schools on trains

Amtrak has a very cool program called Schools on Trains whereby we got to go to Seattle yesterday for only $10 a person round-trip. We had a wonderful day, avoiding both rain and heat and doing many of fun things.

Fun Thing #1: We rode the train (duh!). The children have never been on a train and My Gift and I haven't been on one since Italy years ago. The tracks run along the coast and we saw many herons and hawks in the tide flats and lots of beach-side cottages and sandy stretches and distant islands. It was lovely.

Fun Thing #2: Then we hopped on one of the (free) downtown Seattle buses and rode up to Westlake Center where we caught the monorail for a quick ride up to The Pacific Science Center.

Fun Thing #3: We saw the Grand Canyon Adventure in 3-D in the IMAX theater. The movie was much better than the trailer, btw. Dandy kept trying to touch the water droplets that splashed out at us.

Fun Things #4-42: We spent the rest of the day in the Science Center. Dandy held a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (though Chickadee declined with a shriek, can't imagine why). We saw a dynamic presentation on combustion: full of explosions and colored flames and a stern reminder to not play with fire.

We visited the dinosaur exhibit. Chickadee confided in me that she wasn't scared cause her Papa was with her. Dandy tested out the footprint casts.


The Science Center is full of wonderments as well as many many buttons to push. Dandy's favorite was the space shuttle with zillions of buttons and knobs and switches and panels that lit up and dials that moved.

The Pacific Science Center includes a Butterfly Museum full of 1,000s of live butterflies. This butterfly thought Chickadee's hat was a nice place for a rest.

My Gift and the kids really got into the music display where I had fun playing the theremin.


Fun Thing #43: The children rode their first merry-go-round right before we caught the Monorail, the free bus, and the train and came home. I think My Gift and I set a record for getting all the pets located and feed and the kids tucked in and ourselves in bed: ten minutes from driveway to pillows; we were all tuckered out.

In case you are wondering, Chickadee wore her sunglasses and hat for most of the day, as the light hurts her eyes.