Hale Farm and the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad

Just like New Salem back home there is a village about 45 minutes outside of town that you can visit and learn about how the early settlers and pioneers lived.  It is called Hale Farm.  Since the children and I just finished reading "Little House in the Big Woods" Ben and I thought it would be a fun trip.

The kids learned about how to make brooms.  I was proud that when the broom maker told them sweeping was a children's job back then my kids assured him it still is a kid's job.



There was a woman dying wool, another one spinning wool, a candle maker and a blacksmith.  But no one could complete with the live chickens.







Bridget fit right in.



From the Farm you could see the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad pass by so we decided that we would ride it this weekend.  We went to the early ride this morning which is a 3 hour tour.  It was lovely.

"Emmett, are you happy to be on the train?"  You bet he was.



They had these great audio tour things that told you so much about the park and history.





The ear buds were adult sized but Emmett made every attempt to listen.



Our train car was the one and only rehabbed Silver Bronco which was 1 of 12 dome cars.  The California Zephyr pulled these cars west so each of the 12 cars had a had painted Western Mural.



There was a wonderful volunteer that talked about how the river used to burn and how it affected the surrounding wildlife.  Then, he told the kids that only after people took care of the problem did nature return, including the Eagles.  He showed them these toy Eagles.  When they balanced them on their fingers he told them they had magic in them that made them float.  This made a huge impact on the kids.  I don't know why but his words really resonated with them.  A great volunteer.





Emmett loved waiving to the people.



And I think that Henry and Bridget could have stood there all day and watched the scenery.  Well, if I kept giving them food.





Another interesting thing about the trip was this statue which marks the Portage Indian Trail.  According to our guide in order cross they would have to carry their canoes from 8 mile to get from one river to the other.  Or, something like this.  Most of the time I caught only half of what the guide was saying.  Or less.  But I had a ton of fun.