A few weekends back, I packed up The Bird and The Gooz and my dad in the van and we went out to the Wheaton Fairgrounds for the Great Midwest Train Show . This is the second time we've gone to the show (last year, I went with my dad) and it was a lot of fun. I picked up a few things for me, my kids and my nephew, but by far, the best purchase was this really cute vintage metal tunnel. It was being sold by a guy who had HO scale stuff and had this over on the edge of his table. He was asking $10 for it and I got it for $5. Pretty great deal, if you ask me! I think he was happy to get rid of it. I was happy to get it! It has some really great scenes on both sides of it. And it is like a foot-long. Our layout has never been 'realistic', so I think adding something like this adds a bit of whimsy and - frankly - vintage charm that I really like. I think, tragically, we're not going to be putting up the kids' train this year becaus...