Arrival - Oregon or Bust, Part III

On our final day of the big train ride, we woke just as we arrived in the Columbia River Gorge. The photos speak of the beauty that greeted us that morning.

Mount Hood was beautiful in the early light.

When we got off at Portland's Union Station, our train ride across the country was done. The boys were glad to run in circles instead of the straight lines of a rail car. I was a little sad for the scenic trip to be over.

However, we all looked forward to the rest of our vacation.

Next on the agenda, get the rental car and start the road trip north...

Tree of Thanksgiving

Last week we created our autumn tree, as we have for the last two years. Previously, we used real leaves, but this year we made our own, so we could write on them on Thanksgiving. More on that in a future post.

To start, the boys did wet-on-wet painting with yellow, red, and orange (yellow+red). A great explanation of wet-on-wet painting is found at Our Big Earth.

Next, I used a leaf cookie cutter to outline our leaves and cut them out.

Using butcher paper, we drew the tree trunk, which proved challenging for the 5 year old to cut out.

Then came time to put the leaves on. (Notice some are falling to the ground.)

The boys are very proud of their new tree.

This Moment -tumbleweeds keep moving

A Friday ritual inspired by Soulemama.

A single photo.

A moment to treasure.

Through the Midwest - Oregon or Bust, Part II

On the third day of our train trip, we woke early and saw the sun rise in the midwest heartland sky. Throughout the morning, the song "Home on the Range" kept musing it's way into my thoughts. Silly, I know. Blame it on the antelope we saw. (I tried to teach it to Aidan, but he just couldn't understand what a range was & insisted our home is in PA.)

Throughout the day we were reminded of just how big "Big Sky Country" is.

For miles and miles we saw old phone lines torn down & new ones erected. The old ones still had the glass insulators on them.

As evening came, we saw many windmills harnessing the power of the wind.

The Big Train Trip - Oregon or Bust, Part I

Yesterday, we returned from a 2-week vacation in the Pacific Northwest that included a long train trip, a wedding, family and friends, and a plane ride home.

I want to share some of the fun we had, so I will begin with the train ride.

With 2 young boys who love trains and few time constraints, we couldn't resist taking the train out to Portland, Oregon. We, 3 adults including my mom & 2 kids, packed light and boarded the train in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on the morning of October 31st. After transfers in Philadelphia and Washington DC, we made our way to our sleeper cars and rode to Chicago. We arrived in Chicago the afternoon of November 1st, changed trains again, then, in the comfort of our sleeper cars, headed out to Portland where we arrived on the morning of November 3rd.

To some, it may sound tedious, but for us it was great fun! The boys were thrilled to eat and sleep on the train and I enjoyed watching the scenery from the observation car. The boys learned to get buy with few toys & lots of paper and colored pencils while we adults left the cell phones & computers at rest. :)

We also met several nice people including families who frequently travel cross-country by rail and a man who was crocheting a hat & would show us his progress as we walked past him several times a day going from our car to the dining car or lounge.

Relaxing in the sleeper car.

Having fun in the observation car.

Some of the things we observed:

To be continued...