Childlike Wonder

I told you it was a quick trip. We've been there and back again, all in less than 48 hours. zoom zoom. Faster than Mazda. ;)

It rained most of the time we were up there. They said they got 8". In Fresno/Visalia, we were happy to get 1/4". wow. I don't know if you can see the traffic ahead of me, but it was bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see. It was 4pm on a Friday.

We didn't go to the Yosemite valley floor - the weather could have been better, and Pete wanted a nap. But we did take a trip on the Sugar Pine Railroad. We've been on it once before, and Pete couldn't wait to do it again. He LOVES the train, any train.

Halfway through the trip, they stop to refill the water compartment. This is a steam locomotive, and I believe they said it burns 40 gallons of oil and 400 gallons of water each hour. The fellow on top is adding the water, along with a de-scaler, to keep the water boiling most efficiently.

I lurked behind trees, and got several pictures of Pete watching the process. I've been trying to analyze the expression on his face. It's something I rarely see. It's excitement, but he's relaxed; he's totally mesmerized, yet it looks like he wants to jump in and help. This morning I finally decided that this is Childlike Wonder.

I took this picture as they were finishing up and beginning to urge us to reboard the train. Here he is, loving every minute of it.

Other than the train stop, it was too wet to take any pictures of scenery. Here is the one picture I took. The red of the manzanita was looking spectacular, too bad it's not exactly focused. (We were on the move.)

Finally, I did get more hand-quilting done. But, once it was out of the hoop, I realized that I've got a lot more quilting to do than I imagined. I'm going to be working on this Step all month!

Seeya!