The twain, the twain!

Vivian had an amazing day in Boone Iowa, a train-crazy little town about 45 minutes from Des Moines, just down the road from Ames and Iowa State.

She is herself train crazy, a genetic thing inherited from her dad, and Boone is heaven. There are model train shops. There are antique and junk shops full of train stuff. But best of all, there are trains — huge Union Pacific freight trains that pull through every 15 minutes or so. She gets so excited when she hears them blowing their whistles, she just wiggles. “A twain, a twain!” (She’s developed a habit of articles, recently) “Choo - choo!”

Coming out of one shop she heard one, and though we had intended to go the other way, she took off down the sidewalk toward them at top speed, swinging her arms like a speed walker, or a duck. We got right up to it, and sat in a small park near the tracks and watched it go by.

Then, oh heaven, we got to actually ride a train, at the Boone & Scenic Valley Rail Road.

I’m not sure she ever quite believed she was on a train — I kept telling her and her eyes would get amazingly wide and she’d shake her head like: “no way!” — but she enjoyed the scenery and got a little nap, to facilitate more actual train-viewing later.