My dh who does not like to fly thought it might be quite an adventure for the kids to travel to our relatives up north by train this summer. It sounded like a good idea to me, so I booked the tickets for what ought to have been a rather long thirteen hour trip up the east coast. Upon arriving at the train station we were advised that our train was a "little behind schedule", so we hung around the train station, playing every sort of time-killing game I could think of. Finally, we boarded the train--a mere three hours later than scheduled.

All through the LONG night, the train kept getting more and more behind schedule. The kids slept fitfully, the adults hardly at all, as every time I would nod off, the train would stop moving, and I'd wake up. At long last, the dawn broke, and the kids and I grabbed some hot cocoa and coffee and played what seemed to be endless rounds of card games--and stared out the window a lot. We saw a lot of historic houses, quite a few ambling rivers, and even a beaver swimming busily in a creek.

Finally, we arrived in Phildelphia and switched to a commuter train to the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country--arriving at our destination exactly 24 hours after our departure. Next year the kids and I will fly and send Dad on the train--at least that's the solution my 1G9 came up with. Sounds good to me , too.