The Choo-Choo Trifecta

We had so much fun during our post-Thanksgiving outing in Philadelphia on Friday, that we decided to go back one more time over the weekend, and this time, we hit a choo-choo trifecta!

What's a choo-choo trifecta, you ask? Well, we originally meant to just go to the Reading Terminal Market with Daddy, Dziadek and Babcia, but got there a little early, before all the shops opened for the day, so decided to take a walk to the old Wanamaker's building, which Daddy remembered fondly from when he was a kid growing up near Philadelphia. You see, Wanamaker's was a famous department store, and back when Daddy was a kid, every year it hosted a dazzling Christmas light show. Well, some things have changed since then - the Wanamaker's is now a Macy's; but some things have not - the light show goes on! We got there just in time for the first show of the day - it was dazzling, and it featured choo-choos! 

Everett and I were both mesmerized. 

After the show, we figured that the Reading Terminal Market would be open by then, so started walking back, but on the way, stumbled onto the SEPTA headquarters building. SEPTA, for those of you not in the know about these types of things, is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority - one of my favorite public transportation systems. Not only that, but it turned out that the SEPTA headquarters hosts an annual train show, which, since we were there early on a Thanksgiving weekend morning, we had all to ourselves. 

Not only that, but there was also a gift shop, and inside the gift shop, a Chuggington choo-choo table! 

And not only that, but after the gift shop we wandered down to the building's lower level and discovered this:

A real Philadelphia trolley! Just standing there, open, and all to ourselves! As you can imagine, Everett and I took advantage of this opportunity - we climbed right in, and spent much of the rest of the morning playing trolley driver, taking turns in the driver's seat, collecting tickets, calling out all the stations, and in general doing everything that you would imagine two boys do when they find an open, unguarded, uncrowded trolley car just standing there...

Once we were all trollied-out, we finally made it back to the Reading Terminal Market, and to the original reason for coming to Philadelphia. Yep, you guessed it - a choo-choo display (our third stop of the morning featuring choo-choo's, in case you're counting...) 

This one was the grandest of them all, featuring all my favorites, even including New Jersey Transit!

The best part was that there were buttons all along the display that Everett and I could press to activate various elements in the display - like getting the trains to go, or getting the people in the dioramas to move or skate or dance, lights to go on and off... well, you get the idea...

Whew - that was a lot of choo-choos in just one morning! I think Everett may have even started getting tired of them all, because he wandered off and found a new friend...