Steamtown

Today we went to Steamtown National Monument in Scranton PA.  Doug, being the total train geek that he is, was like a little boy from the moment we drove into the parking lot.  He was practically drooling over the few trains that were on display outside of the museum.

We took the long tour on one hundred year old train cars powered by a diesel train.  It was about a 45 minute ride up the mountain to Moscow PA.  The scenery was nice on the ride up going up alongside the reservoir. It was also very HOT outside, and being that there was no air-conditioning in the early 1900’s (when this train was made) we were hot inside the train, even with the windows open.  When we got to the Moscow stop we ate hot dogs and cold drinks J.  There were model trains set up and a little shop to explore before getting back on the train for the ride back to Scranton. 

Once we were back we went into the train museum, which was really an old round house turned into a museum that showed the history of train travel in the United States.  Doug continued to be in his glory, stopping at each display, reading and learning.  Maddie, Hailey and I enjoyed looking at the artifacts, climbing on the old train cars, and seeing the trains that they still use for tours.  While we were in the museum, they actually brought in a diesel engine to put to sleep in the roundhouse.  We all went to watch as the engineers maneuver the engine into the proper spot. That part was very cool.

At the end Doug and the girls kept climbing onto this one train that had a bell and ringing it on and on and on. They all wanted to be the last one of the family to ring it.  Needless to say, everyone could hear the bell, for a very long time.  

We stayed until close, thinking we would just stop overnight at a truck stop before going on to Niagara Falls.  That was until I double checked the reservations and realized we were pre-paid at Four Mile Creek State park, near Niagara, so off we went on a 6 hour drive to the next campground.  We pulled in around midnight and went straight to bed after a quick shower.