(7) Valentines with the Whitewater Valley Railroad

Valentine's Day has come again, some would call it a 'Hallmark Holiday', where lovebirds pour into the isles of the local supermarkets for a box of chocolate calories and one of them fancy musical cards that expresses one's love in ways no layman could.

Well this year, keeping with my sightseeing agenda, we decided to find something a little less cliche to celebrate the holiday of love. We being myself, and my new squeeze Amber. You see, Amber was my first 'girlfriend' back in highschool. On my 16th birthday I asked her to be my gal, and she surprisingly went for it. It was young love no doubt, and only lasted about a year. I took my first shots at being a romantic gentleman with her, which leads me to this story.

On February 14th, 1998 I was so excited to unveil my one-of-a-kind Valentine's creation to my sweetheart, Amber. I had worked diligently on crafting a Valentine gift that would blow this young gal's socks off. I was working as a computer technician part time, making $7 an hour, and had saved up enough money for a $99 diamond sweetheart ring from the finest jewelry store in town a 16 year old fella knew of, Walmart. So I pick up the ring, a giant heart-shaped box of chocolates, and a cute little bear with balloons and head for the check-out. I get home and open up the box of chocolates, and eat the chocolate in the center of the tray with a big sinister smile on my face. My plan seems too good to be true! I then take the ring and foam out of the ringbox, trim down the foam, and place the ring in the center of the box of chocolates and put the lid back on. After school on Valentines Day, we walked to my dad's house together. I had the Valentines gifts perched in the recliner for her. She was excited and happy to have gotten the cute bear with balloons and box of chocolates, but I couldn't get her to open the chocolates! I hinted to her, 'I ate one of your chocolates'. She wouldn't budge, so I had to tell her 'open the box!', and she broke out a huge smile followed by tears when she found the ring. Mission Successful!

Now this year, with Amber riding in the sweetheart seat again with original 1998 Valentines ring on-hand, we set out for something fun to do. Amber located this 'Rails to Romance' Valentines package being put on by the Whitewater Valley Rail Road in Connersville, Indiana. It seemed to be a good deal. For $39 each, you get a 40 minute ride on a historical railroad to a hearty dinner at Laurel Inn, and a 40 minute train ride back. Amber called and made reservations about 2 weeks in advance.

The big day hits, and following a birthday luncheon for Amber's Dad, we head down the tracks for Connersville, which was about a 40 minute drive from Shelbyville. My GPS Navigation in the Subaru, who has been named 'Donna' (Delphi) led us turn by turn to the old train station. We were about 45 minutes early for departure, giving us time to peruse the 'museum' that we read about on their website. Sadly to say, there is not much museum to speak of aside from the station and train itself. They had a few old pictures and tidbits of information, but no real artificats from the old days. I guess I was just hoping for more in the 'museum' department, but it certainly did not ruin the trip. Instead we browsed through the gift shop and scoped out some potential souvenirs for after we return from dinner.

With about 15 minutes before departure, the lobby was filling up quick with couples, and the train rolled into the station giving out a long toot of the air horn. Amber and I went outside to the loading dock to see the train and beat the crowd. I noticed the the train engine was not an original steam-engine, but a more modern twin-diesel engine. I was hoping for the real thing, but at least the passenger cars are still historic pieces from the mid 1920's. The crew dismounted the train and went on the conduct a full inspection while the conductor hollered the 'all aboard!'. Amber and I were one of the first few couples to board the front train, so we chose a seat close to the wood-stove heater. After everyone boarded, the train whistle blew and the bells started dinglin'. This folks, is my first real train ride outside of a thrill park like Disney or King's Island. The train car was very modest, and the seats would have been a bit cramped if we were at full capacity, but each couple had their own set of seats that faced eachother. We rolled along the tracks for about 35-40 minutes, snapping photos and enjoying the view. A crewman would come along every so often and put more wood in the stove for our heater. I thought it was pretty warm, but Amber's feet were cold because she was wearing heeled shoes that didn't cover the tops of her feet much.

We finally arrived in Laurel, and stopped the train right next to the Laurel Inn. We unloaded, scurried into the inn, and located our assigned seats. There were 6 tables of 12 set up for the 42 couples. We sat down at our seats and had our tea already there for us, along with a basket of rolls. Now is when you get to find out what you ordered for dinner 2 weeks ago when you reserved your tickets, as the waitresses bring out dinnerplates 2 at a time. Amber had a nice helping of fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, while I had two nice slabs of batter-fried catfish with mashed potatoes and gravy. We socialized with the other couples at our table as we gobbled up our dinner. Next was dessert, which was cherry cobbler and ice cream. I'm not a big fan of cherries, so I traded Amber my cobbler for her ice cream. It worked out swell. After our bellies were full, we made our way back to the train, again beating the crowd to increase our chances of a seat by the heater. It worked out well because this time we sat directly across from the heater. It sure was toasty! Amber's feet didn't have any trouble for the trip back in the dark. Once the train made it back to the station, and blew the single blast of the horn, we were allowed to debark the train. We stopped by the gift shop again and picked up a spoon for Amber, and then headed for home.

Until next time...