ommom

Train Weekend-the finale

You'll have to scroll down about 7 posts to begin this story!

I was re-reading my last post and wanted to clarify: The actual time on the turntable was quick but the time from uncoupling to recoupling took a good 20-30 mins.

Here is the engine recoupling to the cars

O watching the tracks behind us

M watching out the window

O LOVES trains and enjoyed this ride

Happy kids as we neared the end of our ride.

Train Weekend-Train on turntable

The train uses its own steam power to turn the table. They uncoupled the engine from the cars, pulled forward past the switch, switched the tracks then backed onto the table. It took less than 3 minutes I'd guess to turn the entire thing around! Then the engine went forward past the switch, they switched tracks again then the train backed back up to the cars where they recoupled and pulled us back to the Rusk Depot. Here is a series of pics of the train turning on the turntable.

Ready to turn

Beginning the turn

Turn complete

Train Weekend-Train

The main reason for our trip was to take a ride on the Texas State Rail Road. There were roughly 50-55 people, including us and the staff, on the entire train that included 4 passenger cars and a dining car. The ride was awesome and included the amazing show of watching the engine turn around on a turn table. This and the next two posts will have photos of the train ride/experience.

The view to the engine from where we originally sat.

The train

C & I ready to ride. M took this pic.

C and the kids ready to ride

Getting a cab tour before the ride. It was HOT standing right there next to the fire (behind the round silver door)

Train Weekend-more stuff to do at the cabin

M feeds the turkeys

Smores!

Silly family

Train Weekend-stuff to do at the cabin

They have a great fire pit and provide the wood. You can see the benches and a picnic table. They even had heavy duty two-pronged metal whatchamacallit sticks in the cabin to use to roast marshmallows/hot dogs/etc.

Emu

Feeding the deer

Family portrait on the porch

And again.

Train Weekend-cabin

There are two cabins onsite. We stayed in the slightly smaller cabin meant to sleep 4. It had 1 set of bunks and a queen bed. The other cabin has 2 sets of bunks and a queen futon to sleep 6. It would be so much fun to get some friends/family to go together for a long weekend! (Hint, hint!!)

We LOVED the rustic feel and had everything we needed. There was a sink, stove/oven, microwave, coffee maker, small fridge as well as all of the plates/utensils/pans/etc that one would need to make a normal meal. Here are photos we took before we left but you can see a few more on their web site.

Kitchen sink area

Microwave, stove etc on the other side as well as the dining table

The kids loved sleeping in the bunks. After they climbed them for a couple of hours while we were getting dinner ready! Such a novelty for them!

There was a tv with a dvd/vcr combo as well as a few family friendly movies. The book shelf was also full of paperback books. They suggested that if you took a book you leave on in its place. There was a deck of cards too. Lots of fun, no technology needed, stuff to do for a weekend.

Queen bed with bathroom beyond. The bathroom had a toilet, sink and a shower.

We loved it!

Train Weekend-Animals

Since the photos are in high resolution, blogger will only let me upload 5 at a time. I could change the resolution but I'm just too lazy. So, I will break up the post to upload all of the photos I thought you'd all like to see.

We headed up north to the Rusk, TX area this past weekend for a quick family getaway. We stayed at a cabin located on the property of Cherokee Trace Drive Thru Safari. The area was just beautiful. As a guest of the property, we had full access to the safari even during the hours that it was closed to the public. The only request that they have is that you stay out of the fenced area after dark so neither the guest nor the animals get injured. We arrived too late on Saturday evening to drive through so we planned on driving around on Sunday morning. However, an incredible thunderstorm came through overnight with lots of rain and high winds not to mention lightening and loud thunder! The kids slept through it. C slept more than I did. I was up about every hour or so. I enjoyed the storm but I was beat!

Sunday morning we were unable to drive through the safari because some of the roads were flooded! However, quite a number of animals came to the fence so we were able to see them and feed them. There was a tree limb down nearby and the camel devoured the leaves. She wasn't interested in the pellets we had! We didn't get to see her up close but she was cool to see anyway.