Snoqualmie

Since Seamus has been so enamoured with trains, we decided to take him (and the whole family, of course) to Snoqualmie to see the Northwest Railway Museum and ride on the train there. There were beautiful train cars on our short little train, especially the one in which we rode, as you see above.



But Seamus really had a good time wearing his train engineer's hat and looking out the window as we rolled along.

He really seems to like to watch the world sliding past.

His sister, Charlotte, also liked the moving scenery.

Although, sometimes she just needed to check out the finger flavor of the day.

The details in the train were interesting. These were very well maintained train cars.

Our first stop was at the Railway Museum where we found a large covered space filled with train engines and cars in various stages of restoration and preservation.

Below is a look inside a train car that was specially built to be a church. The other end of the car had living quarters for the preacher and his wife and a small office. The rest of the space is given over preaching space. The curators here have furnished it sans pews, but it is a beautiful place. We were told that recently it was used for a wedding reception. Nice idea.

Other cars were in less pristine but still interesting to see.

I also found some of the details on the engines to be nice.

After lunch, E and I rode down to Snoqualmie Falls to have a quick look about. While the falls was not in it spring rage spraying water at a breakneck rate, it was still an impressive sight. In this view below, it could be what you'd see at nearly anytime in the last century with the old brick buildings in the middle distance and the nondescript houses in the far distance. Wit a bit of desaturation, I gave it the look of an old postcard to enhance his impression.

One the other hand, bringing out the colors, brings a new look to the scene.

It is an interesting place to visit and expect we'll go back for more exploration. It is only about an hour away and it is possible to get there driving through very nice countryside so the expressways can be avoided. All-in-all a nice day was had by all.