Our Polar Express Adventure

I'm writing this on the evening of Christmas, so first, I wish you all a Merry Christmas. We arrived at my parents' house in Las Vegas two days ago, but our trip here was not without its adventures.

We had a planned stop on our drive up here. Our destination? Williams, Arizona for the Grand Canyon Railway's Polar Express train ride. http://www.thetrain.com/polar-express-5679.html Since Williams is only an hour or so from the Grand Canyon and Bill and Drew have never seen what Bill affectionately refers to as "A Big Hole in the Ground" we intended to make a stop at the Grand Canyon also. We left our house around 5, planning to have lunch in Williams and then hit the Grand Canyon in the afternoon before the Polar Express that night. As we approached the northern section of what we think of as our desert state, we started to see forests of trees, mountains, and SNOW! At first, I was so excited to see the snow it didn't even occur to me that this snow might wreak havoc on our plans for the day. That excitement didn't last long. We reached Williams around 11, found a good pizza place for lunch, and by the time we walked back out to our car, the snow was falling...heavily. Rather than attempt the roads to the Grand Canyon, we decided to go to a local deer farm.

It was cold enough, snowing hard enough, and windy enough that our visit to the deer farm was a quick one, but fun nonetheless.

Daddy giving Drew some deer feed


Drew posing in front of the reindeer's pen


Drew in a winter wonderland


Drew feeding a little deer




And now feeding a whole bunch of deer


As is obvious from the snow on the animals, us, the ground, and in the air, northern Arizona was right in the middle of a big ol' winter storm. Rather than spend any more time on the road or walking outside on the streets of Williams, we headed to our hotel two hours before check-in. There were no rooms ready so we set up camp in the lounge area of the lobby: Bill with a book, Drew with his DVD player, and me with my computer. A couple hours later we were relaxing in our room. When we headed out to dinner that night the snow was still coming down. After a quick bite at a Route 66 diner we walked around the streets of historic Williams looking at the Christmas light in the snow.

Drew and some penguin inflatables

Drew in front of the Polar Express train

Drew holding his Polar Express book in front of the train

Drew waiting to board the train

On the train with Daddy

Family shot on the train

After boarding the train we were served hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. The Polar Express book was read aloud and we sang Christmas carols.

The lights at "The North Pole" where we picked up Santa and one of his helpers

Drew very excited at the sight of Santa outside

Drew anxiously awaiting his turn with Santa

Drew receiving his silver jingle bell from Santa

My favorite picture from the train...Drew showing off his bell

Mommy & Drew

In retrospect, we should have booked tickets on the earlier train trip (we opted for the 8:00 train instead of 6:30). By the time Santa had visited and we sang a few more Christmas carols our little guy was starting to look VERY sleepy. A few minutes later, he snuggled up to Dad and closed his eyes and barely woke up when we returned to the train station.

He woke up enough to check to make sure he still had his silver bell from Santa though. Drew kept talking about the little boy in the book who had lost his bell because of a hole in his pocket and was very concerned about keeping tabs on his bell. He even slept with the bell that night. Each time he rolled around I heard it jingle and I smiled at the wonderful Christmas memory our family had made.