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.

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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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401 West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, Des Moines, IA. 515-274-6868. www.sciowa.org.
Regular admission w/o IMAX: $8 adults, $6 age 2-12. Parking in adjacent ramp, $1 per hour. Stroller accessible. Restrooms available; family restroom with changing table in children’s area. Restaurant on-site.
Membership reciprocity (free) through ASTM.

I’ll be honest, from the website I wasn’t sure there would be much to interest us at the Science Center of Iowa. But the facts that we had a reciprocal membership and that someone had mentioned that the museum was only about a year old and was very nice convinced me that we should give it a try.

We followed the directions given on the website and found the museum easily, which was good since we didn’t have a good map of downtown Des Moines. We parked in the adjacent parking garage and learned that being a few minutes early was all right; we were allowed to get our tickets and start exploring a few minutes before 9:00.

We missed the memo that there was trick-or-treating at SCI that day, but they gave the kids some bags that they could fill with candy around the museum even though they weren’t in costume.

I did find the signs to be somewhat confusing, but once we got the layout of the place, we did all right. The exhibit areas are called “experience platforms” at SCI. We first went to a hands-on “science around you” area where we spent quite a while before convincing the kids that we should see the rest of the museum. The next stop was a special children’s area, complete with a toddler section and a family restroom.

Upstairs, we saw the traveling “grossology” exhibit, which was fun though loud. The weather area was reminiscent of the Notebaert Nature Museum we had visited in Chicago. And the stars area (which we almost missed) was complete with a planetarium; when there wasn’t a scheduled show, you could make your own show on a computer and then go in to view it.

It was nice that SCI wasn’t too crowded. After visiting jam-packed museums in Minneapolis on weekends, it was a pleasant surprise. We spent about two hours at the museum without seeing an IMAX show, eating, or shopping in the museum store. For having young children with short attention spans, that means there are some good exhibits there!

We paid for our parking at the pay station, which was manned by a real-life, friendly person. I inquired about restaurants and he mentioned that there were several on Court Avenue; what we didn’t realize was that we should have kept our parking spot and walked somewhere to eat. The Des Moines travel guide I had picked up wasn’t particularly good at guiding us through downtown, so after wandering around in circles for a while, we decided to head out to Ankeny for lunch, and then back to Boone for the highlight of our trip, a ride on the rails.

I liked that place even though we didn’t get have our face painted. I liked downstairs when we got to get all that candy and I liked the place where we got to send the thing through the tube all the way around and back.

Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad

11th and Division Street, Boone, IA. 800-626-0319. www.scenic-valleyrr.com
Train ride prices vary. Free parking. Trains not stroller accessible. Restrooms available at depot and on board train. Snack bar at depot; soda vending on train.

We caught the 1:30 train for a seven-mile scenic journey from Boone to Frasier, crossing the high bridge at Bass Creek and the Des Moines River. Guides on each of the nine passenger cars dished out safety rules and local history along the way. At the end of the line in Frasier, we switched sides of the car with other passengers so we could see the other half of the scenery on the way back.

Steam engines run the excursion trains on weekends, while diesel engines pull the cars during the week. There are special dinner and dessert trains available, and a trolley that runs to downtown Boone seasonally.

The 1 hour, 45 minute trip got a little long for the kids, who would have preferred a fast-moving train to the 20 mph we were travelling. Fortunately, some snacks I had along tided them over for the most part. My six-year-old was very quiet during the trip; he later explained that he was just very interested in watching and listening to the sights and sounds of the train. We had a beautiful fall afternoon for our excursion.

Back at the depot, there is a gift shop and the Iowa Railway Museum, which we had visited on a previous trip to Boone but didn’t have time to see this time.

It was fun and also a long ride. We got to see a dessert train.

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Living History Farms

McLeod County Fairgrounds, Hutchinson, MN . http://luceline.tripod.com/
$3 adults, children free . Free parking . Stroller accessible . Easy restroom access . Concessions on-site.

We arrived shortly after the doors opened at 9 a.m. Although the kids’ admissions were free, we each received a ticket for the half-hourly door prize drawing. There were several model railroad setups for the kids to watch. Some were complete and some were still works-in-progress. Anna could see a few of the trains from her stroller, but many were higher so that she and the kids had a hard time seeing. Vendors selling model train sets, pieces, and memorabilia rounded out the show, billed as “one of the best in Minnesota.” The railroad operators were happy to talk to the kids and answer questions from Mom about getting started with a model railroad. We stayed long enough to have a snack and have one of our numbers drawn for the second door prize, which was our selection from a table of various items. The kids chose “Oh, No!,” a DVD of toy train bloopers, and were excited to have won a prize.

From the train show, we headed into the Twin Cities. Warning: there is no McDonald’s on Highway 7 between Hutchinson and Lake Street. (There is one in Excelsior but it required a few left turns that I was unwilling to make, thinking we’d find more convenient golden arches along the way.) We had a quick lunch at Subway, and then headed around Lakes Calhoun and Harriet to our next destination.

Minnesota Streetcar Museum

West shore of Lake Harriet at West 42nd St., Minneapolis, MN . http://www.trolleyride.org
$2 ages 4 and up; 3 and under free . Free street parking or $.50 pay lot adjacent to depot . Platform and depot/museum/store are stroller accessible but stroller had to be folded to board the streetcar . Restrooms and concessions may be available at nearby Lake Harriet bandshell area.

The kids were really excited to ride the streetcar. We paid our fare and boarded the antique streetcar, complete with vintage advertisements and uniformed personnel. Although the trip was only about 15 minutes long, we were given a brief history of streetcars in the Twin Cities and had some beautiful views of Lake Harriet. The kids enjoyed riding a real train, even if the trip was short.

From there, we headed around Lake Harriet and back to Lake Street, then across to Marshall Avenue in St. Paul for our next stop.

Choo Choo Bob’s Train Store

2050 Marshall Ave., St. Paul, MN . 651-646-5252 . http://www.choochoobobs.com/
Free . Free street parking; additional parking behind store. Stroller accessible. Restroom with changing table available in store.

We had read about Choo Choo Bob’s and its seven train tables for kids to play on in the store, but with a model setup running and one available for children to run plus ride-ons for the toddler set, we almost didn’t make it to the back of the store where the train tables were. Once there, however, it was a Thomas-loving kid’s dream. Train tables with plenty of trains to go around, benches for parents to sit and watch, and shelves lined with all things Thomas the Tank Engine, Brio, and other train brands for kids plus model railroad supplies. A birthday party room is also available. I almost felt guilty that we didn’t buy anything since the kids had so much fun in the store, but we’ll go back again and remember Choo Choo Bob’s when we need future train gifts.

Since we were in St. Paul, the kids asked to go to the State Capitol.

Minnesota State Capitol

75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, St. Paul, MN . 651-296-2881 . http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/msc/
Free admission. Metered parking. We had the stroller so had to be buzzed into the handicapped entrance under the main stairs. Restrooms available.

Our trip to the Capitol was short since arrived at 2:45 and didn’t realize it closed at 3:00 on Saturdays. We were there just long enough to admire the painted ceilings and elegant staircases and to look up at the rotunda. We’ll return for a longer visit another time.

Then to our last stop of the day . . .

Ikea

8000 Ikea Way, Bloomington, MN . 952-858-8088 . www.ikea.com
Free. Free parking. Stroller accessible; carts with one child seat available. Family restrooms available. Restaurant on-site.

Usually I don’t consider a trip to the store to be part of an adventure, but a few places are unique enough to be added to the list. What makes Ikea special for our family is Smaaland, a supervised children’s play area, where I just happened to have three children who fit the size guidelines. So, while I shopped with just one child in the cart, the other three were playing, coloring, and watching movies in Smaaland. It was the perfect setup for them and for me, and not a bad way for them to run off the last of their energy before the ride home.

I really liked when we played with the Thomas trains and I liked looking around and watching the big model go around in a circle at Choo Choo Bob’s. I really liked it when we won our prize at the Railroad Show and it was “Oh No!” I think that’s what’s going to happen to my trains when I start collecting them.

I really liked the Hutchinson Model Railroad Show. I liked it when it went through the tunnel. I liked the streetcar when it went both ways and we parked by another streetcar.

I really liked watching the trains.  It was fun.
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• Riding the Rails
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