The Lure of the Rails

Yesterday I took my son to the Model Railroad Museum at Balboa Park. We live about 12 miles away and have a membership there, so it's free entertainment for the kiddo (and Mommy!) on days when we need a special diversion. I took a bunch of pictures inside the museum, but my camera is fairly useless in low-light settings, despite its flash. Hey, it's not that great in brght-light settings, either (it's a Gateway DC-T20 that came with my computer), but at least it captures semi-decent images that I can send to Grandma and Grandpa. ;-)

The museum was almost empty. Balboa Park offers free admission to a rotating selection of museums every Tuesday, and the free museums are guaranteed to be filled on these days. The Model Railroad Museum, however, was not free yesterday, so it was almost deserted. On Free Tuesdays there, that place is packed. We're all hip to the freebies around here.

Anyway, we poked around, looking at trains and pushing a few buttons here and there to make certain trains move. Fun stuff. The place also has a room with three Thomas the Tank Engine train layouts for kids to play with. Try prying your kid out of there once they've discovered it. It almost can't be done. Seriously, try it. You'll see.

Kids and trains. Gotta love 'em.