Baker City Weekend

We took a little weekend trip to Baker, Oregon to catch a spooky Halloween train this last October.  It was a bit of a rough start for me, working through some low moments throughout my week.  It was good to get out and going and Damon was ever supportive in helping us make it out the door.  

After checking into our hotel we found this park and enjoyed the last warm evening fall had to offer. 

We set a family goal to have zero screens for our weekend and it was so rewarding.  We played and played in our teeny hotel room and giggled at the silly games the kids made up.

Stella loves back scratches.  Which she calls 'fatch bashes'

Playing with the self timer

Our train ride wasn't til the evening so we visited our friends at their hotel and killed time at a couples of different museums.

Next up, lunch with friends

The restaurant had a lot of fun board games and toys for the littles.

And our last pre-train stop, a bakery treat shop!

Train Ride!

Our friend Melissa read the cutest Halloween-y book to the kiddos.

We had a great time. Although, it wasn't quite the train adventure we were expecting.  We were told there would be treat bags for all, and that the train would be decorated for Halloween.  That there would be ghost stories and a 30 min stop in between our round trip.  We were also told the train would be heated.  Little did we know...

...To their credit, some of the train cars were heated. Some were not. One was completely exposed to the below freezing temperature outside with no roof or high walls. I'm not sure if the train company accidentally oversold the tickets or what, but several families with small children had to sit out on that outdoor cart.  So miserable.   Inside we were crammed in together. Knees interlocking with strangers.  There were  no treat bags, & no Halloween decorations.  (Much to Indie's dismay.  She had packed her camera in anticipation of capturing all the ambiance of 'Train Halloween').  

We were ushered off the train and Stella was handed some expired sun flower seeds from a candy bowl.  ...What? I honestly love that that happened.  It so encapsulated the spirit of the whole mis-matched experience. 

Then we were told to go walk down a path through some trees and find a trunk or treating happening down the way from the station. Which was fun, but freezing.  We waited over an hour for the train to take us back and the panic that shadowed peoples faces as they rushed to sit in any train car that was not the 'outside' one, was too much.  

All in all, we probably wont go back. It was a fun memory though. It was an experience that as we revel in the ridiculousness of it all, we'll look back on it more and more fondly.