Clifton Day!

Sunday Oct. 11th was Clifton Day in Clifton, Virginia.  Clifton has maintained the charm and feeling of a Norman Rockwell painting. The town has been around since the 1700's—initially as a plantation and earlier as Indian hunting grounds. The railroad started Clifton on its way to the town we know.  This quaint little town is home to 200 residence and every year they host a fall festival called "Clifton Day!"

The VRE trains were offering $5 round trip rides from Burk, VA to Clifton for people attending the fall festival.  We thought this would be so fun since William had not been on a "real" train.  He's a pro at the metro trains, but "Mom Mom, I am so excited!  I am have never been on the VRE trains!  This is great!"  Our little passenger was fired up.

We boarded the 1pm train and in 15 minutes we were in Clifton!  The streets were packed with food vendors, craft booths, companies promoting their products and the Boy and Girl Scouts running a bake sale.  Just the storybook picture you would imagine from a Norman Rockwell town!  There were also TONS of people!  The weather was HOT for October, but I had packed snacks and plenty of water to see us through.

We wandered the streets and sampled the good food (hot dogs, lemonade, chips and salsa, ice cream, etc) .  Then we found out there was a childrens area with a bounce house, trampoline, fishing for toys, a crazy clown on a unicycle, and of course, a playground.  William was fired up and we spent most of our time in kiddie land.  He had a great time in the bounce house and on the playground.  

After 3 hours, we decided to board the return VRE train and head back to the car.  We rode on the upper deck and once we got off, we met the conductor.  William wanted to wait and watch the train depart from the station.  We were able to wave at the conductor as he made his way back to Clifton day!