BayDad

Here’s a great summary list of kid-friendly train rides in the Bay Area and beyond:

Roaring Camp (In Felton): http://www.roaringcamp.com/
Tilden Park (Berkeley) http://www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden/
San Mateo Central Park: http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/index.asp?NID=718
Billy Jones RR in Los Gatos: http://www.bjwrr.org/
Niles Canyon Railway in Fremont: http://www.ncry.org/
Little Puffer in SF Zoo: http://www.sfzoo.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=14106&orgkey=1900#littlepuffer
Train Town in Sonoma http://www.traintown.com/
Sacramento Rail Museum: http://www.csrmf.org/default.asp
Gilroy Gardens: http://gilroygardens.com

And of course, CalTrain, BART, and the VTA Light Rail.

So, this was going to be a “help!” post, but that’s because I titled it about 3 months ago.   So, I’m going to turn it into a story…

About 3 months ago, Mr. Busy was 15 months old, and we were really trying hard to get him to enjoy books & reading.  It was sort of a struggle, where we would straddle that fine line between forcing him to sit in our laps and listen, and tricking him into sitting still for a few minutes to listen…

It was a real dilemma — were we going to have the boy who wouldn’t read?  Were were going to go straight to TV?

Well, I’ll say that the answer is ‘no’ and it’s all thanks to Thomas The Tank Engine.  Yes, those silly words, and those silly characters.  At that age, Mr. Busy had already begun his fascination with all things transportation, and the only thing left to close the gap in his reading was for him to find a TTTE book on the shelf.

Overnight, he went from “I don’t want to have anything to do with your silly books” to “Please! Train! Up! Up! Train! Woo Hoo!”  which is his way of saying “Dearest Father, Would you mind lifting me into your lap, opening this book, and reading to me?”

Its great.  Now he loves books of most kinds.  We have a great large format word book with pictures of all kinds of stuff.  He loves sitting there identifying things, and having me point at things and name them.  His favorites?  Orange. Horsey. Banana. Truck! Train! Copter! Airplane! (Fire) Engine!

One of my favorite things to do is go on local trips with my kids where the mode of the journey is as much fun as the destination. Some of my favorites have been:

Ride bikes from Palo Alto, over the pedestrian bridge near Oregon Ave. crossing 101 (stopping to wave at the cars!), and have lunch or ice cream at the Lakeside Café at Shoreline. Once, the little legs still had lots of energy after lunch, so we kept riding to Shoreline Cinemas to see a movie.

Take Caltrain up to San Mateo, have lunch there, then visit Talbott’s Toyland and see the model train displays.

<p> Take Light Rail to San Jose to the Tech Museum of Innovation.

What cool places do you like to go to that let you avoid using the car?