Tag: Kids

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Living

Rail fun: Through the countryside and under the mountain on the passenger train

From Charlottesville to Staunton, Amtrak’s Cardinal provides a beautiful one-hour ride through the countryside. Photo: Ben Schumin

Three days a week, an Amtrak train called the Cardinal rolls through Charlottesville on its way from New York to Chicago. Unless you’re planning a long trip to a city along the route (Indianapolis, anyone? Cincinnati?), you may not look twice at the train. But it’s more than a means of transport. For a family, the train can be an outing in itself.

I have a longstanding romance with trains, from the battered freight cars I saw snaking along the Pittsburgh rivers of my childhood, to the coaches I rode through Switzerland and Greece as a college student, to the BART light-rail cars that carried me to work in San Francisco. I love them all, and I consider a train journey to be a special window in time, when one’s only job is to gaze at the fascinating world crawling past.

Wanting to give my two girls a taste of that magic, I had eyed the Cardinal for a while. They’re still rather young, so I didn’t feel they were ready for a more ambitious trip, for instance, to Washington, D.C., (which would entail staying overnight, in any case). But I noticed that we could ride from Charlottesville to Staunton in the mid-afternoon, giving us about one hour on the train. All we’d need would be a driver willing to pick us up on the other side of the mountain.

I told my kids I had a surprise for them and didn’t reveal a thing until we pulled into the parking lot at the Amtrak station on West Main Street. It was a Friday afternoon. When they realized what was happening, they bounced around joyfully, just as I’d hoped they would. We waited on the platform in a state of high anticipation, gazing east down the tracks, and when the Amtrak engine finally slipped into view, the girls’ eyes grew wide. The three of us squeezed into two seats, and soon the train lurched into motion and the city started rolling past us.

One of my favorite things about train travel is that it can reveal a new side of places you thought you knew well. We drive between Charlottesville and Crozet all the time, but to see that part of Albemarle from the tracks offered a totally different perspective. It was exciting to shoot through downtown Crozet at high speed. I felt as if we were strangers in these parts again, wending our way past the unknown fields of Greenwood and beginning the long climb up the Blue Ridge. And once the train dove into the tunnel that carries it under Rockfish Gap, we entered a new realm. I felt a bit disoriented, and the girls fell silent, as we descended toward Waynesboro.

Though I’d brought along things to do—books, sketchbooks, snacks—we really didn’t need them. The girls were enchanted to be able to ride without seat belts, to feel the motion of the cars, to hear about how far these tracks could take us if we were to keep on riding. My older daughter pulled out a little notebook and wrote me a note: “Dear Mom, Thank you for this.”

When we pulled into the Staunton station, we were by no means tired of the train. But we had a new adventure before us—to explore Staunton, sans car. A block from the train station, we caught the trolley and rode it to Gypsy Hill Park, Staunton’s large (big enough to have its own golf course) and pleasantly old-fashioned greenspace.

Named for the nomadic people who frequented it in the 1800s, Gypsy Hill is highly programmed. It reminded me a little of New York City’s Central Park, with amusements from horseshoes to skate ramps and ball fields around every turn. After sprawling under a beautiful tree to nosh some snacks, the girls and I were drawn first to the large pond, where you can buy pellets to toss to the ducks and swans. Later we drifted toward the big playgrounds at the park’s other end, passing along the way another train, the Gypsy Express—this one a child-size railroad that tootles around the park on weekends.

After a while, my husband heroically appeared to drive us back to Charlottesville in an ordinary car. It was the end of a legendary day, one we’ll talk about for a long time to come.

If you go

Amtrak’s Cardinal route runs between New York and Chicago and passes through Charlottesville, heading west, on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1:52pm. Tickets to Staunton cost $12 for adults, and for each adult, one child gets a half-price fare (Amtrak.com). Gypsy Hill Park is located at the intersection of Churchville and Thornrose avenues.

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Living

Star-struck: For a planetarium visit and so much more, Harrisonburg is out of this world

Stars shine during the day at JMU’s planetarium. Photo: JMU Marketing & Communications

Some day trips have a singular purpose (i.e., “We’re going to the zoo!”), while others consist of a medley of experiences in the same general location. My family’s recent Saturday in Harrisonburg was one of the gumbo type. My husband and I and our girls, ages 5 and 8, saw a planetarium show, then visited a couple other universes while we were in town.

We had previously been to The John C. Wells Planetarium at James Madison University on organized field trips, but after I found out that families can visit for free most Saturdays, we packed up and headed west. On its dome-shaped screen, the university shows astronomically themed films—such as, A Teenager’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Did an Asteroid Really Kill the Dinosaurs?—followed by student-led star talks.

Inside a nondescript concrete classroom building, we entered the planetarium and settled into our stadium-style seats. The lights went down and a 20-minute film began—a cartoon version of the ancient Greek story of Perseus and Andromeda, the couple immortalized as constellations. My children were well entertained, craning their necks to follow the story unfolding overhead.

After the film ended, a cool-looking device—like a short, fat robot bristling with lenses and lights—emerged from the middle of the floor. Turns out it’s a projector that creates an image on the dome of what we’d see in the night sky from this very spot. The projector operators can manipulate the starry vision—spin it around, whoosh it forward or backward in time, or overlay the outlines of constellations, for example.

The two students leading the post-film talk were full of interesting facts. Did you know the Big Dipper isn’t really a constellation? It’s an asterism—a smaller collection of stars. It was fun to observe college students—closer to my kids’ age than my own—commanding the room and showing off their knowledge (and also their bad jokes, such as, calling Orion’s belt a “waist of space.”)

After the movie, star show, and talk—all of which filled an hour—we needed a bite, and a short drive delivered us to Taj of India, in downtown Harrisonburg. To a soundtrack of Indian pop music, we gorged on the lunch buffet, a feast replete with hot fresh naan, savory kormas and dahls, fiery tandoori dishes, and sweet rice pudding. The tab came to $35, a great deal for four people.

Did I mention this was a day of odd juxtapositions? Uh-huh. Next stop was a dairy barn.

At Mt. Crawford Creamery, 15 minutes south of Harrisonburg, we tromped through the muddy barnyard, then slipped through a small door into the milking parlor. Ten cows were slotted into two narrow lanes, like cars lined up in a parking lot. Standing on a lowered floor, which put them at roughly eye level with the cows’ udders, were farmer Kenneth Will and two helpers.

They welcomed us in but didn’t miss a beat in their work: cleaning the udders carefully before hooking up the milking machines, keeping an eye on the milk as it rushed through tubing and sprayed into large glass tanks in the center of the room, and then driving one group of cows out and the next group in.

The farm milks 60 to 80 cows in this parlor, twice a day, and it was fascinating to witness. How often do you get to take a really close look at a cow’s muddy hooves, jutting hipbones, and big wet muzzle? The animals gazed back at us with large, soft eyes, while a super-mellow farm dog licked up stray drops of milk from the concrete floor. I was glad for my girls to absorb this experience—the earthy smells of the room and the truth they pointed to, that milk and all the rest of our food comes from real plants and animals.

After we left, we joked about what else we could add to the day to round out the agenda. Go to the circus? Tour the White House? Maybe another time. We’d traveled far enough for one day, right there in Harrisonburg.

If you go

The John C. Wells Planetarium at JMU offers free public film showings on Saturdays at 11am, 1pm, 2:15pm, and 3:30pm. It’s located in Miller Hall on East Grace Street, in Harrisonburg. See jmu.edu/planetarium for details.

Taj of India, at 34 S. Main St., serves a lunch buffet  from 11am-2:30pm daily. Call (540) 615-5888.

Mt. Crawford Creamery, at 795 Old Bridgewater Rd. in Mount Crawford,
is open to visitors M-F 10am-6pm and Saturday 9am-5pm. You can observe cows being fed around 3pm and milked a half hour later. There’s also a shop on-site where you can buy the dairy’s milk products, plus
an ice cream parlor. See mtcrawford creamery.com

Categories
Living

Mummy outing: A day with kids at the VMFA (and other places)

Including kids in the process of navigating museums leads to exciting discoveries like 4,050-year-old Tjeby, Count and Sealbearer of the King of Lower Egypt, at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Photo courtesy of VMFA

It’s worth it to drive to Richmond on a rainy day. It might actually be the best time to make the trip—instead of moping around home or doing errands, you defy the weather and make a bold strike for the capital city. After all, there’s lots to do there. Like, mummy-viewing—which was enough to get me and my kids, ages 5 and 8, on the road to Richmond one recent drizzly day.

Yes, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has a mummy on display. Does a mummy qualify as fine art? No matter. We had other business to attend to before we approached the ancient one.

First on the agenda was the factory store of Red Rocker Candy in the town of Troy—a handy stop that breaks up the Richmond drive. Red Rocker is not only a woman-owned local business, it’s a tourist attraction with a production facility open to visitors, and a shop offering Red Rocker treats you can’t get anywhere else.

Standing at a large window in the shop, we watched as employees weighed out portions of Red Rocker’s signature pretzel mix, scooping from a big mound on a stainless-steel table, then sealing and labeling the containers. In a different area, a worker was spreading chocolate over a baking sheet and sprinkling copious amounts of nonpareils over it—then another sheet, then another. Several employees welcomed us warmly with samples and friendly chatting, and then we nibbled even more delights from jars in the shop.

On that big Mother Report Card in the sky, I wasn’t exactly earning an A in the feed-them-healthy-food column, but they sure were happy.

Continuing on, we arrived in Richmond hungry for lunch, sugary calories notwithstanding, so I steered toward Carytown. Our recent obsession with Greek mythology prompted me to seek out Greek food, which might not make a lot of rational sense, but jived perfectly with the logic of children. They were delighted to sit down to lunch at Greek On Cary, and though the meal was served by an ordinary mortal rather than an Olympian god, it proved plenty exciting—a sizable octopus tentacle served over grilled veggies (delicious), fried calamari mixed with piquant peppers, and a hunk of kefalograviera cheese, which our waitress set aflame before our astonished eyes. And: good old bread.

We ran through the rain back to our car and made the short drive to the VMFA. I love this museum for so many reasons, starting with its convenience and accessibility for families—admission is free, the coat check is free, and though the garage isn’t free, you can usually find street parking (free).

And the size is just right—small enough to be navigable, big enough to harbor many surprises. We headed first for the Egyptian artifacts, housed mainly in one room. The mummy waits in a darkened corner as visitors make their way past canopic jars, casts of relief carvings from ancient temples, and elaborate sarcophagi.

As you near the mummy, lights automatically illuminate its coffin. Tjeby, Count and Sealbearer of the King of Lower Egypt, died around 4,050 years ago. He wasn’t given quite the King Tut treatment—rather, he lies on his side in a narrow wooden box decorated with a single line of hieroglyphs and a pair of eyes meant to allow Tjeby to see out into the world. A tilted mirror affords a view down onto his linen-wrapped body. The girls were suitably impressed.

In nearby rooms, we were excited to see some of the Greek myths and epics we’ve been learning about represented on urns and other antiquities. There was Athena, springing from the skull of Zeus! There was the Trojan War!

Both girls were interested in a large mosaic depicting the four seasons, and crowns made of gold myrtle leaves, but my younger daughter started to drag a little as her sister and I checked out a statue of the evil Roman emperor Caligula. “Art museums are boring,” she said—a statement which, though it defied the enjoyment she’d shown just minutes earlier, did speak a certain truth. Art museums are not really made for kids; a lot of the artworks are just plain too high off the ground, for one thing, and the sheer volume of the collection means that a family shouldn’t even try to see it all in one visit.

So how to keep things rolling? I settled on this approach: 1. Give everybody a turn to decide what to look at next (including the grownup; I chose African masks). 2. Intersperse gallery time with stops in the gift shop and café. 3. Freely give piggyback rides.

In short, museum-with-kids is not the same experience as museum-with-adults. Hoofing my 5-year-old through a hall of tapestries, I felt a long way from those past days when I’d wander for hours, uninterrupted, through marble galleries, having one aesthetic revelation after another. But this was another kind of wonderful.

If you go

The Red Rocker Candy factory store is located at 170 Industrial Way in Troy. It’s open Tuesday-Sunday.

Greek On Cary is at 3107 W. Cary St. in Richmond and serves lunch and dinner daily. See .

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard, is open every day of the year and offers free general admission. The museum also offers Family Days and other kid-friendly activities.

For more on Richmond museums to visit with kids, see this previous Day Trip column.