Andrew has been asking over and over again when he will be able to ride a train or an airplane. So we bought tickets to ride the train (Heartland Flyer) from downtown Oklahoma City, OK to downtown Ft. Worth, TX.
Andrew was very excited, but a little upset that his brother was not going too... I put his anxiety to rest when I told him that Ryan wouldn't make it on a four hour train ride. Only five year-olds were big enough to ride that far on the train! He repeated this new found realization to several folks during the two weeks before our departure.
Boy! was it an adventure!
It began with my parents making the trip to pick up Ryan on Thursday night. I took Ryan to the doctor that afternoon and, sure enough, he had an ear infection and a little rattle in his lungs. (We have fought ear infections constantly and he always has a constant drip from his poor little nose. Last December we had tubes put in his ears, and of course after one month one had already fallen out!)
For three hours I was in search of a medication that was prescribed before I gave up and called Mike to tag him for back-up searching so I could tap out to do some last minute laundry and packing (nothing like it!). Wouldn't you know it would be his good fortune that the first pharmacy he called would have it! Seriously. (Might I stress I went to three pharmacies and spent three hours searching...) Ryan was packed up and ready to spend the weekend with Grandma and Papa. He was ready to go too!
The next morning, Mike, Andrew and I head to the train station. It is amazing to see some of the history and beautiful architecture that you miss when you live so close to something that you don't take the time to really slow down and look around. The train station was amazing!
I had purchased our tickets several weeks ahead of time, and it was a good thing that I did. The train was completely full and they were turning people away! I had no idea this form of travel was so popular. And now I know why! Everyone is SO friendly when you ride on a train together. I don't know if it is the feeling of being transported back into time or the laid back atmosphere that I don't feel you find on an airplane. We had some great conversations with passengers and the conductors alike (as Andrew loving called everyone with the official uniform on). Just some good ole' fashioned camaraderie on the rails.
I packed Andrew's tag reader and books, games, mini-puzzles (from Dollar Tree or the dollar bins at Target), and snacks. There was a dining car - the lady in charge of it was a hoot! She would come over the intercom every once in a while and tell all the kids to keep their eyes peeled for hawks and dinosaurs! I have never seen Andrew so focused staring out the windows! I will have to say that I was a tab bit disappointed with the dining car. I had this grand image of the dining car from the movie White Christmas in mind. A long bar and cozy booth-style seating... it was neither of those, but still very cool and we didn't frequent it on a couple of occasions.
The chairs and personal space that you have on the train is unbelievable. Mike kept commenting on the glorious chairs. They really were impress, along with ALL the room you have.
Once we made it to Ft. Worth, we set out to find something to eat and to figure out our transportation needs to travel to our hotel. We ate some yummy sandwiches in a small cafe downtown on 9th and Houston (I can't remember the name, but their turkey club was to die for!)
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| It was just a little noisy! |
After about 30 minutes of looking at maps on our phones and a particular bus map, we decided to head back to the train station that also served as the main bus terminal too. Once we reached the train station again, it was not too hard to figure out we needed to catch Route 7 to find our hotel. The hotel we stayed out was a little over 3 miles away from downtown Ft. Worth. It was less than a 10 minute drive on the bus. Perfect!
There is something very liberating about not having a car and only having your legs and others to rely on! It was also a great bonding experience for all of us.
Our hotel was right across the street from a great shopping center with stores like Williams-Sonoma, The Container Store, and, my all time favorite!, Anthropologie. Let's just say I got some Christmas shopping out of the way. And since we were riding the train without luggage restrictions, I could shop away... oh wait! Mike was with me...scratch that!
We ended up putting Andrew to bed just after 7pm. Poor guy was tuckered out from staying up a little later than normal the two nights before and then waking up on Friday morning at 5:30am to get ready for the train ride. He was snoring and talking in his sleep by 7:23! Mike went out for a little stroll and I was asleep by 8:57!
The day was a perfect start to the weekend that followed!
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