Sunday/Monday Brunch

The weekend is over, well almost over.  There are two more loads of laundry to do before it’s officially over.  Today was basically driving home, which took about six and a half hours.  We caught up with Scotty and Emily in Lakeview, while picking up a few groceries for dinner.  That was a special treat.

Yesterday was full of doing all the tourist things there are to do in Sumpter.  Ok, there are really only two things, but we did them both.

We started out by taking a ride on the Historic Sumpter Valley Railroad. 

This railroad dates back to 1890 and was built to haul timber and gold from the mining town of Sumpter.

Scott was so cute, I have to show you part of this picture blown up.

He wore his Burlington Northern Railroad hat that he packed especially for this part of the trip.  He was just as excited as the little kids were.

We boarded the train in Sumpter and it was all downhill from there, literally.  The trip to McEwen is downhill from Sumpter. 

I think because the weather was yucky there were not that many people on the train.  We were lucky that we were able to sit inside one of the enclosed cars.

Once we reached McEwen, the engine unhooks from the front of the train, switches tracks, goes around behind the train and stocks up for the return trip.

First, the engineer fills the boiler with water from the long metal tube.  Then he loads the engine with wood for fuel, to heat up the water, to make the steam, to make the engine go.

That lasted about 3/4 of the way back and then we ran out steam.  It took about 15 minutes to build up more steam.  We were about a half hour late getting back to the station.

While we were waiting on the steam, the Conductor came around and punched all our tickets.

The train ride was fun.  It would also be nice to do it in the good weather and sit out in one of the open cars.  There were a few brave souls who took that ride, but they were mostly children.

After the train ride, we headed over to the dredge and took a tour of that part of the Sumpter history.

Because we were late getting back on the train, we had to head over to the dredge fast in order to catch the last tour of the day.  The history of this type of gold mining is fascinating.  I can’t believe how people come up with huge pieces of machinery.

We had a great weekend.  We bought a few treasures at the swap meet.  We ate Philly Cheesesteaks and elephant ears.  We toured some history. We got away for the weekend.  It was so nice to have four days away, not having to think about anything else.

This week, baseball starts.  I can’t wait to share that all with you.