Day At The Park: Part 2

Last Saturday we made our second attempt at getting to ride the trains at the park. The first attempt, while fun ended with us not riding the trains. This trip to the park ended in success.


When we arrived at the park we were expecting to see tons of people as the skies were fair and the temperature a bit hot. To our delight the event was lightly attended. We had to walk a ways to get to the trains and with Alyce and Luke in tow we had a ton of gear to bring with us. Mom and I took turns riding the trains with Alyce and taking care of Luke.

The first train we rode wasn't steam powered but it was the most reliable of the trains. Apparently running a miniature scale steam train has some maintenance issues as both of the steam trains had some lengthy downtime. Alyce took to the trains very quickly. We spent a few minutes watching them go around and then stood in line for our first ride. Alyce sat in front of me and we were off. The track was probably less than 1/8th of a mile but we got to go around 3 times. As we rode past Mommy I got Alyce to let go of me long enough to wave hi.

The second train ride for Alyce was with Mommy again on the non steam powered train. Alyce did just as good for Mom as she did for me. I was even able to get a few quick shots of them as they came by while feeding Luke at the same time.

The third and last train ride of the day was thankfully on the steam train. This miniature steam train was just like the real thing. The engineer has to shovel coal into the firebox, stoke the fire, and apply water for steam. The power generated by such a small device was impressive. This little train was able to pull three car loads of adults and children around the track.

After the train rides we headed back towards the car. Alyce wanted to play on the slide but Mom and Luke were getting hot. We compromised by Mom taking Luke into the car for some AC and I took Alyce on the slide for 5 trips down the slide. Surprisingly enough Alyce was ok with just going 5 times. The last two times she wanted to ride with me!

We had a great time at the park. We spent some good quality family time and the price (free) was right. Next time we need to bring Pa Pa. I think he would be a big fan of the trains.