California Railroad Museum

The boys, Jack, and I spent some time at the state Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Let me tell you, the boys were in HEAVEN. The exhibits were amazing, with plenty of retired steam engines, box cars, passenger cars, dining cars, mail cars, etc. Full of hands-on opportunities for visitors, the museum did a great job at recognizing the contributions of minorities, such as women and Chinese railroad workers, in the making of California's railroads. I love the Rosie the Riveter exhibits and we all loved the turn-of-the-century private and dining car exhibit. Well, Oliver got a little freaked out. Inside the train cars it was dark and there were plenty of nooks and crannies. When you boarded the train, it felt as if the train were moving and, when you looked at the windows, there were lights that simulated the look of a train speeding through the night-time landscape. I thought it was awesome. In every exhibit, there was a volunteer (usually an older man dressed as either a conductor or engineer) who obviously loved trains and talking about them. Through enthusiastic improvised lessons we got so much out of our time there. We learned what it cost to travel from LA to Chicago at the turn of the century--$38! But, to put it in perspective, buying a house at that time cost anywhere between $1500 and $2000. To top it all off, the second floor was pretty much dedicated to toy trains. From exhibits of old Lionel trains to Thomas, the boys got their fill. Of course, Thomas was the highlight. A massive train table with every single possible resident of the Island of Sodor represents nothing less than nirvana for two 3.5 year-olds. Here's a link in case you're interested in learning/seeing more:
http://www.csrmf.org/default.asp