In May we headed away for a couple of days with a bunch of other families whose kids don't go to school. First stop was "Timbertown", a heritage village re-created to demonstrate the struggles and achievements of our pioneers. It was a fun day out, with two main things that stood out to me: the delight of the kids (and adults) as we wandered around exploring and discovering all there was to see and do there. The other thing that jumped out like a light bulb was the passion of some of the people who work there. Two guys in particular could talk the leg off a chair about their area of the village: the steam train driver, and the quarter-horse driver.
The quarter-horse driver took groups of people on trips around the village on the cart being towed by the horses. His love of them, and interest in that type of animal, was so obvious. When he demonstrating the whip, Molly was quite upset at the idea of the animal being hurt, so he stopped the cart and explained and demonstrated how it worked. Then, to make things even better, he let both of my kids have a go at it! Later on, everyone got to have a turn at a special whip cracking activity, but this time was particularly special because of the individual nature of it, and the infectious passion of the guy.
Later, I stopped to say hello to the steam train driver, who was polishing some of the brass knobs on the train. I'm glad I wasn't in a rush, because he was VERY into it, and shared with me all about the history of the train, and the village, and steam trains in general. He also delighted in telling me about the way he looks after the train, and what is involved.
It was so wonderful to see two men doing what could be seen by some as a simple job, but with such heart and passion!
And it was wonderful that we got to discover a new place with some good friends! We followed it up by a session at The Observatory that night, which was boring at times, but really cool when we got to see Saturn through the giant telescope!
