(no subject)

Here's a shot of a beautiful piece of machinery from the trip that sabrinageek and I took to the Illinois Railway Museum this past weekend. That's a trip that I want to write much more about, but until then (or in case I don't make it to it), here's one of my favorite pictures from the outing.



I knew that steam engines were big, but I'd never seen one in real life. I was simply speechless. Maybe it's just a mental thing since I didn't see any side-by-side, but somehow the gargantuan steam locos seemed to dwarf even the diesel engines that were on site. Even in the decayed state that most of them were in, they were magnificent.

I'm going to go back and get more pictures soon. I hope they run some of the steam trains this summer. Their schedule doesn't say anything about it.

(no subject)

Ooh! Look at this fantastic wiki that compiles information about Southeast Wisconsin and Northeast Illinois hiking, biking, and skiing trails! Great stuff! I've been trying to find good resources about area trails for a while. I want to do a lot of bicycling this summer; I'm going to check some of these out, especially the Des Plains River Trail.

http://www.trailville.com/wiki/Trails