Poppa and Jessica arrived late-afternoon on Friday. Sweet Pea and I had dinner with them that evening and then we all called it a night so we could wake up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for our train ride the next day.
I mentioned this train ride a couple of weeks before their visit to Poppa and Jessica, about how we could ride a bona fide steam engine train. Poppa discussed it with Jessica and both agreed that it sounded like a good plan. We all agreed to do it the Saturday after they got in since the train only runs on weekends and we figured that we would do the standard barbecue that we always do when Poppa is in town on the following Saturday.
There's actually a website for the train ride. They also do a Halloween Murder Mystery ride and a North Pole Express ride for October and December in addition to the normal rides that they do. I'm thinking Sweet Pea would love the North Pole Express one!!!
We were originally going to ride Excursion Class (closed windows, with air conditioning) but when I called to make reservations the week before, they were all sold out. It's a good thing too because we later found out on the train ride to Burnet that the a/c was out in one of the Excursion Class cars and a passenger in that car told us how miserable it was in there. We ended up riding Coach (open windows, no air conditioning) and it was a great day for it. Sunny but nice and breezy too. Oh, it also turns out that we ended up not being pulled by their steam engine train because it was being restored. I couldn't tell the difference though!
Here's a picture of us at the train depot right after Poppa got the tickets:
We arrived, Poppa gave us our tickets and we headed off to board the train. Poor Melissa wasn't there yet because I gave her the wrong departure time. Michael had to call her and let her know that the departure time was actually in another 5 minutes rather than another 35 minutes. It's a good thing she doesn't live too far away from there. She made it there right in the nick of time!
Poppa, Jessica, Uncle Marky and Jacob ended up getting to all sit together. Michael was in a seat across the walkway from them and Melissa and I were a couple of rows behind them. Sweet Pea couldn't sit still so she was all over the place sitting with everyone.
Poppa, Jessica, Uncle Marky and Jacob
Michael and Sweet Pea
Melissa, Sweet Pea and I
Uncle Marky goofing around with Jacob
Jacob played musical chairs too!
going 'round the bend
We were to have 2 hours once we arrived in Burnet to wander around all the quaint shops downtown and grab a bite to eat. We got off the train and made our way over to the downtown area. I saw this gigantic bluebonnet as we approached the downtown area and decided it was a perfect photo op for all of us. The bluebonnet replica looked really pretty and it was such a picture perfect day too!
We decided to have lunch at "The Christmas Cafe" mainly because we were hungry and it was right across the street from the gigantic bluebonnet but also because they had a sign out front that said they had cobbler - and I'm all about the cobbler!!! Unfortunately, they happened to be really busy and we ended up spending our entire 2 hours sitting there waiting for our food to show up, then scarfing it down once it finally showed up and having to take our cobbler to go. I must say though, the apple cobbler a la mode that I had was one of the best apple cobblers I have ever tasted. It was sooooo yummy!
Jacob and Sweet Pea both wanted to sit at the little table with Poppa, Jessica and Melissa
Sadly, because our food took so long, we missed part of the staged gunfight in "Old West Town" near the train depot. By the time we got there, it was halfway through. There were a lot of people (practically everyone from the train) and I was too short to see over the crowd, so I didn't really get to see much of anything. It sounded very entertaining though.
he's holding a gun up in one hand and a stick in the other - he said "this is a stick-up!"
the county sheriff comes to the rescue
the outlaws open fire
and the sheriff takes them both down
a picture of all of us and the sheriff (well... almost all - Melissa took the picture. Thanks, Melissa!)
those Brimberry boys! ...they ended up in jail!
On the ride home we switched the seating arrangement up some. Sweet Pea, Poppa and I sat together.
...and all fell asleep together!
Poppa told me I had been snoring after I woke up
Sweet Pea giving her Poppa a kiss
Uncle Marky and Jacob decided to wander around instead of staying seated like we all did (with the exception of Sweet Pea) on the way to Burnet. They hung out in the area in between the two connected cars where they could be standing up and look out at the beautiful hill country scenery.
Here's Uncle Marky and Jacob hanging out back there. Michael had his camera stuck out the window to take the pictures.
Poppa and Jacob (pay no mind the other 2 who decided to be in the picture too)
Sweet Pea and I
The train ride coming back was much faster than the ride heading over there. We had to do a lot of stop and going on the way there but it seemed like a pretty straight shot on the way back. I think it was about an hour-and-a-half ride coming back and a little bit more than that heading up there.
Poppa with Jacob and Sweet Pea
me chasing Jacob down with the stroller
(Sweet Pea wasn't in the stroller - she was walking around with her Poppa)
We hung out in the parking lot for a little bit with Jacob and Sweet Pea running all around (it was empty) while we discussed dinner plans.
Michael chased Sweet Pea around for a bit
she had SO much fun running around
Poppa and Jessica chased Sweet Pea and Jacob around for a bit too
We finally decided on Duke's Barbecue in Georgetown. I had never even heard of this place before but their barbecue was awesome!!! Way better than Rudy's Barbecue, that's for sure! Aunt Jen and the twins met us up there and we had a great meal, complete with cobbler! Yum-yummm!
Poppa and Jessica with Andrew
3 Generations of Brimberry's
Afterwards Michael, Sweet Pea and I rushed on home so I could head back out to work. I ended up leaving unfinished work on Friday because I was looking forward to seeing Poppa and Jessica. The work had to be done since I took all of the next week off while they were in town. (The 2 weeks prior to that Friday were incredibly hectic and involved me working days, evenings and weekends and I said enough was enough when Poppa and Jessica got into town, so I left work at 6pm instead of the standard 8pm that I had been doing.)
All in all, it was a long day but a great day spent with family and friend!!!
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