:PHOTOS: Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad

This past weekend Justin, Kaitlin and I enjoyed a weekend with Justin's sister and her husband. They've lived in Iowa for quite some time now and this was the first time that we've made it there to visit them.

After a four and a half hour drive featuring views of corn, corn and more corn (much to the chagrin of my husband), we arrived at their house just in time for a home cooked meal and an evening of Wii competition. We don't have one ourselves, so this was quite a treat!

On Saturday, we went for a ride with the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad.

Thankfully, the weather was a little less sweltering than it had been in recent days as we were in non-air conditioned cars. However, it was a bit of a gloomy day with grey skies, which didn't make for the best scenic shots.

Still, we all had a great time and glad we went.

Here's a few of my favorite shots...

A display board inside the small museum.

Kaitlin with her Aunt Katie & Uncle Eli.

Kaitlin with Justin and I.

A sad old train in the train graveyard.

A view from one of the very tall railway bridges we crossed....this photo does not do justice to how tall this bridge really was.

Kaitlin enjoying the ride in her train engineers hat.

A view of the river...all of the river areas had VERY HIGH WATER from the vast amount of rain that Iowa has seen this summer...lots of flooding.

LOVE that little nose and those sweet lips peeking out from under the bill of her hat!

Halfway through our trip, our engine unhitched and made its way to the other end of the train on a neighboring track to take us back to our starting point.

Another favorite of Kaitlin.

Here's Kaitlin and Justin trying to get a better view of what's ahead from the concessions car.

A pretty landscape...despite the dreary looking sky.

Kaitlin watching the engineer filling up with more water for the next run.

That's it...certainly a scrap-worthy event!

READER RESPONSE:
Have you ever been on a historic train ride? If so, what did you think of it? Would you do it again?