.
Today we went to the "Steam-up" in Brooks, a town about 20 minutes away. It's at an attraction called the Antique Powerland (http://www.antiquepowerland.com) It's a pretty remarkable state-fairground-sized place that hosts a number of independent museums, displays and a layout of model, rideable railways. They all seem to be powered by the efforts of hordes of volunteer collectors and hobbyists. We lived in Silverton for 5 years without realizing this place existed; When I lived in Portland, every time I drove down to my sister's home in Eugene, my regular 'pit stop' was the truck stop just across the street. No clue it was there. We're glad we know now. They host the "Steam-up" for two weekends each summer and we had a great time. There are loads of antique tractors, trucks, trains, and basically every historical steam, gas and deisel apparatus you can imagine. We even got home-made ice cream made with a steam-powered churn! There was a big parade of historic tractors, which you can see on the video. The little steam tractor at the top is from 1912. It's not a restored model. The guy driving it drove it when he was a boy on his family's farm and has owned it ever since. He's in his 90's. He just maintains it and takes it out of the barn for the Steam-up. Sarah and Mateo are posing in front of some of the other antiques. And also riding on the miniature trains. There was a huge 'small engine' exhibition area but Mateo enjoyed most using the hand pumps next to the pumping engine displays - and of course playing with trucks and tractors in the sand box.
-Matt
