Day 4 - Roaring Camp Railroad/Mystery Spot

Monday morning, the kids slowly started to wake up.  Our bedroom overlooked the family room, and I loved peeking over the railing to see the kids, one by one, quietly drawn to the view out the back windows.  It was their first glimpse of the ocean beach that we would call home for that week.

Soon everyone was up and moving around.  The kids wanted to go out and play on the beach, but it was a little too cold still to do that.  The temperature was supposed to climb 10 degrees by the end of the week (from 60s to 70s), so I wanted to get our sightseeing out of the way while it was cooler, and save our beach playing for warmer days.

Savannah's toes

We took a vote on what the kids wanted to do on the first day, and they voted for the Roaring Camp Railroad.  So we pulled the kids away from the awesome view and loaded back in the car.  We drove half an hour to Santa Cruz to the Roaring Camp Railroad. Owen got car sick on the way.  Poor kid!  We were running a little late, so as we drove down the dirt road toward the train station, I rolled down my window and dumped his puke bowl as we drove.  I can't even begin to tell you how tired I was of puke by that point.

I

We got to the train just in time to make it on the 12:30 departure. 

It was a real steam train, and it went up through a redwood forest.  It was so fun to have the steam drifting back at us.

We made our way up a mountain, and at times the train came within inches of giant trees or the rock mountainside.

It was such a relaxing and beautiful ride.

The kids loved when the conductor came through the cars to collect their tickets.

At the top of the mountain, the train stopped, and we were able to get out and walk around for a bit.

The conductor did a presentation on the redwood forests and the history of the area.

The conductor told us to keep an eye out for banana slugs.  Josh spotted one right off, and pointed it out to everyone.

And of course, when the conductor asked if anyone had any questions, Aaron did.

Then we loaded back on the train, and made our way back down the mountain.

We got a good look at the railroad's old trestle that had burned in the 1970s.  

Kate got a little restless, so she entertained herself with funny faces.

And then she resorted to just sitting on the floor and pouting till it was done.  

When we got back to the station, we got to watch them blow off steam, then fill their tank from the water tower.

After the train ride, we got lunch there.  The food was ridiculously expensive, so we just got a small amount for everyone to share.  Sara and Owen weren't happy with that, and spent most of the meal pouting.

But then Scott and Josh pulled out some good wrestling to entertain us, and then everyone cheered up.

After we finished up with the train ride, the kids were tired and grouchy.  I had heard about a fun place called The Mystery Spot, and I thought it would be fun.  We asked the kids if they wanted to go to The Mystery Spot or go home to the beach, and all of them wanted to go back to the beach.  I told the kids more about it as we drove away, and by the time we pulled away from the train, I had half the kids on board for visiting The Mystery Spot.  In the end, everyone had lots of fun there and were all glad we went.

They describe this place as a gravitational anomaly, and they do all sorts of demonstrations where your mind can't make sense of what it's seeing.   Like height differences depending on where you stand.

Next we entered the cabin that had supposedly slid down the mountain in a rain storm, and had lodged itself on the side of the mountain right in the middle of the gravitational spot.  Because it was on a steep mountain slope, and the cabin was slanted on the slope, everything seemed off when you stepped inside.

When we came out the other side of the cabin, we got to witness another boggling height trick.  When lined up one way, we all went from short to tall, but when we reversed our positions, we were all the same height.  I still haven't figured that one out.

The kids and the mysterious cabin.

Owen got to be a helper for a few more demonstrations.  He loved that.

After the Mystery Spot, we headed back to our beach house.  Owen puked again on the way home.  Poor kid couldn't handle the curvy mountain roads around these ocean towns.  This time he didn't make it in the bowl, so we had to strip him down.  Car sickness sucks.

We got back to the beach house and had a few hours of daylight left, so we went down to the beach to play for the first time.  Nate wasn't feeling well, so he decided to stay back at the house and watch TV.  I hated leaving him behind, but I could tell that he really needed some rest time, so I told him to wave to us off the back patio if he needed anything.

Ours was the second house in this picture (the bluish one with the two balconies off the back).

This scene was pretty much heaven to me.

 

We walked up and down the beach, and found a beached whale.  The kids were pretty fascinated by it.

The kids loved finding shells and little sand creatures.

After watching the sun set on the beach, the kids came back and warmed up in the hot tub.

That evening, after the kids were out of the hot tub, Scott and I snuck away to the grocery store to buy food for the week.  I always feel a bit embarrassed by the types of food I buy for a vacation week (chips, cookies, cinnamon rolls, ice cream, etc).  But it's vacation!  And it's the only time you can justify it, so we stocked up on lots of good stuff and returned home to fix dinner for the kids.  (We also came home to find Kate passed out on the floor.  These vacation days completely wore her out!)

That night we mixed up the sleeping arrangements just a tad, as Owen decided he wanted to sleep in the main house with us.  He slept just outside our bedroom in a chair that folded out into a bed.  It was another great and memorable day.