Polar Express

Yesterday, we got home from our trip to the North Pole. It was so fun. The train leaves from Williams, up near the Grand Canyon. I was hoping it would snow big fat flakes that stick to everything and make good snowballs. I got my wish.

It's a three hour drive from our house to the hotel. We had driven for 2 hours and 50 minutes when we hit a wall of blizzard. It took almost 2 hours to drive the last 9.5 miles. That's 5 miles an hour for those of you who are doing the math. It was total white out. Couldn't even see the trees on the sides of the road. It was crazy. We had left early so even with the two hour delay we had plenty of time to settle in before our train ride.

The hotel had a big fire and cozy couches set up. Big windows looked out over what is probably the lawn in the summer time... but it had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Christmas lights everywhere and all the trees were weighted down under the fresh snow. Someone had just finished a snowman that had a carrot nose and tomatoes for eyes. It was awesome.

They closed all the roads not long after we arrived so we felt pretty lucky to have gotten in. We were snowed in! I was loving it. The train left right from the hotel so we didn't have to drive anywhere. We just played in the snow and warmed up by the fire.

The train ride itself was really cool. They served hot chocolate and cookies made by Mrs. Clause herself. When we got to the North Pole Santa came on board and gave all the kids a bell. Then on the way back to the hotel we sang Christmas songs. It was so fun. The kids loved it.

It just kept right on snowing the whole time we were there. The news was saying that Williams got 15 inches while we were there. But the roads were open when we got up and by the time we were getting on the road the sun was out and the roads were fine.

Perfect.