Easter Egg Train

When I made the reservations for the Easter Egg Train at Midland Railway in Baldwin City, I had no idea that the ride would be more like the Polar Express.  Rain and snow were in the forecast, but not until later in the evening.  Wrong!  It started snowing as we were driving and just got heavier and heavier the closer we got to the train.  I tried to soften the blow for Dan and Ben in case the train ride and egg hunt were cancelled, but I should have known that train aficionados are hardy folk and they weren't going to cancel just because of a little snow.

My parents drove up from Wichita to join us and the conductor even held the train for them because they were a few minutes late.  We rode the train for 11 miles (about 40 minutes at a slow pace) to a tiny town called Norwood (really just a small station and a few houses) and then did an egg hunt in the snow.  It proved a little more challenging than your average "hide eggs in plain sight in a field" hunt because the eggs were buried in the snow.  I hunted with Ben and Zach hunted with Dan.  The promise of candy kept Ben interested in hunting but Dan gave up after picking up four eggs.  He wanted to get back on the warm train and I don't blame him.

The Easter Bunny also made an appearance on the train so we did the obligatory photo shoot.  On the way back, Dan and Ben plowed through their candy and were quite hyper by the time we returned to the station.  It was still snowing, but we were starving so we headed to an Indian restaurant in Lawrence.  Thanks for the early birthday dinner, Mom and Dad!  Ben ate his body weight in lentils, chickpeas, and garlic chicken, and Dan really enjoyed his strawberry lassi.

We had a great time, making memories on a snowy train ride, but I'm ready to be done with winter for  a while.  A long while, since I doubt we'll see much snow in southern California!

Zach wanted me to mention that the stuff on his shoulder is snow, not dandruff.