Riding the rails

Jason has always talked about riding the train that runs between Coopersville and Marne. It's a restored, vintage train that they run on short trips for special seasons throughout the year. In the fall, they run the Pumpkin Train. Since we didn't have any other plans for today, we headed to Coopersville to catch the 11:00 train.


Getting ready to board the train


The conductor, in authentic garb, gave us some history on the train. The cars are even vintage, dating back to 1919. Everything is mostly original. They had it all decorated for fall.



Shortly after leaving the station, a few entertainers joined all of us on board to sing songs, tell jokes, and otherwise entertain the kids. Hannah was totally captivated by them. Thank goodness they performed for most of the trip b/c Hannah got quite antsy when they took a break.


After deboarding, Hannah got to select her very own pumpkin. Needless to say, Daddy had to offer some assistance carrying it to the car.

After all of that excitement, we headed across town to grab some lunch (which also allowed Hannah to get in a quick nap!), and then we made stop at Robinettes, one of our favorite apple orchards. Normally, this place is crazy busy on weekends, with lines out the doors. I don't know if it was b/c of the weather, the economy, or being early in the season, but it was the slowest we've ever seen it on a weekend. We walked right up to buy donuts, cider, and apples, and there were no waits to go on the hayrides. Sort of strange, but very nice.


Hannah was not too sure about petting the horses. She played it safe by waving to them instead.

Hannah and the Giant Pumpkin!