Train Museums!

Last weekend we had planned on heading up to New Jersey to celebrate Cole's birthday. Unfortunately the birthday boy came down with a nasty case of strep throat so we had to cancel the trip. As you can imagine, telling a little boy that he no longer gets to go play with his friend was a big bummer, so we had to come up with something else fun to do. And I do believe we succeeded!
We have been learning more and more about this area of the East Coast and one thing we have learned is how much history there is about trains! So, we took a little trip up to Brunswick to visit their town museum and their scale train model of the DC area.


SuperFly heading out to see the trains.


The model at the Brunswick Museum is 1700 square feet and wraps around the entire 3rd floor of the building.


It has all kinds of different "scenes" and many had a button that Parker could push and a part of the scene would come to life. In this scene the ferris wheel would spin around.


Checking out the train that was going through the tunnel...


Riley was not that interested but did perk up anytime someone pushed the button the set off the train whistle.


Checking out the area of the model where Silver Spring was depicted.


Our town.


Hanging on really tight to Daddy's face - still not so sure about shoulder rides.

After we had checked out all the trains we went down to the second floor where they had more information about the town of Brunswick and what it was like when the trains came to town.


They had a big bell with a rubber hammer that Parker could hit.


Daddy took a turn too.


Parker and Daddy practiced cursive from the early 1900s...I don't think that being a "lefty" was encouraged back then, luckily Parker and Daddy are perfectly normal now.


This crib doesn't quite look up to safety standards. I believe it would take 2 seconds for Parker to walk over to that with his sister in it and pull it over...thank goodness for swings with harnesses!


They even had some dressup clothes to show what the local people would wear. Parker wanted to dress like an engineer. No surprise there.

After we finished up at the Brunswick museum we realized there was another model train museum on the way home! So, we loaded up again and headed out.


The second museum was much more for fun than for educational purposes. But it was incredible. There was so much detail and a ton of moving parts. There were also buttons again to push and watch things move.


Sometimes Daddy had to pick Parker up so he could see all the moving pieces.


Not great establishments to spend the night in Train Land - Bed Bug Hotel.


But they do have beer...


Pointing out the construction guys doing "track work"


And if that all wasn't enough they had another display in the lobby that was all made of legos! Over the top? Yes, I think so!


I do believe the day was a success!