credit: Roaring Camp in Felton, CA

My son LOVES Thomas the Train. When he was two years old, we took him to Day Out with Thomas at Roaring Camp. We didn’t get to ride on Thomas that day and he was quite upset.

Bad mama forgot to mark down when Thomas would be here last year so we missed another opportunity to go for a train ride on Thomas. This year, I planned ahead, or so I thought. I put the date on my calendar with a reminder a month ahead that the event was coming up and another reminder the week before to purchase the tickets.

I was so proud of myself, I even found a discount for the tickets! (Hint: Before you go to purchase online anything, open a new tab and do a quick search for coupon codes or discounts. I did a search for Day Out with Thomas discount and found a coupon code for $2 off!). When I was about to check out, I was quite dismayed to see there was a ticketing fee and I would have to pick up the tickets at will call. My husband and I decided we would just arrive early and purchase tickets on site.

The original plan was to head out on a Friday afternoon but I unexpectedly came home later than planned, eventhough I was only supposed to work for half a day. No big deal, we would attempt the Thomas trip on Saturday morning. Our son usually has soccer on Saturday mornings but since this was a special event, we decided we would skip it.

Saturday morning comes and we are rushing to get out the door, to make sure we get there before the event opens! We hurry over to the ticket booth, only to discover that the next available train is at 4pm! 4pm! Fortunately, my son took it in stride and was willing to just look around. While my husband and my son were busy in the gift shop, I kept seeing people going to the ticket booth. Nosy me, I walked over and pretended to look at the brochures and listened in. Apparently, there was a WAIT LIST for the Thomas train!!! Say what?!? Very excitedly, I got into line and put my name down and was instructed to return in 40 minutes to find out if we would be able to get a seat.

I was very anxious and hoped we would be lucky enough to get onto the next train. I was even willing to sit out on the train and just let my husband and son go on it. I prayed for a sign and when I looked down, I saw a penny, twinkling at me. I picked it up and instantly thought of my father in law and said, Thanks Rep!

50 minutes later, our whole family was seated in one of the cars, enjoying the scenery as we chugged by. Day Out with Thomas had been saved!