All Aboard!!

This weekend we took the girls for a special treat!  We took them for a ride on the Cuyahoga Scenic Railroad near Akron, Ohio.  The Cuyhoga is a lovely river that winds around through a national park & provides a beautiful focal point for train travel.  This was the first time the girls had ever ridden on a full-sized train & they were beside themselves with excitement as they heard the train pulling into the station in Akron.  Akron is about 2 hours from our home in Pittsburgh, so it did make for a long day, but it was a lovely way to spend our Saturday.  When I asked Jessie what was her favorite part she said, the conductor.  When I asked Ella, she said the train whistle.  It was about a 2 hr train ride, with the train only traveling at 30 mph through the park.  Although, there were many stops, we opted to enjoy the scenic trip through the park via train, but we did stop at the Canal Exploration center, which was rather interesting; although the history was completely lost on the girls.  This center & antique lock system showed the history of the area as a major avenue of boat travel via the lock system in the US back in the day.  Click both the links if you want to know more, it really was quite interesting!  Of course, as any parent can probably imagine, by the end of it the last leg of the trip back to Akron station & the car was the hardest part.  Two overtired, overstimulated children are never easy to deal with.  So thankful for the fun times to spend together!  I didn't take too many pics as the train was moving a little too quickly & frankly we really weren't in a great position to get amazing pics, but it was a lovely ride.

At the train station in Akron

3 attempts did not yield what I was hoping for, but you know, I tried to get a pic of them together in front of the train!

On board the train they were mesmerized for the 1st part