Having A Birthday Dinner Picnic By The Trains

Our son wanted to spend his birthday dinner at our favorite picnic place, by the Ashland Visitors Center watching the trains. We got lucky today, no garbage train! This time we were graced by Amtrak and one of my favorite trains, the AutoTrain!

And what’s a birthday train watch without a souvenir? We had two train smashed pennies in the car and decided to have them flattened again. The problem was, we couldn’t find one of them after Engine 73 went by. Wonder how much money gets lost on train tracks across the U.S.?

Amtrak 73 Southbound

We laid our final penny on the track again and waited for the next train. This time it was another Amtrak. And once again we lost our penny. We stared at it, watched it bounce and fly onto the track. But between the three of us, we could not find it! You’d think a shiny flat penny would be easy to see! Nope. One of the other visitors to the track this afternoon also helped us look for our lost penny. He couldn’t find it either. The AutoTrain really did a number on it. Flattened it so well it must have evaporated! Continue reading →