(Ellie and Sara)
In March, Ellie's class took a guided tour on a train to Eugene OR. I was super excited because I got to go with her. In fact there were more adults that volunteered to go than there were kids.
Neither of us had been on a train before and we were in for a treat.
We headed down to the station just as the sun came up. All of the kids were smiling from ear to ear waiting to catch the first glimpse of the Amtrak.
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Believe it or not the train was on time and we all filed in and found our seats. When I imagined being on a train I thought we would all sit in our seats and watch out the window till our train stopped... this was not the case AT ALL.
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We found a seat and set down our things and then took off to explore the train before ending up in the Observation Car. (aka, the coolest seats on the entire train)
(Ellie and Ruby)
Floor to ceiling windows allowed the kids to see everything around them on both sides. And we had a man and his wife from the Museum come and give us a guided tour over the loud speaker of everything we saw.
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Mr. Young had booklets for all the kids to keep record in and it was filled with questions and things they had to find and answer. I had more fun than the kids I swear.
One of the kids favorites, besides all the tunnels, was "Root Beer Falls" (which is really seen best by train and not from the road)
We pulled into Eugene around 1pm and walked a short distance to a great park where the kids got to run and stretch their legs.
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Before we left the park Mr. Young had the kids find all the different planets hidden in the park. Then we went on a small hike up the hill to get to our next stop which was the historic Shelton McMurphey Johnson house.
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I am a sucker for old historic things so I ate this up. All the kids had to put on clothes fitting to the time period, the girls in white petticoat aprons and the boys in vests. So fun.
The tour through the house was broken up into 3 sections and in each the kids got to actually go into the rooms and touch things that belonged to the house. Even playing with toys from that Era.
Ellie's favorite room was the nursery where there were some creepy looking dolls and baby buggies.
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In the attic her group sat down and learned about different things that were used in the house that we don't normally use anymore. When they first got the items they had to guess what they were and what they were used for before they learned the truth.
The girls thought this particular item was used as a spanker. :) Turns out it is for beating rugs.
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They had to read parts of a story based on the people who lived in the house and the kids loved it. What a neat experience these kids had.
After we left the house we all walked into town and did a little shopping and got ourselves a VooDoo Doughnut. Then we all meet back at the train station and boarded an even nicer train than the last.
We had a nice dinner in the dining car and I got to snuggle and chat with my girl all the way home.
Such a fun day for the both of us.
Ready to go again!
