STUMPING FROM THE CABOOSE: We never may get the chance to pull into a small town and make a rousing speech from the end of a caboose, a caboose that's lined with patriotic bunting and flags, but we can spend a Memorial Day Weekend with an old-timey train participating in a host of to-dos adjacent or close to the tracks. Those tracks? Why they run through Gold Country, near Jamestown, a slice of Golden State landscape that looks very much like it has over dozens and dozens of Memorial Days. As for the place you'll head? That, too, has pastimes woven into its very name: Railtown 1897 State Historic Park.
EXCURSION RIDES: And while you probably won't get to don a top hat and clutch your lapel and say stirring words from a caboose, you can hop aboard the Sierra No. 3, one of this state's, and any state's, most fabled rides. (Yep, it was in the third installment of "Back to the Future," as well as a saddlebag full of other Western flicks.) There are a quartet of excursion trains running each day of Memorial Day Weekend 2016 -- Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, yes indeedy -- and each ride shall leave plenty of time for off-the-tracks activities. Like...
A PHOTO EXHIBIT called "In Train View," visits to a historic caboose, chances to dig deeper on the topics of railroad signage and such, and a book signing ("Seamstress of Jamestown") are part of the rustic fun. And can you show with a picnic lunch? You may. Whether you create a patriotic picnic, complete with red, white, and blue treats, or go for something simple, prepare for a day that's rife with nostalgic pursuits.
