Trains, Ponies & Carousels (Griffith Park - Part 1)

With summer seemingly in full swing, and a rare weekday spent with Scott at home, I knew we needed to get out and go on a little adventure. Generally we stick around our area of the city (because, L.A. traffic), but on this particular day we ventured out to explore a bit.

I had heard and seen many of the great things Griffith Park had to offer, and I knew there were trains to ride. Naturally a trip was needed. So off we went.

The trains were small, and cute, and sparked serious interest from the little man.

We gave Marcus free reign to pick any seat he wanted. He chose the caboose.
The train took us on a mile loop, and Marcus was captivated the entire time. The quick loop was great, but we weren't ready to head back home.

While on the train we spotted ponies to ride nearby. When asking Marcus if he wanted to ride the ponies he excitedly agreed to saddle up.

At first Marcus seemed a bit apprehensive (see Marcus' expression above). His only horse riding experience had been on those carnival ponies that walk around and 'round in circles. These ponies gave a bit of a different ride.

The ponies followed a gated trail at a slow and steady pace (there was an option to ride faster horses, but we thought we'd better ease into everything). After the first lap around the track Marcus looked like an old pro.

I even managed some smiles, waves, and thumbs up.

If you haven't seen the :10 video on InstaGram be sure to check it out. I die every time I watch the little wave and thumbs up. He's like, "No big deal, ma."

When the ride was over Marcus was beaming. I'm pretty sure that may have been the best $3 ever spent.

Our last Griffith stop was a ride on the carousel.

The carousel itself is from 1937, however, some of the horses on the ride are from 1885. Holy old.

After a spin on the carousel our first Griffith Park experience was complete and totally successful. We had one very happy little man.

I had no idea just how much Griffith had (has!) to offer, and I've already got a few more trips to check out even more at the park this summer!

The start to the #macke2015summerbucketlist sure was an awesome one.