Journeys›Photograph

A Saturday of Miniature Trains and Kites

·San Francisco, California·#bay area#family#trains#fort-mason#kite-festival
A smiling person in a brown jacket sits with a child next to a red wooden structure.

A Saturday in late September 2008, and we managed to fit in two classic kid-friendly outings. We started the day with a ride on a miniature train somewhere in the wooded hills. We all piled into one of the open-air wooden cars for the short trip through the forest. It was a popular spot, with a long line of families waiting for their turn on the rails.

After the train ride, we headed into the city. Down by the water near Fort Mason, a huge kite festival was underway. The grassy field was packed with people, and the sky was just filled with kites of every possible shape and color. There were long, flowing dragons, fish, and countless others dancing in the wind against a bright blue sky.

Our daughter ran around the field, dwarfed by the scale of the event. We found a spot to watch, holding her up to see everything. It was one of those perfect, simple Bay Area days—a bit of nature, a bit of a city festival, all before heading home.

An adult and a child sit on small red train cars with a forest in the background.A miniature train filled with people, including adults and children, rides on tracks through a dense forest.A smiling adult sits beside a child in a small wooden train car, with a large red train and tracks behind them.A green field full of people and colorful kites flying under a blue, cloudy sky during a festival.A child walks in a grassy park with several large, shaped kites flying, a festival banner, and distant hills.A smiling woman holds a child against a bright blue sky with clouds and kites flying in the distance.

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