On September19, I celebrated 34 years of being alive! Everyone always asks, "What do you want for your birthday? Do you have a list?" The older I get, there are fewer "things" on the list. In the last several years, it's actually been a rather difficult thing to come up with a list--for birthday or Christmas--because the biggest thing that I have wanted has been time spent with my family. Well, this year, that is exactly what my family gave me!
We had been in West Virginia spending a few days with my parents and sister because Ben had work that took him to Charleston. So on my birthday, Ben, the kids, and I all woke up early, had a quick breakfast, and left my parents' house and headed toward Cass, WV. If you're not from West Virginia, you may not know that Cass Scenic Railroad even exists. The town of Cass was built to be a logging town, and the railroad was constructed to transport logs down the mountain to the paper mill in Cass. Today, you can go to Cass to ride one of the original Shay steam locomotives up the mountain.
We told the kids the night before that we were all getting up early so that we could go ride a train. Both of them were excited, but I think Hayden was probably the most excited of everyone in our family! That boy sure does love trains! When we arrived at
Cass, the kids and I waited by the train depot while Ben purchased our tickets and boxed lunches. We chose the 4-1/2 hour trip up to Bald Knob, the third highest point in West Virginia. (Spruce Knob is the highest.) The train whistle is quite loud, as you may imagine, and Abby would cover her ears and Hayden would cling on to me. It was actually quite cute! They heard the first blast of the whistle as the train pulled into the depot, and I thought Hayden was going to climb up my leg! After we boarded the train and the train pulled out of the station, we spent a lot of time standing up in the train car, looking at the passing scenery and waving to the few people that we saw along the way.We stopped at Whitaker Station for a quick lunch and to let the kids stretch their legs a little bit. They were having so much fun on the train ride that it was hard to get them to eat much of their lunches. After getting back on the train and continuing heading up to Bald Knob, Hayden decided that it was nap time and fell asleep in my arms. He was so tired that the train whistle didn't even make him flinch in his sleep! Abby really enjoyed being held by Ben so that she could see the scenery. She's taken an interest in birds recently and tried to spot some birds along the way. She really enjoyed seeing all of the different fall colors that were starting to appear.
Abby and Hayden when the train whistle blew.
Once we arrived at Bald Knob, we went to the lookout point and were all amazed by the breath-taking view! To stand there and take in the majestic view of the mountains and valley below, I couldn't help but be amazed by the beauty of God's craftmanship. This wasn't my first trip to Bald Knob on the train, but I appreciated the beauty of the surroundings so much more this time. As a child, it was easy to get caught up in the fun of the train ride; now that I'm grown, it was nice to spend the time away from cell phones, computers, televisions and other distractions and just enjoy uninterrupted family time with my husband and our two kids. Of course, I loved the train ride; I've always enjoyed going to Cass! But it was even more special this time because it was their first time to go, and we got to experience the beauty of God's creation together.
One of many views from Bald Knob.As far as I'm concerned, my 34th birthday has been the best one to date! I couldn't have asked for a better gift than time spent with my family.
