Trains and taffy galore!

So, I spent my day in Old Town Sacramento, with Lloyd, all three kids, Dad and Chris. The seven of us wandered around the train museum at our own relative paces, bumping into each other randomly. Well, actually only Anna & I (we stayed together, big shock), Chris and Dad (wandering on their own) bumped into each other. Lloyd and the two boys were intently reading every word of every plaque and every piece of paper in the entire place. That's ok...that's why we took 'em!

When "we" had enough trains for one day, we headed out to start wandering, and Lloyd and the boys met up with us when they'd seen the whole museum. Chris took a billion pictures that I can't wait to see. Hopefully he'll share some good scans when he develops his film.

All in all, a nice time, a great Father's Day outing for all--especially because the boys got to spend time with Dad doing a Father's Day kind of thing (and Anna was cool with hanging with me), AND I got to spend time with MY Daddy and my brother in honor of Father's Day. I think meeting in Sac worked out well for everyone too, not too much driving for anyone.

And, I learned some things that were interesting and/or neat. I learned how big train engines really are, which was actually kind of disturbing. Some of the wheels are well taller than I am, but the height of the actual trains was *really* kind of scary.

I learned how precise and correct Laura Ingalls Wilder was in her writing and descriptions of things, because there was a train car which matched her description of her first railroad trip in precise, meticulous detail.

I learned that there were actually TWO golden spikes cast for the connecting of the transcontinental railroad, one of which was quietly held by a private family for all these years,

before becoming public knowledge in 2005. The "Lost Spike" is now on permanent display at the museum. You

can see for yourself if you don't believe it--http://www.railtown1897.org/doc.asp?id=469 There really were two of them, and I've seen one. It is very, very sparkly gold!!

I also learned of the existance of something called "railroad china." Apparently, different railroads had special china patterns, some of the big

railroad barons had their own patterns, unique patterns were created for special situations, etc. Some of the patterns were insanely gorgeous.

One is a California Poppy pattern that is now being reproduced. You can buy it through the museum to use in your own house; or, you can buy shards of broken original china which have been made into pieces of jewelry. Just gorgeous stuff!

I also learned that approximately every 7th store in Old Town is a candy store, where you can buy salt water taffy up the wazoo. We now own an insane amount of taffy. That's entirely my fault. I also bought the children chocolate-dipped Twinkies on a stick for their dessert.

Ah yes, lunch at Fat City--very yum! We got incredibly lucky with our lunch seating. They gave us our own little leaded-glass-walled room, with stained glass accents and lamps and an antique sideboard, and something gorgeous that Lloyd guesses is a serving table kind of thing. I can't even describe it, but if Daddy emails me some pictures he took of it, I'll share and maybe one of you can tell me what it is for sure.

So, we wandered around Old Town for a while longer after lunch, checked out a bunch of random stores and discovered how many candy stores there were. Anna and I bought strange socks at a store full of strange socks. And then we went home, because we'd all had just about enough trains, salt water taffy and walking, and because rush hour traffic was creeping closer and closer.

That's about it for our grand excursion, but hell, at least we got out of the house! Tomorrow, I'm off to see Andy, not for my usual monthly appointment, but for a paperwork meeting for disability. That should be totally miserable, save for the fact that it's Andy, and I don't think that there's any way time with him *could* be TOTALLY miserable.

See Mom? I updated..........