And just like that, we decided to go to California

I have been thinking about going anyway. I wanted to take the baby while my dad can still see OK. Then Sarah called with a problem, and we couldn't really figure out any other way to solve it without me coming down. So I packed up on Friday and headed out on Saturday. This is mostly the train installation of the pictures...

Here is how the day started out:
Yes, he is asleep in this picture. He often starts the night in bed with Ron and then comes to me in the morning. Today he fell back asleep half off the bed LOL.

Here is the Little Miss in her traveling outfit.
Gotta check out the awesome shoe action close up. :)
First picture in the train! A little chocolate soy milk to pass the time.
Plenty of room in a seat for two! Orion says, "Don't take my picture," and the look on Akasha's face cracks me up.
I call this picture "The Best Twenty Dollars I Ever Spent".
Akasha is fascinated by the workings of our Roomette.
There was lots of this on the whole trip. (The movie not the fork haha).
Monkey Toes!
A Tale of Two Feet
Just cute.
Bwahaha, the Mad Scientist hands at work.
No! Don't interrupt my planning to take over the world!
Day 2, and wow, it started with a first. I was so worried about how we were going to get to sleep in that tiny bed. I had decided I would have Orion put his head on the opposite side as my only hope. But I figured he could start by going up to the top bunk and playing his DS awhile. Well, he fell asleep up there and slept the whole night through! Here he is still asleep in the morning:
And Akasha slept great as well. Too bad I am the only one who didn't! I never really thought to check the route in the middle of the night. Hmmm, that is when it goes over the Mt. Shasta area. I swear the train went about 10 miles an hour all night and around turns, which meant it sounded like sccccrrreeeeeeeech ALL.NIGHT.LONG. I honestly didn't sleep AT ALL. Thankfully, as a nursing and cosleeping mother, I know the value of laying and resting with my eyes closed. I was tired the next day, but not dysfunctional.

Here is some funny grafitti.
There was a long section of this wall. Some of it was quite pretty, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

Orion wanted to take some pictures.... Akasha did alot of this on the trip, as usual. :)
Droopy mom looking out the window.
Orion took this out the window. Nice one, son!
He also took a big interest in this toy on the trip. This is one of those things made for babies, but it has alot of subtlety and educational value that is actually better for older kids. He was totally getting into making small changes and talking about what each thing looked like. I think this was a clown.
And this was a rocking toy with two seats.
And a random final shot of an engine that was sitting at one of the stops. Don't remember which one now, but it gave us something to look at while at that station.
Overall, it was a really good trip. Having the Roomette was essential I think. One thing I hadn't thought about was how noisy the train would be. It did bother Orion from time to time, but it was much quieter in the room. The only real problem we had was in the dining car. Meals were included in the price of the room, but the dining car had table cloths and the service was slooooow. Just not a good match for Orion. Luckily, the room attendant was happy to bring us our food in the room, so that is what we did most of the time. I only had to drag Orion out of there screaming once. :(

And speaking of the room attendant, his name was Andrew, and he was great! So patient with Orion and he even gave him his flashlight to play with. When we got to Simi, there were flowers all along the tracks in memory of the recent train tragedy near there. Orion picked up a rose that was laying by itself on the ground and took it over to Andrew, who was still standing in the doorway of the train. He said, "Here is a flower to remember me by." Funny boy; wonder where he got that one from.