now that nicholas is old enough to express his desires and joys, and also angers and frustrations, and that he's also ambulatory [in other words he doesn't walk: he runs - everywhere] each trip whether to the grocery store or the park or a museum is an adventure.
which is what we had today. we packed a light lunch and a few wet wipes and drove the 2+ miles to the california state rail road museum located in old sac. there is something about trains and train travel that set the imagination to flight. at least it does for me. nicholas had a blast running from one humongous beast to the next. the museum is very well done and very hands-on so that we can touch each train, and even enter a few of them. a sleeper car from the the 1920s, and dining car from the 1950s were set in motion so that the sounds and sights mimic travel.
there were trains that go back to the history of travel in the u.s. and all so expertly lighted that the locomotives and cars appeared to be alive and still ready for work, rather than entombed in the static space of the museum.
except for a short jaunt to the bay area on an amtrak line, i've never seriously traveled on a train. not for any length of time. i'd love a night in a sleeper car. there is a romance to it, i think, that transcends time and place. when i fired up the laptop tonight i read this post about a new anthology published in britain about poetry and the railways. i'm sure if i google it i'd find a score of u.s. published anthologies of the same theme. but why not airports and airplanes too, since those are so much part of our lives. and seeing huge aircraft land and take-off also set the imagination soaring.
and i've traveled much on planes and been to some of the world's busiest airports. all nightmares. heathrow is insane and sfo is a palace of confusion. so then set me on the terra firma and travel in comfort and style. but until i can make a long journey on a train i'll settle for the museum. we liked it so much that nicholas joined the caboose club which is an annual membership and includes a year-long pass to the museum. he can take a guest too. guess who that might be.
4 Comments:
you could get on in oakland and get off in lawrence. stop in santa fe to see alex. its a great ride on AMTRAC.
i spent the first 12 years of my life in sacramento. i think the railroad museum was an annual field trip. i remember it pretty well, though i can't say i have a good memory at all of my childhood.
and i would say you see fewer poets writing about planes rather than trains for a couple reasons: 1) for some reason most of us poets (inlcuding me) have a fear of flying. 2) you don't often spend all that much time on a plane as you would a train. even if you have a 15 hour flight to ireland, it's not very romantic. yr crammed in there getting fed crap food, babies are screaming, yr knees are smashed up against the seat in front of you, the bathroom is barely people-sized, and you usually get movies you never wanted to see.
so there you go.
however, even though i am afraid of flying, i also get that butterfly-y feeling in the airport. it's a good feeling when you know you're going somewhere.
Except for in Seattle every single house I've lived in has been within yards of the railroad tracks. So trains have been part of my life. Have you seen the film Darjeeling Ltd.?
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thedarjeelinglimited/
If you like trains you should see it.
jim: that is a fucking awesome trip. when i can have a few extra weeks it'll be a date.
logan: absolutely, planes are a horrible experience. we've not become among the jet-set in our young century but are flying in large greyhound buses.
jean: i've not seen darjeeling ltd. but am a fan of wes anderson. and as i'm type i hear the distant howl of an engine's horn. man, that is a lovely sound.
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