The Pumpkin Express

Today, we daytripped to the Pacific Southwest Railroad Museum out in Campo, a small community in the backcountry of San Diego. We took scenic route 94 and stopped at the Barret Junction Cafe for their breakfast buffet. (We'd been there a few years ago when we received a motorcycle trip to their family style fish fry, which is better than the breakfast). It's rustic and has some definite cowboy vibes; it's also home to a world-record, 55 pound "monster" fish caught at a local lake.

Another half hour of winding roads and beautiful scenery brought us to Campo and the hard-to-find railroad museum. They have a working rail line with antique cars (we rode on a New York commuter car from the 1920's). The train ride was about an hour and a half. Sophia really enjoyed standing at the front of the car looking out the windows. We could see little lizards running underneath the track. We went over a stinkbug that was between the railroad ties (as you can tell, the train was going about 5 miles an hour here). The stinkbug is the first thing Sophia talks about when she tells people about the train ride.

The train went past the depot and let us off at the actual museum building. The museum was decorated for Halloween and had a small pumpkin patch inside. Sophia was more excited about the trains than the pumpkins. We toured a few historical train cars. Sophia loved the model railroad and pushed the buttons to make the trains move around the track. Overall, it was a beautiful fall day out in the country!