Old Town Sacramento

So we arrived at Amy's house late on Wednesday night and Ben and I helped get a few things ready for Thanksgiving while the kids slept.  Then we spent Thanksgiving Day with Andy, Amy, and all of Amy's family.  Everybody came to her house, so it was fun to meet them and just hang out. The meal was delicious, the company was great, and the kids were only a little wild.  They were the only children with a bunch of adults around, though, so they got plenty of attention.

That night we went to Andy's friend Matt's parents' house for dessert and games and let-the-kids-run-around-with-other-kids time.  We had a lot of fun, and I think the kids had even more fun playing with Matt's nieces and nephews in the big house and the big yard.

Thanksgiving was a great day.  I don't have a single picture.

We debated quite a bit about what to do the next day.  I was leaning toward heading into San Francisco.  I've been there before, but I thought it would be fun for Ben and the kids to see it, and for us to just poke around for a few hours.  Mostly I wanted to go see the sea lions who hang out at Pier 39, but we ended up staying away from San Francisco since Andy was nervous about there being a lot of traffic with people traveling to and from Lake Tahoe during a holiday weekend.

So... we decided to go to Old Town Sacramento instead.  Old Sac is a fun little area - definitely touristy, but still neat to look around and imagine what Sacramento might have looked like when it was a simple cowboy town.  We found a little museum with mid/late 19th century antiques, which were cool.

But the focus of the trip was the California State Railroad Museum.  (Side note: This is the SECOND railroad museum I've been to, and the THIRD Jack and Ben have been to.  There is a FOURTH that Ben wants to go to.  Weird?)

A real working handcar, aka, pump trolley, pump car, drigger, or Kalamazoo.
They actually moved it from one end of the rails to the other, about 20-25 yards.
Very cool!

The first floor of the museum was devoted to actual engines and train cars, some of which we could walk through.  But scattered throughout the train yard were toy train exhibits, which I think Jack was more interested in than the full-size trains.  (The toy trains aren't always there - it was a special event for Thanksgiving weekend.)  The display in the lower picture is made completely of Legos.

When we went upstairs, we immediately saw a big "Thomas the Tank Engine" children's area, and Jack was mesmerized.  He watched the big Thomas drive around the track for a while before getting his hands on some of the toy trains that were out at the big train tables.  Of course, it was pretty crowded, but Jack and Eliza both loved it anyway.

The other adults toured the rest of the second floor, which taught more about railroad history and displayed historical toy trains.

How nice of the conductor to pose with the kids!
Just imagine he's bellowing, "All aboard!"

When we left the railroad museum, we walked to a pizza place Andy and Amy wanted to take us to, which was yummy.  Then we just walked around Old Sac for a while, until we got to the riverfront.  There we saw a big paddle steamer, which was fun.  Ben and the kids walked down to the boat for a picture.

A little further down the river, a sailing vessel was docked.

So we told the kids we were going to check out a pirate ship, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

It seemed to bring out the pirate in all of us... especially Cat and her Uncle Andy.

After a fun visit in Old Sac, we went to the movies to watch "Wreck It Ralph," which was really cute and everybody enjoyed it.  What a great day!  Thank you for showing us such a good time, Andy and Amy!