Riding the Amtrak (homeschool field trip)

This past Friday we participated in a fun field trip with our homeschool group.  We rode the Amtrak train to McComb.  It was the first train ride for the boys and they were excited.

We had plans to meet at the train station at noon.  We were going to ride to McComb, eat a late lunch, tour the train museum, have some play time, and then return.  Here is how our day went.

arriving at the train station

always exploring

A photo of some of our group.  I think we ended up with 49 total.  

After checking in we were told that the train would be over an hour late arriving.  We knew the boys would be hungry so we ended up leaving and grabbing something to eat locally.  That turned out to be a great thing.  Since we were already downtown we tried a new cafe we have been wanting to visit called Betty's Eat Shop.   I loved it!  If you live local you need to try it.  It's good.  They have daily lunch specials and since we were short on time we ordered the Friday special.  It was fried catfish served over rice grits and slaw.  It was very delicious!  The sweet tea was great too.  I hope to make it back there again before our stateside time is over.

me and Ben enjoying lunch at Betty's Eat Shop in downtown Brookhaven

After lunch we drove back over to the train station and rejoined our group to wait for the train.

"When is the train coming?" "When is the train coming?" "When is the train coming?"...  You can imagine how many times we were asked that question! 

Hooray it arrived!  We were all anxious to get on board.

me and Cruz on the train

We sat in our seats for a moment and then moved to the observation car.  The boys loved looking out the windows.

David and Cruz

It was just a short ride to McComb but plenty for the kids.  Here they are at the McComb train station after we arrived.

All of the kids spent a little time exploring the train cars that are parked there. 

big train, little boy

We then walked over and toured the museum.  It is not a big museum but offers a lot of history and information about the railroad system.

silly Cruz

This was their favorite thing of all but it drove all of the adults CRAZY.

After the museum we walked to a nearby McDonald's for ice cream and coffee.  We then spent the rest of our time letting the kids play on this train themed playground set that is near the train station.  It was very cute and all the kids enjoyed it.

We caught the train for our return ride back to Brookhaven.  The boys were just as tickled on the return trip as they were going.  It was such a fun outing and provided a wonderful memory for them to take back to Guatemala.