandma's RV doorbell over and over and over and...

 

Careworn

I love antiques, but I'm not crazy about fancy furniture and china.  What I love are the humble, everyday items that show use from others' hands.  Despite common sense, somehow it takes me by surprise that a paper fan, a child's barrette, or a carved wooden spoon can far outlive an owner.

On a recent visit to Oregon, my aunt kindly let me explore a nest of boxes that were packed at my grandmother's house after she died.  There were some lovely and elegant things in those boxes.  But what caught my attention was a clutch of sewing items.  Some were relatively modern as Grandma died less than ten years ago.  Some, however, had the look and feel of items she might have used to make doll clothes, prom dresses, or a wedding veil for my mother.  Other items were even older, so I suspect they may have been passed down when her mother, my great grandmother, died in 1958.  I'll never know, which adds to the mystery.  When my aunt offered them to me, I was touched and glad to bring them home.

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

Silent Saturday -- February 18, 2012