All Aboard- Memorable Train Experience

There is something very special about riding a train.  For me, my earliest and fondest memories are those when my grandmother would take me by train from New York City to Florida for weeks at a time.  I loved everything about those trips with my grandmother, from the window seat, to the dining car, to the site of the orange trees lining our path.  As I think back I feel just as excited now as I did then, mixed with some nostalgia of course.

I have been thinking a lot about trains because our family just celebrated my grandma Lucy’s 90th birthday and riding the train was something we did annually for many years.  Also, my youngest Roman is quite obsessed with anything that has to do with trains.  He identifies any surface as his personal train track.  Every morning our living room coffee table is his personal round-about, he just simply loves trains like most boys do.

Another great aspect about trains is that they are eco-friendly and with my husband Bobby lessoning his carbon footprint on the planet with the first green dental office in San Diego, it’s about time we travel my train.  I decided in honor of my grandmother’s 90 years, we would spend the day venturing San Diego by train and Roman could scream, “choo-choo” all the way to our destination.

The beauty of childhood is that the kids retain memories like these.   I have large shoes to fill with my grandmother being such a stellar role model, but she showed me the way with parenthood.  She is the one who taught me how to make memorable experiences for my kids and how to stamp those experiences so they would never forget.

We decided to start with a small day trip and take the train downtown from one of our coastal beaches.  The trip was more than perfect and the kids loved it.  As they stared out of the window in such awe of what they were seeing I couldn’t help but remember me doing the same thing when I was their age.  I would look out of the window for hours, It wasn’t so bad growing up in a world without smartphones, iPads or tablets.  All you had was your surroundings.  If you didn’t read my post about our new “unplugging” rule, you could read that here.

The trains on the West Coast are very different than the East Coast, they hug the Pacific Ocean along the way.  I find it to be so beautiful I am hoping we can go to San Francisco by train as opposed to flying.

When your little boy makes his world a train track, taking a ride on a train is the perfect experience.  Watching not just Roman, but all of them stare out the window enabled us as a family to create a fun little chapter in one of many novels.  Our ride on the train inspired their imaginations and taught them about explorations.  Tonights movie? The Polar Express

What are some of your childhood memories you find yourself repeating with your kids?