NC Transportation Museum

Over the past few years, I've taken the kids to the NC Transportation Museum a handful of times. We were overdue for a trip and I had added the train museum to our summer bucket list. A friend shared that the museum was offering free admission on Saturday to the first 50 people, then 50% off admission to the next 50 people. (They were celebrating receiving 50,000 likes on their Facebook page.) 

The museum opened at 9 a.m. so Jesse and I hoped to get there by 8:45 in hopes that we'd be among the first 50 people. Between trying again to find my friend's missing cat and picking up Jesse's mom who asked to go with us, we didn't arrive until 9:15. Thankfully for us, the place was a ghost town and we definitely received free admission. They did not advertise the promotion on their website or FB page, so I guess no one knew about it.

Jesse put the second row captain's chair back in for the time in over a year.

It was a cloudy, humid day. Another perk to getting there so early was avoiding the hottest part of the day.

The museum has added a children's play area since the last time we were there. The kids enjoyed playing with train tables,

and in the large sandbox. We ended up spending a considerable amount of time in this area taking multiple trips to the bathroom. Potty training is a challenge at home or in public.

We toured the older automobile exhibit, listening to MiMi's anecdotes on her daddy driving the milk truck and how the cream rose to the top of glass milk bottles.

The highlight of the transportation museum trip is always riding the train. The train ticket is equivalent to Willy Wonka's golden ticket.

Everyone was content on the short train ride.

We got out at the roundhouse, which is the total opposite side of the museum. It was a risky move not riding the train back to the station where we had left our wagon.

We saw a variety of trains and did a lot of walking.

Most of the trains are simply on display, though a few are interactive. The kids enjoy climbing, pretending to drive, and walk through any carts.

There were two trains we had never seen before-- an Army medical train and a postal service train. Both were quite interesting, but we were all carrying kids and merely shuffling along by this point.

Our last stop was through a warehouse to view old firetrucks and maintenance work in action.

We spent a solid three hours leisurely touring the trains and automobiles, leaving as the museum became more crowded and the heat and humidity increased. Knowing that we saved $44 made the experience even more enjoyable. Hooray for crossing another item off our summer wish list, and the added bonus of MiMi and free admission.