The Warren County Public Libarary offers a special (and free) Christmas activity, Polar Express, at the Historic Railroad and Train Museum in Bowling Green. These tickets are reserved within hours when they become available to the public, so we were super excited to get ours. Plus, anytime we can carve family time into a weeknight once basketball season has started, is so excting. Cookies and hot chocolate were available to snack on while we waited for our train conductor to make the "All Aboard" announcement. We oohed and ahhed over the historic decor in the lobby of the train station. I love imagining what life would have been like when trains were really the mode of transportation.
Cousin Levi happened to be on the train right before us, so we got to visit with him when he came out. He loves trains, so he was super excited.
Our conductor came around and punched our tickets before boarding time. When we walked out of the station to board the train, there was even a snow machine giving us that authentic Polar Express feel. I found myself as giddy as Hadley was.
This very historic train smelled, well, historic. We also commented how people in the early 1900's must have been much smaller than we are today. The hallways in the train were super skinny. Justin and I carrying two little ones wasn't the easiest feat. We got to look in the bedrooms and bathrooms that were considered first class 100 years ago. Not quite so swanky in today's terms. A very lively professor from Western Kentucky University (who Justin swore reeked of alcohol) read The Polar Express while we listened intently.
I wrestled Canaan during the reading and watched Hadley hang on the reader's every word; she was enthralled.
The professor even played with her a little bit, at this point, and she got so tickled. It was quite the magical experience.
As we exited the train, who was in the first-class cart, but Ole' Saint Nick himself. What a fun surprise that was! He handed out bells to the kids and, much to my surprise (if you're familiar with the Polar Express story), Justin and I did indeed hear the sound of the bell all the way home. Ha! We had such a fun time at the Polar Express and were definitely filled with the magic of the season.
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