October 13, 2018

There are alway fun events in Oldtown Sacramento (OldSac.) Today it was the Spookomotive Train Ride for Halloween. Kids were encouraged to dress up as pirates and princesses. Ours decided princessi (My plural of princess. I can’t help it, I am a scientist after all.) would be the most fun. (Pirates can be scary.) We boarded the Spookomotive at the rail yards at the Railroad Museum in OldSac. (By the way, if you haven’t been there, this is a fantastic museum, more than worth the price of admission.)

Frances had purchased tickets online so we could bypass the ticket office and go directly to wait in line to board, once properly dressed and coiffed, of course. You know, those old steam engines were really, really big. We, however, boarded a Diesel powered train,  as was pointed out by a 3 year old pirate in front of us in line.

We were able to find eight seats together and after a short delay were on our way. During our ride, we were accosted by one bad pirate and saved by one good one. Ultimately, the good pirate was able to convince the bad one to mend his ways and near the end of the trip he came through each car and apologized for his boorish (my word, not his) behavior. The damage was done for Princess Grace, however. If she had Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, she would have used it for the return trip.

The Princessi Grace and Vivian held court in our end of the railroad car and enjoyed the sights as we travelled along the Sacramento River. There were plenty of boats and a few large yachts on the river for an unusually warm October outing. Grace was regal and enjoyed the attention with aplomb. Vivian was, well, ummm, sorry but unperturbed and plump.

BUT everyone, pirates, princessi, moms, dads and greats all gots cookies!!

The Spookomotive train ride is a wonderful family adventure. After being assured there would be no pirates present, Grace said she would love to to on the Polar Express around Christmas time. Can’t wait!