Mr. Conductor

My young grandson is now home again and the two of us attended a wedding reception this past Saturday evening. Aden was asked about 100 times, "How old are you?" and with every repeat of the question I could tell his attitude was changing. It wasn't long before he asked if we could go home and play with the trains. We walked around for a bit and the same question kept coming up over and over. Finally, I told him that the next time someone asked him how old he was to just say twenty-one and see what they said. As we walked outside a young lady asked me how old he was and I told her that she would have to ask him. She asked him the dreaded question and he smiled and said, "Twenty-one". I told her he was short for his age.

On Sunday we took a trip on the French Lick Scenic Railway. Aden and I visited the store at the Depot before we boarded the train and purchased a couple of railroader's hats. He said he was Mr. Conductor and I was Sir Topham Hatt. It was wonderful to be riding the rails with him again.

The trip is a very slow descent up the hill out of French Lick to Cuzco and then back down. Along the way you pass through a tunnel during which time, a period of 2-3 minutes, the car becomes totally devoid of any light. Before we went through the tunnel, I had Aden come over and sit on my lap. The Conductor had made an announcement prior to entering the tunnel that it would be too dark and dangerous for anyone to be moving about, so I decided to hold onto him to keep him from getting hurt. It was so dark; I couldn't see him on my lap.

The train passes what you are told to be Larry Bird's old home place (it is for sale) and a few other scenic "highlights" along side the track. The volunteers who run the railway are very courteous and provide nice little tidbits of local information along the trip. It is not the most scenic of railway trips, but it was a nice outing for an old man and his grandson.

While were in the area, I took him to see the hotel at West Baden. When we walked in, he just stopped and looked up and smiled. I told him to go out into the middle of the big circle and I'd take his picture, so he ran across the carpet to the center of the dome floor and turned around and smiled again. After I took his picture, I walked out there with him and we just sat down and looked up at the dome. He said, "Poppy, this is big." Amazingly, as we walked from the parking lot to the hotel entrance, he told me that he was tired and wanted me to carry him (I didn't), but once inside the dome, all he wanted to do was run around the place.

We prepared for our trip by playing with our trains in my living room the night before. I have the track set up again for whenever he can come and play. I'm currently designing a Lego bridge and purchasing enough extra tracks to wind around the bedroom, through the laundry room and back to the living room. You really have to watch your step as you walk through my apartment. You might say that we're becoming railroad barons.

We've begun planning our next trip, which will take place over my 4-day Columbus Day weekend. We're heading out to the Cincy Zoo (where we are guaranteed to have a spooktacular time), the Newport Aquarium and then we're going to Ride the Ducks (http://newportducks.com/). On Sunday, prior to coming home, we are taking the Pumpkin Patch Express on the Lebanon Mason & Monroe Railroad out to Shappacher Farm to pet the animals and try to find our way through a corn maze. With any luck we won't get hopelessly lost in the maze and will return back to Bloomfield before the weekend is over.

I've got our tickets, now all I have to do is ask his Mom if he can go with me.