Gettin' Outta Dodge

Let me start with some disclaimers: I'm thankful for our house.  I'm thankful for shelter from 40 mph winds and rain that goes on for days and days.  I'm thankful my husband has a job that he loves doing and is good at.  I'm thankful to have 2 wonderful little girls to take care of.  But even when you're feeling most thankful, do you ever feel the need to escape? 

After not talking to Dave for a whole weekend and not seeing much of him for a whole month either.  After several days of just hunkering down inside the house.  After not sleeping because I am home alone and it sounds like the wind is going to rip our roof off.  After loosing power for hours at a time.  After the wind blows a basketball hoop down, right into the windshield of our van.  After hearing the harrowing tales of Dave leading 30 kids and 6 leaders into and out of a crazy blizzard in the mountains this weekend.  After all this, I was ready to get away.  So, yesterday we used Ella's day off to head to Sacramento for a much needed family outing. 

We went to the fantastic California State Railroad Museum, a place we haven't visited in years.  I was attracted to a new exhibit they have displaying fruit crate labels on loan from our state library.  These labels were affixed to the crates of produce that California shipped out via the Transcontinental Railroad from the late 1800's to early 1900's.  They are meant to make California look vibrant, evocative and fun.  I have always thought these labels are pretty cool and have a small collection of framed vintage labels decorating our kitchen and dining room.

The "Pick Me!" exhibit was neat!   It was housed inside a restored refrigerator car.  We learned a lot about how fruit and veggies were transported and also how the labels were actually printed.  Grandpa the printer will be proud that we got lessons in overlapping color plates and using the magnifying glass to see all the dots that make up an image.

This train museum is tops of my museum list.  Though completely indoors, it houses a dozen real train engines and cars, all giant close up and restored to look as they did a hundred years ago.  You can walk through most of them too.

We saw all the knobs, handles and gauges in the steam engine.

Ella led us through her favorite Pullman sleeper car several times and Delia got to ring the dinner chime in the diner car.  We all oohed and ahhed over the luxurious Gold Coast private train with its fireplace sitting rooms and full bathrooms.  We saw how letters were sorted en route in the mail car.

The top floor of the museum is dedicated to play train tables and model train displays.  The girls just loved running around and playing up here.

We continued our history lessons as we wandered around the recreated Gold Rush streets of Old Sacramento.  Most memorable was a stop in the one-room school house.  The girls saw what school would have been like "back in the day" and tried out the desks, the chalkboards, the fashions and the swings on the play yard.

To top it off, the sun was shining in the blue sky over Sacramento!  We came home to reports of lightning hitting nearby power lines and more major weather, including hail.  I think we picked the perfect day to escape!