Steam Train in Felton / Santa Cruz

This weekend we visited the Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, Santa Cruz, and took their famous Steam Train ride through the redwoods. Lots of steam, plenty of fun, banana slugs here and there and overall a perfect day. The one thing we didn't get a good photo of: the steam engine! But check their website for that.

The first Banana Slug close-up encounter. Mara was so excited about spotting the slugs from the train, until she got close to one. Her face turned into this:

 The giant meaty slug refused to stick his horns out:

 Here's us on the steam train:

Gaius exhibited very good self control by walking *around* the puddle at the entrance of the kids barn, about 20 times:

There was a covered wagon near the rail road station, so the kids got to pose with the paper rainbow trout and butterfly we made at the crafts table:

Obligatory stern-faced caravan photo:

 Spot the Banana Slug!

 Here's a close-up - this one had his horns out till 2 seconds later when he hit the leaf in front of him.

Gaius had his running shoes on, thus:

We figured out why water towers are needed near steam trail rails: to make the steam!

We pretended to be a train ourselves for a long while (after the track was closed for the day and the trains had gone to the depot).

Next we discovered a hole full of water in the road, as we were trying to leave. So we spent the next hour filling it with rocks:

Here is the finished work: