The trip back in time

Today, my friends and I took our children to the Western Railway Museum. I try to inform myself before I go anywhere, but today the Internet was down, and so I had no idea about what we were about to see, with the exception that there were going to be a lot of old trains to check out. For starters, my friend and I kept driving and driving, till I couldn't bear it any longer. I called her in the phone asking if we had passed the museum. We kept laughing how this road that we were in felt like the middle of nowhere, only golden fields on each side. We finally found the place, and after we paid out tickets, we went scouting for the museum. Well, friends, the museum was a shed with a bunch of trains cooped together, unless you called the admission office with its few photographs of the trains during that time and a ferry boat model a museum. I have to admit this was the best playground for our children, but when I thought about the not-so-cheap tickets I had paid for this "playground" I was a bit bitter. That didn't last long though, because I was delighted to see our children jump up and down of these fun and old trains. After all, we had come to let the kids have fun, and not for Melita to enjoy a Washington D.C kind of train museum. The trains we were looking at and the children climbing in were a collection of electric railways that served northern California and the western United States in the early 20th century. These trains were the forefathers of the light rails that are used today for transportation such as the BART. Of course, the children only paid half attention to these facts. What mattered to them was the fact that could play in them or not.


After the kids had had enough playing and pretending, we climbed a working train that was going to take us on a 10-mile scenic ride. When I think of the word scenic, I kind of expect a lot of flowers and trees along the way. We saw the same golden fields that we encountered as we drove to the museum. Then again, I shouldn't be so critical. I was informed that April was the month to come for wild flowers and green fields, and the gold fields did have a special attraction as well. I did manage to use my photographic skills to capture the pretty landscape. I also took a picture of Jefferson caught in the act of filling his pockets full of rocks, who like every little boy likes collections of any kind, especially of rocks. We had to wait on him to empty three of his pockets. I let him keep one rock only.

James and Zoe inseparable as always

The whole ride we saw only golden fields, but as soon as I saw this patch of land filled with sunflowers, I dropped Charlton on Gillian's lap, and snapped a shot of it.

I wish I had taken a picture of his bulging pockets, but we were more concerned in emptying them. He is not looking at the camera, because he was a bit mad at me for making him throw the rocks out.

After the train ride was over, we were all starving, so we found a beautiful spot for our picnic and started to feed our hungry children. They explored the area as they were eating and of course fought who would climb the trees first. This was my favorite part, because I enjoyed the sun shine, the old and gorgeous trees that surrounded us and the happy chuckles of the children in the distance. In the distance is the key word here. I'm totally kidding. I love their happy laughs, near or far. They are an enjoyable bunch.
This interesting trip in the middle of nowhere was not over yet for us. As we were driving back, I turned toward the road I was supposed to be, except that it wasn't the road I needed to be. I had missed the yellow lines that divided this narrow road, and I had turned on the construction zone. One of the construction truck drivers kindly guided us toward the right path. The kids kept laughing at my mistake, and I kept telling them that because I was so special I needed my escort. They didn't buy that of course, so we all had a good laugh. All in all, this trip back in time was interesting to me, and a lot of fun for my children. Then again, interesting and fun go hand in hand in the Garmon residence.