Old Trains are the Best Way to Enjoy Scenery - Even in Waterloo

I love travelling by train.  Modern trains are practical and relaxing.  Old trains are quaint and perhaps even "magical."

This last weekend, I drove my family (minus the baby twins) to St. Jacob's (about 15 minutes away from home,) and enjoyed a wonderful ride on the Waterloo Central Railway.  It is operated by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society; it is meant to be nostalgic, scenic and relaxing - and it certainly is all three.

The kids were absolutely delighted!

First, some pictures of the ride into Waterloo:

Arriving at the Waterloo station (on Erb, just west of King St.):

The station is directly next to Waterloo Park (the Eby Farm Lot), so we had a picnic and went to see the animals at the park's little zoo:

And the ride back to St. Jacob's:

The Conestoga River:

As you can see in the pictures above, the train we rode on was an old diesel.  The train service also owns an old steam locomotive, which they've fully restored and works 100% - I believe it's from the 1920's!  They only get this one out for special holidays.  I believe it will be running for the Victoria Day weekend, in which case, they run all the way to Elmira - about double the distance:
 

The workers pointed out that even if we didn't want to buy tickets again so soon (which cost more when they use the old steam engine), you can just show up to see and hear it in action! I think we'll take that option.  They are also in the process of restoring another steam engine:

The caboose one the train we were riding was also relatively modern.  The days they run the steam engine, they bring out a caboose to match:

The day was entirely worth it.  It really can be enjoyable to take an hour for a trip that would otherwise take 10 minutes!  The views of the countryside, the river, the market and Waterloo Park were all wonderful.  The only complaint from the photographer (my wife) was that the entire north end of Waterloo (about 10 minutes of the trip) was a long stretch of rectangular, white character-less buildings owned by Blackberry, with a bit of older industry thrown in.  But even for those parts, the kids were fascinated.

I have to say, I've found that trains are always the best way to enjoy scenery.  Something about them makes it easier.  Is it the larger windows?  The spaciousness inside?  The fact that they're on tracks (as opposed to the road) and not surrounded by traffic?  And - regardless of whether they're on the tracks because of nostalgia or economic factors that have prevented upgrade - old trains go slow and make this even better.

It was also nice because it's close to home, and - taking our time and relaxing - the entire outing was just 4 or 5 hours.  We weren't exhausted from driving in traffic to get somewhere, or rushing, or getting home late, etc.  It was ideal for the kids, and we just felt good.

The world - even when it's the world you grew up in and spent more than half your life in - looks different when seen from an old train.

A Trip to the Library – Educational or Entertaining?

When I was visiting a library in Halifax this summer, I overheard a German family discussing some videos that the pre-teen children were choosing.  The parents were looking over the case of a video somehow related to Shakespeare – I’m guessing it might have been that version of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo Dicaprio.

“Is this really educative?” asked the mother. (She said “educative” rather than “educational.”)
The father took the case. “I don’t think they have anything to do with Shakespeare these days,” he observed.
They proceeded to discuss the item in terms of morality, quality, entertainment and educational value.

Listening to the conversation, I realized two things; one is that this is probably a good thing; the other is how rare this kind of care is among parents these days.  In the whole week I spent in that library, this was the only family in which the parents were actively engaged in the values of their children’s choice of material.  Everything about it would be foreign to so many people; encouraging kids to go to the library, going with them as a family, reviewing and discussing the material they choose, caring, talking to them about it, knowing something about it …

For me, it was as though the conversation was from another world.  Where I live in Mexico, libraries are few and far between, and the few that exist are way underused. It would be a miracle that parents even encourage their kids to go to a library, let alone care what their kids are doing there.  When my wife and I arrived to Canada, she was simply overjoyed to have a good library right in the community, within walking distance.  While I think there’s a better culture for visiting the library, but I suspect it’s much more for entertainment than for learning. I also suspect that few parents actually supervise and discuss the educational, moral and quality value of what their kids choose.

With only a 3-year-old, I it’s not much of a task to review the content of the books yet. That’s coming in a few years.  I suspect one day we’ll be that odd family in the library who actually cares about all of that stuff.

Growing Up in Story Book

When my wife first got to know me, to her I looked like Tom Sawyer – or at least the way she imagined Tom Sawyer.  I think she imagined me as a boy, running around in a picturesque little town, barefoot wearing denim overalls and messy, curly red hair - like in story book.

Visiting, and now living, in Canada has only confirmed her imagination.  Seeing the Mennonites’ horses and buggies, rustic bicycles with large baskets leaning up against old, red-brick store buildings (without locks) and the little red-haired, freckled children (to her, we all look like we have red or blond hair) run around in the large, open, fence-less grassy spaces of our village has made her more convinced than ever that I grew up in a story book.  I didn’t grow in the village where we live now, but my hometown (Elmira) is still small, and to her still looks like it’s from a story book.

When I tell her that this is just normal life in these towns (until the kids become teens), and those who live here find nothing romantic about it, it again reinforces her suspicions; only those who grew up in a story book wouldn’t find it romantic - just like her grandparents, aunts and uncles find nothing romantic about growing up in an adobe house with a mud floor in Mexico’s isolated hills.  As you can tell from my blog posts (see “Grandpa”), I also think that their life was charming.

I haven’t yet been able to convince my wife that I wasn’t Tom Sawyer at some point during my childhood.

Mexican Groceries in Elmira, Ontario

My hometown is Elmira, Ontario.  Upon returning to Canada, I found this calendar hanging in the house where my family is renting.  Notice the juxtaposition of contrasting features:

A Calendar From Elaine's Mexican Groceries

·         The calendar advertises a Mexican grocery store.

·         The store is in the small, white Anglo/Mennonite town of Elmira; when I was growing up there, I think the closest we had to “Mexican” was Taco Bell in the city (sad, but true.)

·         The calendar itself is in German; I suspect that this is to appeal to the area’s growing Old Colony Mennonite population, also known as Mexican Mennonites, because of their strong presence in the state of Chihuahua.  This is confirmed by the fact that the actual calendar pages are printed in Manitoba by Klassen’s Printing.  (Zoom in if you can.)  My family is originally Old Colony Mennonite.

·         The picture is of Villahermosa, Tabasco; I don’t think any Mennonites live in Villahermosa, and I don’t suspect that any Mexicans from Villahermosa live in Elmira.

I haven’t been to Elaine’s Mexican Groceries yet, but I’m guessing it’s pretty small.  In any case, it’s a good thing.  Mexican food is great, and a little taste of Mexico would be a nice touch colour and flavour for Elmira.

I’ll write another post after I go to Elaine’s some time down the road.