The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway sounded like a good idea when I was planning the trip.  I’d ask Californians if they’d been on it, and they’d say things like, “No, but I’ve heard only good things about it.”  Comments like this, paired with the fact that it was open into the evening, made it a good stop for the end of our day in the Palm Springs area.

As we drove up the four-mile access road just after 4 p.m., however, I began to question my wisdom in putting it on our to-do list.  “We’re going up THERE?” I asked as we pulled into the parking lot and could see the towers on the mountainside that held the tram cables in place.

By then, however, it was too late.  We were there.  We hiked up the parking lot and into the ticket building to buy our tickets.

Although it was in no way due to excellent planning on my part, we learned that we’d arrived at a good time.  Tickets are discounted after 4:00 for the ride to the top of the mountain.  Though still not a great bargain, the discount was appreciated.

Aerial Tramway tickets are issued for a specific time, and our tram car was boarding as soon as we’d finished the purchase transaction.  We waited in a holding room until our tram car arrived, and then walked into the large car.

The floor of the car rotates throughout the ride, so passengers get a 360-degree view of the Coachella Valley without having to move around the car.  Everyone stands, but a woman with a severe fear of heights was allowed to sit on a small step in the center of the car.

There are five towers that the car rolls over along the way to the top, and while the 10-minute ride is otherwise smooth, there’s a bit of an “oooh” moment as the car swings over the arms of each of these towers.

Soon enough, we were at the top, with the option to explore as long as we wanted.  The top station includes overlooks, restaurants, a bar, a gift shop, and photo kiosk as well as restrooms and other amenities.

I wasn’t too sure how I was going to like looking down from the top of an 8516-foot mountain, but it wasn’t really so bad.  Because it’s not a sheer dropoff from the lookout areas, the vegetation and landscape make it appear that you’re just on some uneven terrain, but with a really good view in the distance.  I’m nervous about the third-floor railing at Mall of America, but I managed the fenced-in areas at the top of this mountain just fine.

The kids begged for quarters for the binoculars, and enjoyed getting closer views of the sights from these.  We could see the mountains near Joshua Tree National Park to the left, Palm Springs and its nearby towns below, some of the many wind generators that line the Coachella Valley at the bottom of the mountain, and the Salton Sea to the right.  I forgot to look for the San Andreas Fault, although I’d read that it can be seen from the top.

Looking the other way, we could see hikers in the distance; the land at the top of the mountain is a state park and is available for recreational activities.

We stayed near the station, however, and after getting our fill of the view, headed inside to find something to eat.  We chose the cafeteria-style Pines Cafe instead of the fancier Peaks Restaurant, and were pleasantly surprised at the reasonable prices for basic but good food.  The boys had a large slice of pizza for $4, I had tortilla soup for $3.50, and our daughter liked the $5 yogurt parfait.  My husband had some kind of sausage and sauerkraut that was part of a meal deal but also sold a la carte.  All in all, we ate for about the same cost as fast food would have been, but with a much nicer view.

While we were eating, the sun set over the mountain, so that when we boarded the tram car again and began moving, we had a beautiful view of the city lights below.  Once again we completed two and a half rotations as we rode, but this time to upbeat music instead of the informational narrative we’d heard on the way up.

In some ways, I’d compare the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the Pikes Peak Cog Railway; both take you up about 8000 feet from the city below for some beautiful views.  If I had to choose one over the other for my family, however, I’d go with the tramway.  The 10-minute ride is much easier for kids than the hour-plus of Pikes Peak, and you can stay at the top as long as you wish.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was one of the high points of our California trip, especially since it was unique and not what I expected when I first thought of California.

If You Go:

• Call for ticket prices before you go.  The after-4 discount is not listed on the website, although a ride-and-dine package is.
  
• Bring a sweatshirt or jacket, even if it’s warm in the valley.  We were comfortable with sweatshirts on in mid-February.
• Don’t lean on the glass while the tramway is moving.  Your feet will rotate right out from under the leaning part of you.
• Remember your camera.
• Go up just after 4 p.m., grab something to eat, enjoy the view, and come down after dark for a varied experience at a lower price.
• Check to see if any special activities are available during your visit.

More pictures:

We learned that my son is allergic to peanuts when he was three years old due to skin testing and bloodwork in investigating another condition.  In the past six years, we’ve become adept at navigating restaurant menus and working with our school, friends, and family to ensure a safe environment for him.  We’ve traveled far and wide, but always in a car where we could control the food that’s brought in.

Our recent trip to California created a new page in our book of dealing with food allergies:  flying with a peanut allergy.  Our experience flying on Delta follows; I welcome any thoughts about your own food allergy airline experiences, or tips for traveling families, in the comments.

Pre-Trip Planning

My pre-trip concerns were two-fold: how to keep our son safe while on the flight, and how to handle epi-pens at the security gate.

About a month before our trip, I called Delta’s main information number and spoke to an agent about the peanut allergy.  She said that Delta does not provide peanut-free flights, but recommended sitting in either the first three or last three rows of the cabin.  We already had seats at the back of the plane, so this was not difficult.  Another option provided was to talk to the gate agent one hour prior to the flight and ask to be assigned (him plus one adult) to the first economy row, which is reserved until that point in time for people with service animals or other special needs.  We decided to stay with our seat assignments at the back of the plane, especially since our family of six was already taking up two rows on one side, which would create a bit of a natural buffer zone.

The phone agent also noted the peanut allergy on our son’s reservation.

Regarding the epi-pens, I checked the airline and TSA websites to see how to handle medications and learned that there should be no problem with them.

At Security

We did nothing special with the epi-pens we had in our carry-on luggage and no questions were asked at security regarding them.

Flight 1: At the Gate

We had arrived quite early for the flight, and as soon as the gate agent arrived, I talked to her about the peanut allergy.  She was very kind, reiterating that there were no peanut-free flights offered on Delta, but that they would not offer peanuts in the three rows ahead of or behind my son.  I asked if I needed to talk to the flight attendants, and she said no, that she would inform them.

Flight 1: On the Plane

We had brought along wipes with which to clean the trays and surfaces in my son’s row, in case there should be any peanut residue there from an earlier flight.  Though we normally do not do this in everyday situations, the idea of having a reaction while in the air with no ambulance or hospital readily available caused us to take more precautions than usual.

When the drinks and snacks were served, the flight attendants worked from front to back.  When they reached the row my son was in, they offered him peanuts.  My husband quietly reminded them that there was a peanut allergy in the row, and they hastily backed up and took back the peanuts they’d just given to passengers in the row ahead.  There ended up being just a two-row buffer instead of the three rows there were supposed to be.  I give the confiscated-peanut passengers credit for not complaining, but I was disappointed that the flight attendants had forgotten the protocol and offered peanuts to them in the first place.

Flight 2:  At the Gate

This time, we did not arrive at the gate until about 20 minutes prior to boarding.  I gave the same spiel to the agent:  “My son has a peanut allergy and the reservation agent said I should let you know.”  He annoyed with me, and said he’d have to put us in the last row.  I mentioned that we were already near the back of the plane, but he said the very back was what he was supposed to do, and now the plane was nearly full and he’d have to move people around.  After pausing a bit, he asked how severe the allergy was.  “Not airborne or contact-sensitive as far as we know,” I replied.  “So just ingestion?”  “Yes,” I replied.  He then decided that where we were sitting was good enough and that they’d have to do a buffer zone of “4 rows or something,” and that he’d have to notify the flight attendants RIGHT NOW.  He walked immediately down the jetway with this information.

Flight 2:  On the Plane

When we boarded, we noticed two small pieces of paper taped to the seatbacks of the third row ahead of our son’s row, marked simply with “ø.” Once everyone in those rows had boarded, the flight attendant explained that there was a customer with a peanut allergy in this area, and that peanuts would not be served beyond that point.  She also asked that any passengers who had brought a peanut snack not eat it during the flight, and that if a peanut snack was the only thing they had brought to eat, she would talk with them about trading it for something else from her cart.  As during the first flight, I did not see or hear anyone complain about this.

As had been promised, the flight attendants discontinued offering peanuts when they got to the marked row.  I did notice that there was still trail mix available for sale, but I did not see if anyone attempted to order it during the flight.

Overall Thoughts:

• I’m surprised that the peanut allergy was not flagged in the gate agent’s information. Sometimes it is not possible to arrive early enough for seat reassignment, especially if catching a connecting flight.  Similarly, sometimes seat assignments are not available until arriving at the gate, so the allergic passenger could be assigned to a row other than that suggested for people with allergies on Delta.  Delta’s computer system should be able to flag this so the gate attendant knows before we arrive that there’s an allergy on board.
• The demeanor of the gate agent isn’t what keeps the allergic passenger safe.  The flight attendants are the key piece of the puzzle. Though Flight 1′s gate agent was much friendlier, the flight attendants on the plane were not very attendant.  The gate agent for Flight 2 was more brusque, but the flight attendants on board were much better at communicating with the passengers and following the protocols we’d been told they would use.
• The allergic passenger was kept anonymous throughout the process. We were not in any way singled out as being the ones with a food allergy in our row.  Any passengers who might be disgruntled did not know if the allergic passenger was right next to them or a few rows away.
• Our fellow passengers were kind and understanding. No one on either flight was visibly hostile about the absence of peanuts in their row.
• The cookies and pretzels offered as snacks besides peanuts were a may-contain, so my son couldn’t eat them anyway.  We always travel with our own snacks for him in situations like this.
• It surprises me that Delta can’t create a peanut-free flight.  I don’t think of myself as a warrior mom for whom everyone else has to change just because my son has a peanut allergy.  But is the right to peanuts on a flight so absolute that they can’t simply be removed from the flight when given advance notice of an allergic passenger on board?
• I’d think twice about flying on Delta if the allergy were airborne-sensitive. Some people have severe allergic reactions by merely smelling or breathing small amounts of peanut dust.  In an confined space like an airplane, I’d be very hesitant at having just a buffer zone with an airborne reaction history.
• Traveling with a larger group is a benefit. Our family created its own buffer zone of sorts, just as my son has a self-created group of friends who avoid peanuts so they can sit by him at lunchtime.
• It was still nerve-wracking. Being locked on an airplane without quick access to a hospital can be dangerous in any medical emergency, but with a severe allergic reaction, time is of the essence.  An epi-pen dose only helps for 15 minutes or so, and a second dose will buy a bit more time, but that’s not enough in the case of a severe reaction while at 30,000 feet.  Preventing a reaction in the first place is really the first defense.

Questions and Comments:

• Have you flown with a food allergy?  What was your experience?  What precautions did you take?
• Are there any airlines that offer peanut-free flights?  What are the policies of airlines other than Delta?
• What could/should we have done differently?

Please share with a comment below.

Tips for Midwesterners driving in LA

1. Don’t be scared. Sure, you’ve heard stories of crazy-fast drivers and no one using turn signals and bumper-to-bumper traffic all the time.  Know that while these frustrations may be seen, they’re not a sure thing.  Minnesotans will be able to relate to this:  We found the traffic most of the time to be similar to Minneapolis’ 494, but with 6-8 lanes instead of 3-4.
2. Signage is good. We drove over 900 miles on our trip and found the signage on California’s roads to be good and easy to follow.
3. Plan ahead. There are a lot of freeways in LA, and often more than one route will get you where you need to go.  While many of these roads have 4-8 lanes in each direction, some (like I-5 between Disneyland and Universal Studios) are only two lanes and can bottleneck even at quieter times of day.  Zoom in closely or do a street view on Google Maps to see if this is the case.  Sometimes a slightly longer route on a higher-capacity road will save time over the most direct route.  Study maps before you go so you have at least a general idea of the routes you’ll be using.
4. Time it right.  If you can avoid driving at rush hour, do.  Go against heavy traffic if you can.  From Anaheim, we had no trouble leaving at 7:30 on a Friday morning to head west to Palm Springs.  Leaving at 8 a.m. to go to Universal Studios on a Tuesday, however, was slow going.  Weekends might be better than weekends, but it’s not guaranteed.  Be prepared to be patient, and leave plenty of time in case you get in a traffic snag.
5. Stay near your destination.  Though LA and San Diego don’t look so far apart on a map, dealing with the traffic each day may make your trip less enjoyable.  Stay in Anaheim when you’re going to Disneyland, northern LA for Universal, and San Diego for the attractions there.  Though I usually don’t like switching hotel rooms throughout the trip, in California I think it’s a good idea.
6. Have your best driver drive and your best navigator navigate. If you have two adults in the car, know their strengths and use them.  My husband is a good driver, and I’m good at reading signs and maps and finding alternate routes if necessary.  We’re a good team in the car as long as he lets me tell him where to go.  “Exit in 1/2 mile; get in the right lane.”  “You’re in an exit-only, move one or two to the left.”  “Left turn at the light, get in the right-left lane.”  (Are we the only people who say “right-left” and “left-left” for multiple turn lanes?)  If you’re both the driver and the navigator, you should spend even more time in the Plan Ahead stage.
7. Use a GPS. And a map. And your smartphone, if you have one. While our GPS was very handy for some things — indicating which lane we should be in, showing our arrival time — it was less than stellar at others.  I usually had a map on my lap for a better overview of the area and to double-check the GPS, and the map feature on my phone was often better at locating destinations and giving better warning as to what our next road would be.  Use all the tools you have to keep your from getting tangled up in the wrong freeway.
8. Check with the experts. If you know people who live in Southern California, tap them for advice, or use social media to your advantage.  Ask other family travelers for advice on Trekaroo, or ask your questions on Facebook or Twitter.  Just as you’d help someone visiting your area, you’ll find people who are willing to share their knowledge when you’re coming to their home turf.
9. Use the carpool lane. If you have two or more people in your vehicle and are traveling any distance on a freeway, use the carpool lane if it’s available.  Besides the possibility of it moving faster, you’ll also have to worry less about lane-change and merging traffic.  Though the carpool lanes generally are on the left alongside the regular lanes, there’s a solid line in most areas that indicates no entry or exit from the lane.  Every so often, there will be an entrance/exit zone indicated by dashed lines, and that’s when you can move in or out of the lane.  We found signage to be very well done in indicating when to leave the lane for specific highway exits.
10. Gas is expensive.  We paid $4.25 a gallon consistently in California, while the price back home was about $3.40.  Budget accordingly, as gas almost always costs more in California than in the Midwest.
11. Enjoy the ride. Even though southern California seems to be all one big city, there are amazing changes in terrain and views as you navigate it.  Try to catch a glimpse of the mountains, the beaches, and the Hollywood sign even while keeping your eyes on the road, and enjoy your trip.

The “11 Things” series is designed to give tips for traveling families to destinations well-known or off the beaten path.  Learn how to share 11 Things about your favorite destination, or read other 11 Things posts.

While I’m far from an expert in this matter, I do have recent experience with it, and I hope what we’ve learned will be of some value to others visiting sunny California.  First, some tips for renting a car.

Tips for Renting a Car in Southern California

1. Reserve early.  As soon as you know your travel dates, reserve a car.  If the price goes down, you can rebook at the lower rate, but if it goes up, you get the rate you reserved at.  If your trip falls through, you can cancel it.  I booked the car rental for our February trip back in July and then kept checking it periodically to see if the price had dropped.  Though it stayed steady for several months, in the weeks before our trip the rate doubled.  I was glad to have done my homework ahead of time.
2. Shop around. Unless you have a fierce loyalty to a particular rental company, check rates at all of them.  When I was looking, rates for a minivan for our family ranged from less than $600 to over $3000 for the same dates and locations.  It takes time to check all the companies, but if saving money is your goal, it’s worth it.
3. Use a discount code and/or coupon. If you’re a member of anything, check to see if there’s a car rental discount code you can use.  I plugged in every code I was eligible for — AAA, Costco, Farm Bureau, Entertainment Book, Delta Airlines — and used the code that gave me the best price.  You can find codes in your membership materials or by doing a web search.  I also got some good ideas at Mousesavers.  Some car rental companies will allow you to use both a discount code and a coupon.  Be aware, however, that many coupons are good for up to a full-size car, and won’t be eligible for use on a minivan or SUV that your family may require.
4. LAX is not your only option.  Again, it can be time-consuming, and you’ll have to figure it along with the price of airline tickets, but it may be cheaper to rent from an airport other than LAX.  We rented our car at Orange County (SNA), which is conveniently close to Disneyland, and returned it at San Diego (SAN), for less than what a rent/return from LAX would have been.
5. Consider convenience. If you rent at LAX, you’ll have to load your luggage onto a rental shuttle, unload it to check in at the rental counter, and then load it into your car.  Renting from SNA, a porter put our luggage on his cart, walked us down to the parking garage where I checked in for our rental, and then helped us load it once the car was brought to the counter.  The speed and convenience were definitely worth the porter’s tip, and not having to deal with a shuttle was welcome after a long day of travel with four kids and all our luggage.  When we returned the car to San Diego, the National agent gave us our receipt as we drove up and then asked if we had a lot of luggage.  We replied, “yes!” and he got an employee to drive us in our loaded car to the airport ticketing area so that we wouldn’t have to deal with our luggage and the shuttle.  I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have gotten the same offer at LAX.
6. Know the extra-driver policy for the rental company.  Many companies will waive the extra-driver fee for drivers who have the same last name and address and are above a certain age (often 25).  If you don’t fit into this category, check with the rental company to see if and how much you’ll be charged to have two drivers listed on the rental.  My husband almost always drives the rental, but if a migraine puts him out of commission or I need to run to Target without the whole family it’s nice to have me listed on as well.
7. Check your insurance coverage. Before you go, check with your insurance agent to see if you need to buy the coverages the rental company will offer you.  Do you need the coverages that can cost $15 or more a day?  You may also consider a third-party car rental policy; we have one through our American Express card that costs $20/rental instead of $15/day.  The rental companies want to sell these policies whether you need them or not, so know before you go whether you’re going to say yes or no.  Also, before you drive off with the rental car, look it over carefully for any dings or dents or damage.  If you see something, take a digital photo at the least, and even better, show the damage to the rental agent so it can be noted as preexisting on your contract.  You don’t want to be charged for damage that was done before you got the car.
8. Be prepared for upgrade offers.  Our $50/day rental was for a Chrysler Town & Country.  At the counter, the rental agent offered us an upgrade to a Toyota Sienna (claim: 8-passenger and better mileage) for a few dollars a day, or an SUV (Dodge Durango, if I recall) for a small upcharge.  For a heftier upgrade fee, we could have had a “Suburban,” but when I asked if it was a full-size Suburban, he said no, it was a Tahoe.  We politely declined the “upgrade” offers and stuck with the minivan, as it fit our needs as well as our luggage.
9. Take your own GPS. The rental companies are happy to rent you a GPS for a daily charge.  While I do recommend a GPS for navigating new cities, take your own if you have one, and remember the charging cable and mount for it as well.  If you don’t have one, consider purchasing your own pre-trip rather than paying the rental company for it.
10. Remember the carseats. Check the child restraint laws for the area you’re visiting and take your own carseats.  (Check with your airline for getting them to your destination.  Some can be used on the plane, and others checked as baggage or gate-checked, usually without a baggage fee.)  Car rental agencies may offer carseat rentals, but you don’t know what you’re getting.
11. Take all your stuff home with you. To be sure we didn’t leave anything behind, we removed everything from the car the day before we left.  We then packed everything into the luggage we’d be taking on the plane.  This way, we only had to grab the big, visible bags from the car, and weren’t scrambling for tiny things like Lego minifigure heads under the seat while in the airport dropoff lane.

Do you have any other car rental tips to add for families traveling to southern California (or anywhere)?

The “11 Things” series is designed to give tips for traveling families to destinations well-known or off the beaten path.  Learn how to share 11 Things about your favorite destination, or read other 11 Things posts.

My nine-year-old son loves model trains, and any time we ask for a family outing suggestion, the Twin City Model Railroad Museum is at the top of his list.  Since the non-train-lovers in our family prefer a bit more variety, for many months I said no, instead promising him we’d visit the San Diego Model Railroad Museum when we got to California. As the largest operating model railroad exhibit in North America, it seemed that he’d love it.  Its location in Balboa Park seemed ideal for a San Diego Sunday afternoon.  And with kids 14 and under free, and adults half price during Museum Month, the price was right.

There was just one problem.

When we got to Balboa Park on our Sunday afternoon, it was packed, and we couldn’t find a place to park.  Being first-timers, we didn’t know the Balboa Park parking tip that Colleen Lanin and Sharlene Earnshaw and Carolina Papa know:  always park in the zoo lot.  Instead, we got tangled in a maze of dead-end streets with nary a parking space to be seen.  As we became more and more frustrated, we gave ourselves a time limit; if we didn’t find a parking spot by the appointed time we’d look for fun elsewhere in San Diego.

And that would mean no model railroad museum.

Our son took it pretty well, or maybe the traffic was getting to him, too.  “I’ll be disappointed,” he said, “but it will be ok.”

I think I felt worse about it than he did, after all those months of promising the museum to him.  But we did not find a parking spot and we left the area, finding other diversions for our Sunday afternoon.

On Monday, we went back to a much less busy Balboa Park, an hour before anything opened, and we indeed found a place to park in the zoo lot.  As we wandered around the park, we found that the model railroad museum is located just a few minutes’ walk from the zoo.  We formulated a new plan on the spot.

“What would you think of going to the train museum for just a few minutes before we head to the airport?”  Everyone was on board with this plan, and though the museum is generally closed on Mondays, it was open on President’s Day.

We walked over from the zoo to the Casa de Balboa building and followed the signs down the stairs and around the corner to the museum.  After paying our admission (just $8 for the entire family with the Museum Month discount), we checked out the model train displays.

The museum is large; we wandered from area to area and there were layouts throughout the museum.  Steps with railings allowed little ones to get a good view, and model railroaders were at the controls of many of the layouts.

The most interactive room was the Toy Train Gallery, where children could push buttons to make things happen along the tracks; this is also where we found the most elaborate cityscapes in the train setups.

Though we weren’t able to stay long, we did see all of the train layouts, and at the end of our time I asked my young train expert what he thought of the museum.

He considered it a minute, and then said that he didn’t like it as well as the Twin City Model Railroad Museum.  Though the layouts were bigger and the tracks longer than in St. Paul, he felt he had to wait a long time for a train to come by.  At the St. Paul museum, there seemed to be more trains running at a time, and more action to watch.  He did like the Toy Train Gallery, but overall, the train museum in St. Paul is still the winner in his book.

Minnesotans, be proud.  Your local model railroad museum has the seal of approval from a nine-year-old model train museum critic.

You know what this means, don’t you?  The next time we ask for suggestions for a family outing, his answer will be exactly the same as always.  And I won’t have a trip to San Diego to promise as a substitute.

Does your family enjoy model train museums?  Which is your favorite?

More photos:

Am I the only one who sees irony in the brown-and-white sign that proclaims Colorado as colorful? Still, it's better than the signage on the tollways near Denver.

I’m going to start with a story, and then all of you who know better can tell me how it could have turned out so much differently…

Last week, on the final day of our Twizzlers Landmark Summer vacation, we left Boulder, Colorado, headed for Rapid City, South Dakota.  If you look at a map, you’ll see that there is no fast + direct route, so we had to choose one over the other.  Hoping traffic would not be too bad, we opted to go slightly out of the way in order to travel on expressways rather than stoplight streets.

Part of our route was marked as a tollway on the map, and the GPS device also asked if we wanted to avoid the tollway.  But we were more concerned with getting on our way, and decided that the cost of a toll would be worth our while.

As we entered the Northwest Parkway, a sign indicated “Toll Plaza 5 miles ahead.”  It did not say how much the toll would be, so I had my wallet ready.  We’ve traveled toll roads in Chicago where you drop in coins every few miles, and in Pennsylvania where you pick up a ticket when you enter the tollway and pay when you leave it.  I was curious to see which system Denver used.

When we got to the toll plaza, we were confused to see that the cash lanes were closed by orange cones, so we had no choice but to go through the “GoPass” lanes.  We did not see anywhere that we could stop to pay our toll.

Because we were driving a vehicle that wasn’t our own (namely, the Twizzlers van), I immediately e-mailed my contact with Twizzlers to let her know what had just happened and that we fully intended the pay the toll.  We just had to figure out how.

She contacted the company in charge of the car, which indicated that we should log on to www.e-470.com to pay the toll.  I went to the site, put in the car’s license number, and got a message saying the plate wasn’t found.  I tried this for several days, and always got the same message.  Eventually, I thought maybe I needed to have an account before trying to pay the toll, so I registered online and tried again.  Still nothing.

Finally, I called the customer service number for E-470.  A very friendly woman attempted to help me, and explained that the system is a “license plate toll” system and that there should have been a sign indicating that upon entering the roadway.  (I honestly don’t remember if there was such a sign, but in any case, the phrase “license plate toll” would have meant absolutely nothing to me.)  What “license plate toll” actually means is that their system has no actual toll booths.  Instead, cameras take a picture of your license plate if you don’t have an automatic transponder in your car, and somehow they figure out where you live and send the bill to you.  If the car you are driving is yours, that is.

The agent told me that it works much more smoothly if you sign up for an account before traveling on the road.  I replied that it would be much easier to do so if there were any signs or markings warning visitors what to expect on the tollway, or even how to sign up for an account.  Apparently the tollway powers that be think that visitors will somehow just know how this works.

The nice woman on the phone, Agent 13 but I forget her name, asked which portion of the road we had driven.  When I explained that it was the section from Boulder to I-25, she told me that that portion of the road is the Northwest Parkway, a completely different system that is run in the same way, without physical toll collection points.

Despite the fact that I hadn’t driven on her road, she was able to pull up the license plate number and tell me the name of the rental company that it belonged to.  She could not, however, assist me in paying the toll because it was not from the E470 portion of the road.  Instead, she connected me to someone at the Northwest Parkway office, who was equally friendly.  I repeated the license number to her, and it did not turn up in her records at all.  This was four days after having traveled the road.  She suggested that I call back in a week, as it often takes some time for out-of-state license plates to show up in the system.  I have now made 6-8 attempts to pay the toll online, spent 15 minutes on the phone with agents, and still have not successfully paid the toll that will likely be $3.20.  I have to try back in a week and hope the plate is in the system at that point in time.

The Northwest Parkway website touts this as an upgrade:  “The Northwest Parkway has updated its business, you no longer have the ability to stop and pay for the toll.”  For those who live in the area and have transponders, this makes sense.  But for visitors to the area, the system is confusing and inefficient at best.

The bottom line for traveling Denver’s toll roads seems to be this:  Research the road before you travel on it.  If you’re driving your own vehicle, register ahead of time, or expect a bill in the mail after you get home.  If you’re driving a rental car, be fully aware of the charges you may incur from the rental company in addition to your toll.  Or simply avoid the toll roads.  At this point, I’m really wishing that’s what we would have done.

Have you driven on the Denver-area toll roads?  Do you have any words of wisdom for visitors to the area who may not be aware of how the system works?  Am I a complete dummy to have been so confused by it?

Update: I guess I’m not the only one with concerns about the way this road operates.  See these articles for more information:

• 7 years and $339 later, E-470 takes its toll on Aurora woman
• E-470 billing nightmare leaves driver fighting mad
• Cashless E-470 takes on rental-car drivers in the form of fines
• Billed thousands, woman says E-470 ‘committing highway robbery’
• Colorado toll road stories

When I was a kid, our visits to the Twin Cities from North Dakota were always to visit family.  Once in a while we went to a park or special event once we’d arrived, but there were usually no museum visits built into the trips.  And getting there wasn’t half the fun–it was the means to an end.  The only stops we made along the 6-hour trip were for food at the truck stop in Rothsay (where we once needed emergency car repairs on a cold December day and they treated us well, ensuring our family’s cafe business forever after), and a rest area along I-94 if absolutely necessary.

We saw signs for things to do along the way; we just never got to stop and see them.  The Sinclair Lewis Interpretive Center in Sauk Centre was a mystery to us.  The cherry-on-a-spoon at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was a mere blur before entering the tunnel.  And, in the days before Rogers had Cabela’s and Kohl’s and SuperTarget and Best Buy, the Ellingson Car Museum’s sign with a real car perched atop was something to see, but that was as close as we got.

Last year, on our annual sandal run to the outlet mall at Albertville (also nonexistent during my childhood), I had promised the kids we’d go to the car museum.  If. they. were. good. at. the. store.

We drove home directly after buying the shoes.

This year they held up their end of the bargain and we stopped at the car museum.

The Ellingson Car Museum is both a museum and a showroom; many of the cars inside are for sale.  The front of the building is like a  dealership showroom, and anyone can stop in and see those cars through the windows, including a DeLorean, the significance of which was lost on my young children who have never seen Back to the Future.

To see the rest of the museum, there’s a $5 admission fee for ages 6 and up.

When you go through the doors, it’s impressive to see the large area with old cars in it.  Think of a large service area at a dealership, with classic and rare vehicles lined up on roped-off paths.

It’s not just cars, though; a doll exhibit including Barbies was the first thing my daughters noticed, and throughout the museum there are displays of classic items that go along with or supplement the time periods of the vehicles themselves.

As far as the cars go, there’s a wide range.  There’s a Packard and an Edsel, a Studebaker and a Hudson Hornet.  There’s even a General Lee.  (Again, the significance of this orange car missed my kids.)

Throughout the museum, there are videos playing that tell more about some of the cars and run in continuous 10-15-minute loops.

At the end of the road, there’s an ice cream parlor and gift shop.

It didn’t take us too long to walk through the museum since we didn’t have any real car buffs in our midst, but the kids did think it was interesting to see all the old cars.  Their favorite part, however, had nothing to do with vehicles.

They loved the arcade games.

We’re not much of an arcade family; I don’t even know what it costs to play a video game in a restaurant any more, although I’m guessing it’s more than the $.25 that I remember.  The Ellingson Car Museum has a collection of 50′s and 60′s-era video games, including an early driving game, some rifle-shot games, and an old pinball machine.  The best part–the games still work!

I don’t usually spring for a lot of extras, but I loved the chance to show the kids what games looked like in the days before Wii, before Nintendo, even before Atari.  So I used the change machine and granted each of them a quarter to play the game of their choice.  Pinball was the favorite, with three of us trying our hand at it.  What a fun thing to do!  The kids had never seen a real pinball machine before, and I asked them what they thought.  “Too much noise,” my son said.  “All of those bells are really loud.”  I suppose that’s true to an ear who’s never heard those bells before and is accustomed to being able to adjust the volume of the various noises around it.

The Ellingson Car Museum is located on the service road just southeast of the I-94/Hwy 101 exit in Rogers, Minnesota, and is open daily.  Car enthusiasts may spend hours there, but we were there for about 45 minutes.  Kids may not be so interested in the specifics of the cars, but they’ll like spotting the other characters that are displayed with the vehicles.  And of course a chance to play in the arcade.

More about Rogers, MN, at Uptake.

Space Center Houston is the NASA visitor center, adjacent to the Johnson Space Center campus.  For a reasonable admission price (our family cost less than $80), you can spend the day learning about NASA and its programs.

Want to go inside a space shuttle? There are exhibits containing both mockups and real spacecraft.

Want to touch a real moon rock? Here’s your chance.

Included in the price of admission are several talks by NASA personnel, describing current space projects, as well as films in various theatres including an IMAX screen.

Hungry? There are several food options in the large food court, although winter-season fare is limited to a few stands.  Prices are on the high side of affordable but not outrageous.  Need souvenirs?  Two gift shops will sell you anything space-related that you can think of.  Kids need a break?  Their favorite part of the day may well be the large climbing-sliding-ball-pit structure.

Want to have some interactive learning?  There are many hands-on activities that appeal to both kids and adults.

The highlight of our day, however, was the ability to take a tram tour.  There are two tours available: one goes to the Astronaut Training Facility, where you walk through a glass-walled hallway overlooking the actual facility;

the other goes to Mission Control, where seats overlook the actual Mission Control room.  That’s right, the actual Mission Control.  This was our favorite part of the whole day, as a knowledgeable guide told us about the things we saw in the room.  We were there on a holiday when it was very quiet, but if there’s a mission going on, you’ll be able to watch the controllers as they work.

Both tours end at Rocket Park, where there are some rockets outdoors and then a huge building enclosing the 36-story Saturn V rocket.

It is recommended that you take your tram tours early in the day, because they can fill up later in the day.

While Space Center Houston may not be exciting for infants or toddlers, anyone from age three up should be able to find plenty to do.  We were there on a relatively quiet day and never had to wait in line for the shows, so we fit a lot into the seven hours we spent there.  While there’s plenty to do with the activities that are included in the price of admission, there are a few extras that you can do at an additional charge if you want to enhance your space experience.

Space Center Houston was our last outing before starting our journey home, and it was my favorite of all the places we visited in Texas.  Interesting, educational, awe-inspiring, and fun, it was great day for our entire family.

The first floor showcases antique fire equipment from various periods in the city’s history.  Upstairs, hands-on areas for kids include a phone where they can practice dialing 911.

There is no admission fee to visit the museum.  The Fireman’s Hall Museum is just down the street from Elfreth’s Alley, and is a nice little stop if you have kids (or adults) who are interested in firefighting.

Minnesota Air National Guard Museum

The Minnesota Air National Guard Museum bills itself as the largest collection of military aircraft in a five-state region.  Aircraft on display range greatly in size and in history, and for anyone interested in the military or in airplanes, it’s an interesting place to visit.

The museum is located on an active military base, so you’ll have to check in and go through security at the gate before proceeding to the museum parking lot.  The entrance to the base is just across the street from the Ft. Snelling light-rail station.  Admission to the museum is free.

The Air National Guard Museum is open only on select weekends, so be sure to check the museum’s website for information.  Some days are designated as “open cockpit” days, which means that you may actually be able to sit in the cockpit of a plane.  Our kids loved “driving” the helicopter and seeing the cargo area of the transport plane.  Volunteers were on hand at various aircraft to answer questions.  My husband really enjoyed seeing the F-16 and learning about it from a knowledgeable person.

Part of the museum is indoors, but many of the planes are in the outdoor air park, so be sure to dress for the weather when visiting.

The Minnesota Air National Guard Museum may not be widely known, but it will be interesting for anyone interested in aircraft.

Minnesota Air National Guard Museum

Our Valentine surprise for the kids, though, was to go to the Saturday evening “night trains.”  The room lights were dim, but the buildings in the layout as well as the trains themselves were well-lit, showing off the intricacy of the setup even more than in the daylight.

It was busy, but not impossible for the kids to find a place to stand in the raised areas to see the trains go by.  The kids thought the lights were really fun, and especially liked the Christmas trains.

They’ve also opened a new “toy trains division” at Twin City Model Railroad Museum, consisting of Lionel sets in a different area of Bandana Square.  (Separate admission charges apply, so we’re saving that one for a different trip.)

Related Posts:

Jackson Street Roundhouse

Excelsior Streetcar and Museum

Twin City Model Railroad Museum

Duluth Depot

End-o-Line Railroad Park and Museum

My kids are still young enough that a bus ride is a big deal to them.  To date, their bus rides have all been on school buses, so they were excited to go to Hibbing and learn about the Greyhound buses.

The entire Greyhound company had its humble roots in little Hibbing, Minnesota.  Two men hired out a car for rides from the little town of Alice to the nearby iron mines in Hibbing.  Their business grew, and soon they were traveling farther and trying to figure out how to haul more people per ride.  The first bus was created out of necessity, and from there the idea grew.

At the Greyhound Bus Museum in Hibbing, there are exhibits showcasing the start of bus travel in the United States.  A theater made up of bus seats shows a video of the company’s history before visitors head to the bus garage to see buses from various decades.

The kids thought it was great to be able to go in these buses from different eras.  Some had more steps, some more lights, some colorful seats, and the kids noticed it all.  When we’d seen all the buses in the indoor area, we went outside to see even more, including a bus that had been converted to use as a motorhome.

The history of the Greyhound company and the variety of buses on display was interesting for me and for the kids, and we enjoyed our stop at the Greyhound Bus Museum.

The Excelsior Streetcar is part of the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, which also runs the Como-Harriet Streetcar near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis.  In days gone by, the streetcars actually did travel out as far as Excelsior, and the Excelsior Streetcar is what’s left of that tradition.

Admission is paid right at the streetcar (next to the Farmer’s Market area downtown) and actual tokens from the real streetcar days are used.  The ride is enjoyable, running right next to a bike path, and many friendly people waved to the kids on the streetcar.

Halfway down the track, we stopped at the streetcar garage, where we were able to see the oldest working streetcar in the United States and peek in on a restoration of another car to add to the fleet.

We’ve taken excursion train rides, but the kids get restless on those longer rides.  For young train enthusiasts, a shorter streetcar ride will leave them happy that they got to ride the rails.

Next door to the streetcar is the Excelsior Museum.  This free museum is small but packed with interesting things, like examples of boats that have sailed on Lake Minnetonka and a roller-coaster car from an amusement park of yesteryear.

The woman working at the museum was great with the kids and allowed them to look at pictures from an old stereoscope.

We wanted to ride the Steamboat Minnehaha, but the boat was full by the time we arrived.  We’ll save that for another outing.

Stepping into Excelsior is like stepping back in time, especially if you visit the museum and ride the streetcar.

Which one’s your favorite?

On a beautiful November day (and by beautiful I mean 40 degrees with no wind), the kids and I headed to the Linden Hills station on the west side of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis to ride the “Holly Trolley” with Santa Claus.  We’ve ridden the Como-Harriet Streetcar before, but it was fun to see it decorated with lights and garland.  Carolers greeted us as we boarded the trolley and dropped in our real trolley tokens, and Ebenezer Scrooge was there as well.  Santa wandered up and down the trolley car along the ride, offering to sit with the kids or pose for a picture and handing out candy canes to the children on board.

Unlike the regular-season trolley rides which include a history lesson, the Holly Trolley is merely for fun and goes up the line past Lakewood Cemetery, back past the station to the garage, and then returning to the station.   The ride is short but festive.

After the ride, the kids wanted to watch for a while longer, so we stood by the fired that volunteers had built and watch the trolley come and go a few more times.  The volunteers are knowledgeable about the trolley and its history and answered the kids’ questions about how the track switches work, how many stations are left in Minneapolis, and so on.

The Holly Trolley was a just-right ride for the kids.  It will be running today and next weekend as well, so if you want a chance to ride with Santa, head down there!

What is the best train-themed place you’ve taken your railroad fan?

• 200 Pearl St, Council Bluffs, Iowa
• 712-329-8307
• http://www.uprrmuseum.org
• Hours: Tuesday through Saturday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Closed Sundays & Mondays
• Free
• Stroller & handicap friendly – ramps & elevators available

This isn’t the first location of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum. It used to be located in Omaha at UP’s headquarters building. The museum was founded in 1921 after the discovery of some silver serving pieces from President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral car. There are now a LOT more pieces in their collection that showcase the history of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1862 until now. The museum opened at this new location, the former Council Bluffs Free Public Library, in 2003.

The bathrooms were on the first level (basement) as you go into the museum. There was an elevator available or you could take the numerous stairs.

We saw an exhibit titled “Dining in Railroad Style” that showed what dining aboard a Streamliner was like. The kids wrote and decorated their own circus-themed children’s menu to take home. There was a real dining car chime that explained what the call for dinner sounded like and you could try to make the same sound yourself. My kids were more partial to playing it like a regular xylophone.

There was a huge section on building the transcontinental railroad – including one of the spikes from Utah! On the top floor, there were various safety and other railroad equipment exhibits. In one corner was a locomotive simulator where kids could supposedly sit in the engineer’s seat to control the route. (Mine were a bit disappointed that it didn’t turn the way they were turning it and didn’t stop when they pushed the brake.)

One of the brochures we received as part of Railroad Days included a little section on how this display (shown) was not of a buffalo – but instead a bison. Do you know the difference?

Also, just for Railroad Days, there was an incredible 20+ foot layout of N-track model trains. My kids were fascinated – and there wasn’t enough room for them to rope it off, so I spent most of my time keeping the children from touching! It was the closest they got to the model trains that were exhibited at the different locations as part of Railroad Days. Sorry, I don’t have a picture!

There are many photos available of the museum, but I thought it best just to include a link to the archival photos.

There is a lot more to this museum than what I’ve listed. The kids were not overly interested in most of the in depth things. We only spent about an hour here and you could easily spend several and not read (or, in some cases, hear) all of the exhibits. This was the only regularly “free” stop as part of Railroad Days. Not my first preference for a field trip, but we might head back when we are studying this time period in U.S. history.

This post was submitted by a guest blogger who regularly writes for Learning As I Go.

Railroad Days Posts:

Railroad Days: 5 Great Stops, 2 Days, $10
Railroad Days: Lauritzen Gardens
Railroad Days: Historic General Dodge House
Railroad Days: RailsWest Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Union Pacific Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Durham Museum

• 16th Avenue & South Main Street, Council Bluffs, Iowa (I-80, Exit 3)
• 712-323-2509
• http://www.thehistoricalsociety.org/depot.htm
• Open April 2 through October 31
Wednesday through Saturday: 10 am to 4 pm
Sunday: 1 pm to 4 pm
Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and Holidays
• Admission: Adults: $6, Seniors & AAA members (60 & over): $5, Ages 6-16: $4, Ages 5 & under are free.
• The depot building is stroller-friendly, but the actual rail cars are not handicap or stroller-friendly at all. Plan to carry any babies into & out of rail cars.

Other than Lauritzen Gardens and the bear trap at the Dodge House, RailsWest Railroad Museum had to be my children’s favorite stop during Railroad Days. We ended up spending time there on both days. The first day, this was the only stop in Council Bluffs that we toured. On the second day, we wanted to see the other Council Bluffs locations, but we didn’t want to waste the time on the bus. So, we decided to park on the Iowa side. We parked here because I was confident I could find this location and knew there would be parking available. The kids begged to see (and run through) the railroad cars again, so we spent some time doing that after we had visited the other two Council Bluffs sites.

This museum used to be the Rock Island Depot and it was built in 1899. The last Rock Island passenger train pulled out of the depot in 1970. General Dodge surveyed the railroad lines east of Council Bluffs back in 1853 and later the route west, enabling Council Bluffs to be a key terminal in the transcontinental railroad. It was renovated starting in 1985, but does show its age.

We didn’t spend too much time inside the former Depot. We briefly saw the HO scale model railroad display, but it wasn’t running like a couple of the other displays we had seen at other locations. Besides, we were thirsty and the water was being sold outside. After some water (only $0.50, compared to $1.50 at some of the other Railroad Days locations), the kids were ready to go see the railroad engines, caboose, and different types of cars.

They were fascinated with the “fake food” on one of the cars and the bell anyone could ring in the railroad yard. They liked the cabooses, climbing on the engines, and just about everything about this location.

I put the baby in a back carrier to take him up the stairs and through the exhibits, trying to keep up with the other children. If you have a kid who likes trains, this is a great place to go to help them get a feel for their real size and function.

Here are some pictures of what you will see here, courtesy of the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County.

[This post was submitted by a guest blogger. See what else the family is up to at "Learning As I Go."]

Railroad Days Posts:

Railroad Days: 5 Great Stops, 2 Days, $10
Railroad Days: Lauritzen Gardens
Railroad Days: Historic General Dodge House
Railroad Days: RailsWest Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Union Pacific Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Durham Museum

• North of I-80: 100 Bancroft St in Omaha, Nebraska
• www.omahabotanicalgardens.org
• 402-346-4002
• Open daily 9 a.m to 5 p.m. except for some holidays
• Admission varies by season
November to March: Adults: $6, Children (ages 6 to 12): $3, Members and those under the age of 6 are free.
April to October: Adults:$7, Children (ages 6 to 12): $3, Members and those under the age of 6 are free.
• Free parking (upper & lower lots)
• Restrooms available in the Visitor Center
• Most areas are stroller-accessible.

Lauritzen Gardens was our first stop on Saturday. Railroad Days runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and we should have arrived as early as possible. However, we were driving in from out of town and hadn’t stayed overnight, so we got a late start.

We arrived at Lauritzen Gardens around 10:30 a.m. The upper parking lot was already packed, but there was still plenty of room in the lower lot. The lower lot is quite a walk from the main entrance. (We used the provided shuttle service on the way up but walked the winding path on the way back down to our vehicle.)

Be prepared at Lauritzen Gardens to do a lot of walking. We went through only a small portion of the 100-acre site. In essence, it is a botanical garden. For Railroad Days, however, they had added many activities for families and children. This year, there were Mini Train Rides on a scaled-down version of a Union Pacific train. There was an area where kids could make their own train engineer’s hats, make train pictures using their thumb and finger-prints and markers, and make train necklaces using dyed dry pasta pieces. Union Pacific posters and memorabilia from the heyday of railroads was on display. There was a storyteller and musician, singers, and model trains all over the place.

They had food available right outside the Visitor Center for this event, but we did not try any. The restrooms were also located in the Visitors Center, so use them before you get too far.

We did all the children’s activities before walking what we were told by a volunteer would be a “two minute” walk to the KidStructure. I think she meant to say two MILE walk (that’s what it felt like) on the main access road. It was beautiful as we passed many labeled flowers and plants – some that we even recognized from our own or friends’ gardens.
We passed a model railroad garden – including buildings, tressels and bridges constructed of natural materials. We didn’t count them, but we were told that there were seven G-scale model train lines running.

The roads were asphalt and definitely stroller-friendly. Some areas were handicap-accessible on one end, but not on the other. In some cases, you would have to double-back unless you were willing to do some stair-hiking.

On the way back, we took a winding route through some of the rose gardens. I think it was a bit shorter. There were lots of hills, so wear your walking shoes!

The KidStructures featured a huge “honeycomb” display, a building to showcase “spacial” changes to kids, a corn-growing explanation, cows, marbles, and a few buildings that despite the adult misgivings, the kids climbed up. There was also a mini “Mount Fuji” for the kids to climb.

We covered only a small portion of the gardens and left around 1:30 p.m. as we wanted to get to the other locations as part of Railroad Days as well. This was definitely the best of the five locations and one we could have spent the whole day at. Well-worth a visit if you are in the area, even with the steep admission prices.

This post was submitted by a guest author. You can see more at Learning As I Go.

Railroad Days Posts:

Railroad Days: 5 Great Stops, 2 Days, $10
Railroad Days: Lauritzen Gardens
Railroad Days: Historic General Dodge House
Railroad Days: RailsWest Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Union Pacific Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Durham Museum

The following is a guest contribution to Travels With Children. You can read more from the author at her blog, “Learning As I Go“.

Mark next year’s calendar now.
“Road trip! June 20-21, 2009. Railroad Days.“

If you are within a day’s drive of Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska, you really should plan to make next year’s “Railroad Days.” What is this Railroad Days? Why should you go? What’s so special?

• http://www.omaharailroaddays.com
• $10 for two adults and unlimited dependent children

Railroad Days is a five-for-one deal. You can visit five different (mostly “train-related” attractions in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area in the two day event for only $10. Not $10 per person. But $10 per FAMILY (two adults, unlimited children). You park at one of the locations and FREE bus or TROLLEY service will take you between the other locations. Here is what the website has to say about RR Days:

“Celebrate our region’s railroad heritage and spend the day visiting some of the best railroad-themed attractions that Omaha and Council Bluffs have to offer. Explore Lauritzen Gardens, The Durham Museum, the RailsWest Railroad Museum, the Union Pacific Railroad Museum and The Historic General Dodge House. You can leave your car at any of the five locations and take free trolley service to each destination. ALL ABOARD for $10 per family!”

These attractions EACH normally cost at least $5 for each adult and $3 to $4 for each child. The event is sponsored by Union Pacific Railroad and the Iowa West Foundation with donations from a variety of other local businesses, individuals, and foundations. The third annual Railroad Days took place on July 12-13, 2008. In the follow-up installments, each attraction will be featured in “Traveling With Children” fashion.

For now, here are some general comments:
The trolleys were great, although we didn’t get to ride on any of them until the second day because of none of them were available after 2 p.m.

The ride across the Missouri River between Omaha and Council Bluffs (and back) took an hour each way. If I were to do it all over again (and what we did the second day), was ride the trolley back to the place we parked our vehicle and drive ourselves across the river. It would have been much faster. The trolleys don’t cross over, so we rode a “tour bus.” All of us would have rather rode in our own vehicle and used the saved time to pick up some cheaper food along the way.

The attractions were very diverse – some were stroller friendly and others were definitely not. Some took a fairly short time to go through and we could have stayed at a couple of the others all day long.

There was definitely some hit-and-miss on the bathrooms and water/food availability. Plan ahead, use the facilities when they are provided, and be flexible. There is some more detail in the follow-up installments.

Four of the five attractions have admission fees. Only the Union Pacific Railroad Museum is free to the public. For Railroad Days, my family of two adults and four children got into all five for only $10. It would have cost us $74 for entry to these places normally. Railroad Days is a great experience for the whole family at an even greater price!

Railroad Days Posts:

Railroad Days: 5 Great Stops, 2 Days, $10
Railroad Days: Lauritzen Gardens
Railroad Days: Historic General Dodge House
Railroad Days: RailsWest Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Union Pacific Railroad Museum
Railroad Days: Durham Museum

Then they built the Hiawatha Light Rail train line. Now we can park in Bloomington at a Park & Ride lot or take a side trip right from Mall of America, pay a few dollars, and hop on the train headed for downtown.

The first time we rode the light rail was with a friend. We each pushed a double stroller and I had a baby in a front carrier. We got quite a few stares that time. Since then, we’ve gone downtown with and without Dad. We sometimes get off at Metrodome and walk to Mill City Museum or Old Spaghetti Factory, or go to Nicollet Mall and see the displays at Dayton’s Marshall Field’s Macy’s.

The last time I went, I had one child in a stroller and three walking and they loved the train ride. The trains are decorated with advertisements, and they were excited to be on the “South Dakota” train. They thought it was really neat that people brought their bikes onto the train and put them in the special racks, and that they could choose to ride backward or forward.

But best of all, they love riding on a real train that goes fast and goes over bridges and through tunnels. And I love not driving downtown.

Twin City Model Railroad Museum

1021 Bandana Blvd E, St. Paul, MN. 651-647-9628. www.tcmrm.org
Ages 5 and older $6, under 5 free. Free parking. Stroller accessible. Restrooms available.

With young train-lovers in the house, this is one of our perpetually-requested stops. The kids love going to watch the trains at Bandana Square. The exhibit is large and depicts much of the Twin Cities landscape from days past. We especially like visiting on the days when Thomas the Tank engine is running. You can check the website for the schedule.

When not watching the trains, there are train tables for the kids to play on and a train video playing, but the real attraction here is watching the trains. There are elevated areas around the track for kids to stand on and get a better view, and a few buttons they can push to run a part of the railroad themselves.

If you have kids who like trains, this is a great place to take them. Just be warned that you’ll probably be begged to go back again and again!

That place was very fun. It had a hundred million trains. My most favoritist thing was ringing the bell and when we got to watch the trains. The trains were very colorful and also was the setup.

You might also like:  Night Trains at Bandana Square

Lake Superior Railroad Museum at The Duluth Depot

St. Louis County Heritage and Art Center, 506 West Michigan St., Duluth, MN.  218-727-8025.  www. duluthdepot.org
Admission includes railroad museum, children’s museum, and two other museums:  $10 age 13+, $5.50 ages 3-13, 2 and under free.  AAA discount.  ACM membership reciprocity.  Stroller accessible.  Restrooms available.

As you may have gathered, I have a couple of boys who really like trains, so if we can find a train museum, they’re always happy to stop.  The benefit of the train museum in Duluth is that it’s in the same building as the children’s museum, so we could see two different things with one stop.

Although there are a few small model railroads on display, this museum has actual trains that you go on.  From engines to the mail car to the dining car to the snowplow, you can actually check out real trains.  This was a big deal to the kids, and my husband enjoyed seeing the real trains as well and learning the history of the railroads in Minnesota.

With the combination of trains and a children’s museum, the Depot is a must-see stop if you’re visiting Duluth with young kids.

I liked that place.  It was really fun.  It had a lot of trains and even some trains that people could ride on.  That place was so cool that I wanted to stay there until the season was done.

I really liked the trains.

193 Pennsylvania Ave. E., St. Paul, MN. 651-228-0263. www.mtmuseum.org/jsrh.shtml
$5 ages 2 and up, additional $2 for caboose ride. Special events have different rates. Free parking. Stroller accessible. Restrooms available.

You may have noticed that we manage to find quite a few train-related places to visit. With two young Thomas-loving boys, we enjoy locations that have trains, big and small. When our younger son turned four, our family outing was to the Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul, which just happened to be hosting Santa’s Train Shop.

We ate an early lunch and arrived at the roundhouse shortly before noon. This turned out to be a good time, as it had been very busy in the morning, and the crowds started to pick up again mid-afternoon. We had purchased tickets online before we left home, fearing that there were a limited number available, but the online purchase fees were not really necessary for a visit to the Roundhouse. I suppose the advance online orders are more important for the railway rides from Osceola and Dresser, Wisconsin, which are operated by the same organization.

Inside the roundhouse, we had a number of options. Our 4-year-old loved the Lego model train setup, and if we lost sight of him for a second, that’s where he could be found. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to talk to children, and Mrs. Claus led storytime in a passenger car in the museum. As a family, we boarded a train for a short and sweet ride up and down the tracks, and later the birthday boy and his dad went back and were given a special peek at the engine as a birthday treat. Several rail cars were on display, and play train tables and other activities were available for the kids.

I enjoyed browsing in the gift area, which has a nice selection of toys and other train memorabilia, and we all enjoyed popcorn and hot chocolate which were available for a reasonable price. Our not-yet-walking baby dusted the floor with her pants because she didn’t want to be left out of the excitement.

We spent several hours at the Jackson Street Roundhouse, and it’s another place where the kids want to go again. Stroller accessibility is good except for on the actual train ride. If you go and aren’t familiar with the area, follow the web site’s directions for getting there. It’s just a little off the beaten path but the directions given are very good.

I really liked going on the train ride.  It was fun, even though it didn’t go very far.  I also liked doing the red light thing.

440 North Mill Street, Currie, MN.  507-763-3708.  www.endoline.com
Admission charged.  Free parking.  Some areas stroller accessible.  Restrooms available.

We visited the End-o-Line Railroad Park and Museum on a rainy August Sunday.  Looking for something interesting to do on the way back from a wedding, I stumbled upon the museum in a guidebook and we decided to go out of our way to see it.

By the time we arrived, the rain was really pouring down, but that didn’t deter us from running into the gift shop, our raincoats keeping us half-dry, and the staff were cheery in deciding who got to show us around in the downpour.  Our guide took us first to see the caboose, where the kids were allowed to have a good look around, and we learned some things we hadn’t previously known about cabooses and their purpose on the railroad.

From the caboose, we dashed into a large display shed, where there was a narrow gauge engine and many railroad artifacts, including a station agent’s collection of tools through the years, down to the many types of lunchboxes he used.

Then, our guide running ahead and telling us the best places to step, we went into the depot, divided into the men’s and women’s sides, and saw the ticket office, and then to the HO model display of the museum and nearby Currie countryside.  For the kids to see not only real trains, but also models, at one museum was very exciting, and our guide was very obliging in running all of the models that were operational.

Due to the rain, we did not visit the park, which includes a school, church, general store, playground equipment, bike trail, and picnic area.  We’ll save that for another trip.

The End-o-Line Railroad Park and Museum is one of Minnesota’s hidden gems.  If you’re ever in the Marshall or Lake Shetek areas, be sure to stop in and see it!

I liked it there even though it was raining.  I liked the model trains.  I liked it when we got to buy something.  We got to see lots of old trains.

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