Family Time: A Day Out With Thomas

I honestly don't know what the big deal is with Thomas the Tank Engine. It's on Netflix kids so we'd watch it occasionally (esp. to give Aubrey a break from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Barney). She's never really shown that much enthusiasm towards that show until a couple nights ago when a commercial came on advertising a day with Thomas the Train at Roaring Camp Railroads. Whenever that commercial would come on, she'd yell "Tchwain! Tchwain!" at the top of her lungs. My husband had been wanting to bring her to RCR and when we saw that this event was only going on for the next two weekends, we decided to buy tickets and check it out.

Unlike their usual one hour train ride through the Santa Cruz mountains or the beach, the "Thomas Train" is a 25 minute train ride through parts of the Santa Cruz mountains. Given the short attention span our toddler has, this ended up being a great idea. 25 minutes was exactly enough time for Aubrey to go ooh and aah and stay in ONE position during the entire ride.

Tickets were purchased beforehand and kids two and under are free. You get to choose which train car you'd like to ride on: 3 are open, 3 have canopies, and the last train is covered. Aside from the actual train ride, there were plenty of other activities spread out over the camp: face painting, building with Mega-blocks, playing with train tables, temporary tattoo booths, music and instrument playing, bubble station, and plenty more.

It'll be going on for one more weekend and if you're free and don't mind the hour and a half drive from the city, definitely check it out!

quick tips:
1. Parking is $8 cash.
2. They have concession stands there (bbq, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.) and it didn't seem crowded at all. However, if you'd like to save on some money, there are a lot of fast food restaurants nearby that you can go to and eat beforehand (or even bring your food in).
3. There are picnic tables for rent but a lot of people brought picnic blankets ( there's a lot of open space). I wish I'd known this before going!
4. Wear covered shoes! I wore sandals, not realizing that parts of the camp are sand and rocks.
5. Mamas, bring an extra shirt for whatever reason! Ok, this tip applies to anywhere you go with a kid but I forgot to bring my extra shirt and Aubrey, a little bit too excited once we entered the park, ran down the path too quickly and fell. Her battle wounds are now forever imprinted on my white blouse.