Golden Gate Bartletts: Traintown! (I think the name is pretty self-explanatory!)

I should re-name this blog to: Family-Friendly Things to do in the Bay Area. LOL. Considering our "adventures" and activities are generally based around what we think our toddler would like. We (obviously) don't really get the chance to do things like try fancy restaurants or check out the night life (yes, I could hire a babysitter from somewhere, but I don't trust people easily, let alone someone I don't know at all to take care of my child just so my husband and I can have a child-free night.). Although I was meaning to do a post about Cliff House where Robert and I went for dinner one night when my Mum was here. But I only just remembered that, so perhaps that'll be for a future post!

Anyway, we took a drive to Sonoma last weekend so we could take Mr almost-2 to Traintown. If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that our toddler is currently very, very obsessed with and consumed by anything trains. Thomas and Friends characters are his favourites, but he'll take any train he can get! Sonoma is about an hour's drive from SF (just a bit over?), and is a bit Hunter Valley-like (for those who know Sydney and it's surrounding areas). We drove through quite a few vineyards and farms which made for a nice drive (when I was awake. LOL!). I quite like seeing some country-side-ish places; it makes for a nice break from the city's hustle and bustle that we live right in the middle of.

Traintown itself is, I guess, a small amusement park(?). I'm not really sure what you'd call it as there's really nothing like it in Sydney. It's built around a small steam train that you can (obviously) get a ride on. But there are other rides there, such as a ferris wheel and other small rides you'd see at the bigger theme parks. But it's nowhere near the size of Luna Park. The train ride itself was about 20 minutes. It would be shorter if it didn't stop halfway to let riders get off at a little petting zoo! It wasn't a big petting zoo, there were mainly a few goats and alpacas(? llamas?). But they're enough to build (more) excitement in little children. They could feed them and pet them, which is nice for a city kid like ours! (The place knows what attracts kids: trains and animals!) We also took the chance to check out the train up close. Along the ride, there are also miniature buildings built, so it looks like you're travelling through little towns. It's pretty cute.

You could spend an entire day there, but two year olds only have an attention span of so long, so we were there for the train ride, a ferris wheel ride, lunch and for him to check out the gift shop (which he spent a long time in admiring the Thomas merchandise! Amazingly, we walked out empty-handed!).

I felt that the biggest downside of the place is the food situation. There are signs everywhere saying "no outside food to be consumed in here". I'd packed a lunch for us as I couldn't find any info. on the website, but seeing these signs, I assumed there was a cafe or restaurant in there. The only thing they have is a tiny counter with junky snacks and soft drinks; no proper meals. Now, considering this is a family-oriented place, I found this extremely stupid. I don't think I'm a complete food nazi, but I am very conscious of what my toddler eats, and I generally try to feed him healthy food, with sweet/junky things being treats once or twice a week (if his father chooses to eat ice cream multiple times a week, he has to eat it after Mr toddler's bedtime!). And I think people are becoming more conscious of what they feed their kids, so you'd think you'd have a proper cafe selling proper meals for kids, at the very least. There also isn't really any place to sit down and eat properly; we just had to find a bench to perch on. We bought a couple of pretzels and drinks, but in the end I ended up giving our toddler his packed lunch in secret, which I felt was so stupid! Clearly, other people felt similarly: I saw lots of people grabbing pizza from the place next door and bringing it in, anyway. And the dad in front of us on the train had a lunch box for his daughter, so we obviously weren't alone in how we felt about that!

But otherwise, the place was quaint. You could end up spending a lot with older kids as I'm sure the ticket prices for each ride just continue to add up, but I guess that's how it is with all theme parks? (I wouldn't really know; I don't go to them very often!). We really just went because I Googled "steam trains in the Bay Area" and it came up! (Good ol' Google!)

Speaking of food, however, I should go and give my child dinner. Because apparently kids need to eat three times a day or something. What's up with that?! LOL. I leave you with some more pics!

Thanks for reading!!

xoxo