Caboose Camp: An essay by Aurelius
I was really excited when I found out we were going to own Caboose Falls. I’ve always loved trains, and real cabooses, so the idea that we were going to own three of them ourselves was amazing!
The first thing I remember doing was going inside the red caboose with my older brother to check out the N scale train layout that Father Schleicher built. It was cool to see a miniature train world inside our caboose but sad to see how broken everything was.
At first, the cabooses were a mess. Inside, there was trash and broken glass, plus snake skins and dead birds. That made me nervous because I don’t like snakes. But even though the cabooses needed a lot of work, I was excited because I knew we could fix them.
The hardest part of working at Caboose Falls was the cold weather. It made it hard to work outside, but we kept going.
There were lots of fun things I did at Caboose Falls this year. I enjoyed explored the woods, riding my bike on the trail, cooking over campfires, laying in a hammock, and camping with my grandpa. It was also fun to celebrated my brother’s 8th birthday there.
I really liked when we spent our first night in the cabooses together. It was so much fun, even though things were a bit chaotic. We set up our cots and stayed up late talking about everything we’d done and the things we wanted to do next. The night was cool, and we had the windows open so we could hear all the trains passing by. They were loud, but it was awesome!
My main job at Caboose Falls is helping to unpack the car and make lunch for everyone. I also helped build Hobo Camp, where I made the fire pit. I also carry dried wood up from the ravine to burn in the fire pit.
My favorite memory was the day we turned on the electricity for the first time. When the track lighting came on inside the yellow caboose, it looked completely different. It looked like a brand-new place, and I was really proud of what we had done to get it ready already.
The thing I’m most excited about for next year is finishing the red caboose. I can’t wait to see how it turns out when we’re done with all the work.
Caboose Falls special to me because I get to be there with my family.