Riding the Train

While my sister and her family were here, back in the hot month of August, we rode up to Metaline Falls to ride the Lions Train Ride from Metaline Falls to Ione, and then back.  When we got there, the train was already packed full, and we were the last passengers to get on.  We had underestimated the amount of time it took to get to Metaline Falls from where we lived.  

But luckily we were able to get on board with just minutes to spare, and were off on the adventure!

Maycee was quite enthralled with the wheel on the caboose that we were riding in, and provided quite the entertainment for the ride for us!  

The train passed over the Metaline Falls Dam, and .... stopped!  We were standing outside the caboose on the little porch area, and looking down at the dam like this was a bit breathtaking and nerve wracking all at once!

Then the train pulled into Ione, and lo and behold... there were some "robbers" waiting for us!

They were characters from a local theater group who "held up" the train.  The lady above arrived in our caboose saying "HO everyone, this is a stick up"... she was holding up a long stick... they were really cute, and there was a smile on everyone's face as they walked through the train taking up a collection for their local theater group.

In Ione, the train had to turn around and come back the way we came.  They simply unhooked the engine from one end and moved it to the front.  So, the view for us in the "caboose" literally was much better, because we didn't have the train engine blocking the view.  So the ride back to Metalline Falls was much more interesting as we were at the very end of the train, and could see behind us, without the engine blocking our view.

Below are some pictures I was able to capture as we stood outside on the porch of the caboose.  It was such a beautiful day, but very hot!

 This is a view of the train as we get ready to pass over the dam again. Do you realize the "danger" I put myself in to get this picture... I had to lean waaaay out of the train window to grab this shot!

There were several tunnels the train went through, and on the way back, I was able to get some pretty neat shots of our travel through the tunnels!

This was a really cool tunnel, it literally was carved out of the rock almost like a cavern!

And then ... we were back at the station... the train ride lasted about an hour or so, and was a beautiful ride.

Poor Maycee though, she was teething, and the heat of the day without air conditioning was a bit much for her, and the ride back was less than happy for her! In fact, we were all glad to see the station in Ione appear so that we could embark and find the poor little thing some ice.  We had not thought to bring ice with us on the ride, which would have made a huge difference for her.  As soon as we got off the train, we found her some ice and it helped to soothe her teething misery.

I think I would like to take the train ride again to see the beautiful fall colors in the area.  The train runs until the end of October on the weekends, and right now with the fall colors abounding, I imagine it would simply be gorgeous to see!

It's been a while since I've had a chance to blog, but I plan on posting more updates soon on some more recent adventures we have had... so stay tuned :)