Mama, I'm Riding the Blue Train

"I want to ride the train," said Quinn last week. "The orange train." 

There are three trains that run on the railroad in our town. The grey train is Amtrak, the blue train is the Sounder commuter, and Quinn's favorite, the orange (sometimes green) BNSF freight train. She loves the orange train because five engineers have opened their windows to wave back at Quinn as they passed. 

Since the orange train is not an option, she picked the blue train because blue is her favorite color. 

So today we went for a short ride on the blue train. 

She was intimidated at first. "Mama, is it loud in the train?" She meant the train horn. 

I told her it's not loud inside the train, and that the train doesn't blow its horn all the time. 

Then there was the conductor. He was very kind and gentle, but perhaps the uniform and the gadgets hanging on his waist were intimidating? She wanted to be the one to hand him our ticket, but when he came to us, she froze like a deer in head lights. 

But once we were well into the ride, and she saw the beach where we go to watch and wave at the trains, she sat back and took it all in with fascination. 

"Mama, I'm riding the blue train..." she repeated like a mantra.