Last weekend we had our grandsons, ages 8 and 5, for a “double sleepover,” as young James called it: two whole nights at our house while their folks enjoyed a weekend away. The boys were looking forward to a sunny weekend when they could run through the sprinkler and enjoy the splash pad at a nearby park. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, and Friday evening the weatherman was predicting cool, wet weather for most of the weekend. Luckily, Granny here had been scoping out some non-watery options that would appeal to two active, curious boys.

For a small, semi-rural town, Central Point boasts a rather impressive museum with a large collection of fossils, minerals, crystals, gems and other treasures. Fortunately for us, the Crater Rock Museum also hosts a Kids Day the second Saturday of every month. Kids under 17 get in free, there are drawings and giveaways throughout the day, and for 5 bucks you can go home with a 5-gallon bucket full of rocks you’ve gleaned from the rock pile outside. My husband and I figured this would make for an appealing visit for Sean and James, as they are crazy about dinosaurs (and full of an astounding number of facts about them) . . . the museum promised a bunch of dino fossils and even a T-Rex bone they could actually touch! (That’s my kind of museum.)

We popped in shortly after they opened, and the walk through the gift shop dazzled us with bins and baskets full of shiny stones, crystals, jewelry, books, kits and projects. We stopped at the cashier to get scavenger hunt clipboards with a dozen pictures of exhibit items to check off as we found them. Off we went through a warren of rooms with everything from moon rocks, giant geodes and gold nuggets to exotic seashells, scrimshaw, jade carvings and, yes, fossilized dinosaur bones. I think next to getting to touch that aforementioned T-Rex bone, their favorite part was the florescent mineral display, where they got to observe the brilliant colors of the rocks under different lights in a darkened room. They returned to that again and again. We finished our visit to the sluice outside, where the boys used a sluice box to discover small treasures hidden in a bag of sand and gravel. They turned up several small, polished, semiprecious stones; a few shark teeth; and an arrowhead. We spent at least 20 minutes filling up our bucket with rocks of all sizes and colors, some containing crystals and agates, and we even found a few chunks of petrified wood. We dragged the bucket to the car just as the rain started, making for a very successful morning.

Our timing again proved excellent the next day, as a favorite local attraction, the Medford Railroad Park, opens only on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from April to October. The boys were excited about this visit, too; I can’t say I’ve met many kids who don’t like trains. As with the Crater Rock Museum, this operation is run primarily by volunteers, these from four different model train clubs, with donations and income from concessions funding the free activities. The seven acres devoted to the displays include model train exhibits; space for hosting parties and gatherings; and a 1-mile, 7.5-gauge track on which steam engines pull cars of kids through tunnels and past miniature buildings and landscaped gardens.

One ride was enough for the boys, and then we explored the model electric trains running in a variety of detailed settings. There was a circuit which ran around a large model of Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter series; several trains which ran through an Old West landscape with a frontier town, mining camp and a depiction of the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings; and an elaborate seaport tableau. James and I got a behind-the-scenes tour with one of the enthusiastic volunteers who showed us where the cars and engines are stored and repaired, with racks and racks of additional cars brought out for holidays and special occasions. Meanwhile, Sean got the chance to operate one of the trains with a remote control device, speeding up and slowing down the train with the push of a button.

Just about the time our energy flagged, the rain decided to come back in earnest, so we headed home (after a stop at Dairy Queen for a little refreshment). We finished out the day building a fort under the dining room table, and I think we grownups enjoyed our weekend adventures as much as the grandkids.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor