Michele told me about this train ride when she heard about our train activities yesterday. The Orange County Model Engineers give free public train rides on their 7 1/2″ gauge Mackerel Flats and Goat Hill Junction Railroad over 5 miles of track on the second full weekend of every month. They are in Fairview Park in Costa Mesa, CA. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the layout.
Orange County Model Engineers
April 20, 2009
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Skunk Train – Fort Bragg and Willits
April 20, 2009Grandpa Ron and I took the Skunk Train from Willits to Fort Bragg and back several years ago. It is a great family trip through the redwoods. Here’s their photo gallery.
What is a skunk train??? Here’s the explanation from an April 1, 2009, Skunk Train press release:
With the occasional whistles as it chugs through tunnels, over bridges and past open meadows, the train follows the coastal “Redwood Route” as it has since 1885. Built as a logging railroad, the Skunk line began that year as a logical vehicle for moving massive redwood logs to Mendocino Coast sawmills from the rugged back country. Steam passenger service was started in 1904, extended to the town of Willits in 1911, and discontinued in 1925 when the self-powered, yellow “Skunk” rail cars were inaugurated. The little trains were quickly nicknamed for their original gas engines, which prompted folks to say, “You can smell ’em before you can see ’em.”
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National Museum of the American Indian
April 20, 2009The National Museum of the American Indian is one awesome museum with buildings and activities in Washington DC and in New York City. Since this is one of my interest areas, I have been a member of the NMAI even before it opened the DC museum. I have only enjoyed the magazines and on-line material but friends who have visited said the museums are great, too. Here is the calendar of events for both New York City and Washington D.C.
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Griffith Park Travel Town
April 19, 2009Today Grandpa Ron surprised me and took me to Travel Town in Griffith Park in LA. He hadn’t been there in a VERY long time. We strolled around all the old steam engines watching the kids climbing all around wherever they could. We rode the train where we sat behind a little boy who was very concerned that we didn’t bring our son with us. We explained we had no sons, just daughters – but we do have two grandsons. They just lived too far away to come with us today!
We visited Walt Disney’s barn and the Los Angeles Live Steamers, too, since it was right next door to Travel Town. We rode around behind the steam engine and enjoyed the trip around that part of the park. We saw Thomas the Train and got some pictures I’ll have to post later.
The visits were free except for the modest tickets to ride the trains.
I’ll write more later….
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Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
April 18, 2009Another one of my favorite places in Chicago is (guess!) Shedd Aquarium! Another aquarium! I should have majored in oceanography! The on-line exhibits are interactive and quite interesting.
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National Aquarium in Baltimore
April 18, 2009OK. I haven’t done a good job getting good stuff out on the East Coast. One of my favorites is the National Aquarium in Baltimore. So enjoy this website. It is fun to travel around as well! I love the multilevel walkway along one of the big tanks.
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Tahoe Rim Trail: Biking, Hiking and Horseback Riding!
April 17, 2009Grandpa Ron and I are members of the Tahoe Rim Trail Association which maintains and enhances the trail around all of Lake Tahoe! As of April 17, 2009, the trail is still snowed in! See the Tahoe Rim Trail website for lots more interesting information about hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding on the trail.
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Ice House Trail and Mountain Bike Riding: Hiking and Biking!
April 16, 2009OK, Michele told me about the Ice House Trail on Mt. Baldy and how great it was for hiking with little kids. I found this great write-up of the trail. There is also a link to Bob and Nancy Ulrich’s Hiking pages. Unfortunately, not all of their photos come up on my machine, but for hikers there are lots of ideas available!
BUT then I clicked on MountainBikeBill.com who also rode the Ice House Trail – only this one is in Utah. BUT, he has an AWESOME site with totally awesome pictures in his blog and on his trail descriptions. You do not have to be a mountain biker to enjoy his site. Check it out!
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The Freight Station Museum in Greeley, CO
April 16, 2009Grandpa Ron was wondering why I have not put any TRAINS on the blog yet! He found his December 2008 Model Railroader magazine and said: This new museum in Greeley would be neat if you could find the website. Ha! That was an easy challenge for Grandma Sue & Google! Here is a pre-opening video on the web by Skip Weythman. Here is the main wesite of the museum which has not only a link to the Model Railroader magazine but also some awesome scenery photos, as well as other train buff stuff!
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Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
April 16, 2009Co-worker Kevin immediately offered Greenfield Village as a favorite place he remembers from his childhood. Well, it is no longer just Greenfield Village. As you will see by following the link, it has been christened with a new name – The Henry Ford, America’s Greatest History Attraction. It has the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in its collection of vehicles! The link I found for this article is from a very interesting site called Roadside America.com. It has the sort of places on it that Michael the angel (John Travolta) in one of my favorite movies Michael would want to do visit, like the World’s biggest ball of string or the the World’s largest tire.
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MyGrandmaSue 