Saturday, September 20, 2014

pumpkins and trolleys...


Not too far from the farm is a wonderful trolley museum. I used to take the girls there a fair amount when they were small. It was great fun, you could ride all the trolley that you wanted, and there were many different ones to choose from. As the girls got older, we didn't go so much, and to be honest, I sort of "forgot" about the museum as time has gone on. 
Lately though, I have heard threw my dog students, that the trolley museum is "dog friendly" and even though Dan is "allowed" any where as a service dog in training, it's nice to go to these "dog friendly" places as well. I was also told that for a few weekends in October, the trolley museum was hosting a pumpkin-fest... and so I thought, why not get the "grands" and take Danny and head on over to see what this event is all about. Sadly, we couldn't come up with a weekend that both grands could come... (Abbie has a busy schedule these days)... so it ended up just being Reagan, Kas, Nate.. Ed and myself.. and of course, Danny boy...
It was a nice fall day.. we bought our tickets... (grabbed some lunch from a wonderful food vendor that was there).. picked out a trolley and hopped aboard. The ticket man came around and "punched" the tickets and we were off....
Riding the trolley is so much fun, it's much different from a train and makes the most wonder sound and slight rocking movement. I had forgotten how much fun this is!!! (and need to make a point of going there with every service puppy I have...)
Danny was such a good boy. He climbed right on, and settled in and seem to truly enjoy the ride. The other folks on the trolley hardly knew he was there... but then again, there were many excited children, riding the trolley and heading out to the pumpkin patch.. where they were going to find the perfect pumpkin. 
There were a number of folks there, but it wasn't too crowded. (good for us...) but I do hope for the trolley folks this event "gets out there". Because its such a nice thing, and I think families need to do more of "things like this"....They had some games the children could do.. face painting and the like...
And the most amazing patch of pumpkins!!! Really  nice ones... of all shapes and sizes. Each person who has a ticket could pick one pumpkin... so Reagan had lots of choices to make... (which he took very seriously)...
"what do think of all of this Mr. Danny Boy??"
Looks like we have found the one that is "just right".... Reagan had a very good time, racing about... checking out all the pumpkins.. and getting that perfect one....
We all decided that we would take a different trolley for the ride back. Our first one had been a closed car, so we opted for an "open car" for the return ride. We sat at the platform and watch a few trolleys go by until "just the right" one showed up. Danny seemed to like the trolleys.....
I kind of wondered how the open car would be. It has no sides... you just climb on and slide into the seat. We took the middle (just in case).. but true to form, ol Danny dog found his spot and settled right down....
The trolley line makes a big loop, taking you out threw the woods and by some very pretty spots. At the end of the line, they all gather together and then chug back to the station.. here were the trolleys that were ahead of us....
Back at the station.... Danny had to climb down the steps, but as you can see the open cars are "really open".... 
The little station is really nice. It has all kinds of displays of the trolleys of the old days... and (of course) a gift shop with trains of all kinds. Reagan so enjoyed this train table with all sorts of things to play with... he was happy to show Danny all of the items and the two of them had a great together. (Leaving was another matter).....









So fall is well in hand... and will speed by too quickly I am sure. But in the meantime.... I am going to enjoy each and every moment....