Life in Miniature

One of our last adventures of 2011 involved entering a miniature world. My little one donned her Thomas and Friends conductor hat and we headed to Northlandz. This roadside attraction in Flemington, NJ houses the world's largest model railroad. It's a funny contrast, "the world's largest" and the miniature scale of this constructed world.

We've gone by it many times and never stopped. I decided to go when my daughter mentioned ice skating again. I couldn't think of anything else and the thought of getting on the ice again made it seem worth a try.

I'm glad we did. It was amazing to look at and lots of fun to experience with a four year old. The play on scale was a neat experience, it is both tiny and huge at the same time. The seemingly endless tracks and diminutive scenes were imaginative and remarkable in their detail. The displays are worn in a few places which went unnoticed by the little one and added to the feeling of an old style roadside attraction for me. It certainly felt like good old fashioned fun.

Small scale worlds were a bit of a theme this holiday. I also ended up watching Small Mercies, a Midsomer Murders mystery in which deadly intrigue and a model village mix. Tiny worlds are definitely fun with or without a murder plot.