California Kids Vacations are not complete without a ride through the redwoods forest or to the Santa Cruz Beach Board Walk on the Roaring Camp & Big Trees railroad trains. These authentic trains are slow moving, open air car journeys through forests.   The steam train narrow-gauge excursions travels to the top of Bear Mountain with occasional stops in which the conductor or his assistant must get out and fix the track or remove debris, just like the olden days in which the train originally operated.  Roaring Camp's steam engines date from 1890 and are among the oldest and most authentically preserved narrow-gauge steam engines in existence.  Travel over trestles  up a winding narrow-gauge grade.   In addition to the steam train ride, an extremely popular summer excursion to the Santa Cruz beach drops guests off directly next to the famous Santa Cruz Board Walk.  There they can spend the afternoon and be sure to hop back onto the train for a return trip.   The Roaring Camp not only includes the train rides but also features picnic grounds, panning for gold for kids, special events facilities and some wonderful special events it hosts such as the Thomas the Train day that is extremely popular. For more information about this great Santa Cruz / San Francisco Bay Area train ride attraction, be sure to visit the website, www.roaringcamp.com. The kids will love you for taking them to this fun-filled day of whistles, choo-choos and clouds of smoke rising into the sky.