The Polar Express Adventure

Well I thought that I would let you know how our experience went with the Polar Express. On December 17th we all loaded into the car and began driving to Williams, Az. The drive started out on a good note. It was a little rainy but that is typical of Winslow if it is snowing other places it is raining in Winslow even if it is 29 degrees. Weird I know. As we got closer to Flagstaff we started to see snow on the side of the road and it really looked nice. When we pulled into Flagstaff there was some snow on the road and it was a little slick, however, Scott is a good driver so I wasn’t worried. After visiting with Isaac’s Family (Scott’s Brother), we headed out to finish our Journey to Williams. That is where the fun began.
It started to snow and the roads were a little slick but we got to The Polar Express. When we got out of the car it just so happened that we parked the farthest away from the depot that we could. (We didn’t know) So with 15 minutes before the train was going to leave we walked as fast as we could through the snow for about 200 yards. (Boy that was a good time) When we went to pick up out tickets the lady said that our car was right outside the door and was labeled Car K. We walked out the door to see Car B. (Those that know their alphabet know that we had a long ways to walk) Right then the conductor announced “if you’re on the 6:30 ride of the Polar Express we are now leaving.” We started to walk as fast as we could only to find out that our train car was clear back right next to our car where we had parked. When we got there the door was closed and we couldn’t get on the train. At the last minute a person opened the door and we hurried onto our car and actually had the best seats in the car with the most leg room. That was nice. I won’t mess up the experience if you’re planning on going next year, but it was awesome. We sang all the Christmas songs (Luckily they had a book with them all in there) Drank hot chocolate and ate a cookie just like in the movie. We got to the North Pole and saw Santa and picked him up for the ride back. The kids were so excited they couldn’t stand it. Although they said not to stop Santa and take pictures, he was a nice guy and let us take some pictures with him. All in all it was a good experience and one that I would recommend.
After we got off the train is when round two of fun began. Luckily the train stopped right in front of our car and we were one of the first ones to leave. We went to McDonalds to catch something to eat but for some reason Scott’s cards wouldn’t read in their machine so the manager just gave us the meal for free. (That was nice) As we were waiting for our food Bryan slipped on the wet floor and hit his head on the chair and then on the floor. Somehow he was still alive. We then Left Williams and found that we could only see 30 yards ahead of us on the freeway, and the roads were covered with about 1 inch of ice and snow. The only way we knew where to go was by following the tracks that people had left for us in the snow. Needless to say we drove 20-35 mph all the way to Flagstaff. A 20 minute trip turned into a 1 hour stress show. Truckers would drive by us all fast and completely cover our car with snow. When we arrived to Flag we ran into more snow and could only see about 15 yards in front of the car. The only thing that Scott and I could think of was that it would be better on the other side of the mountain. WE finally got to the other side of Flagstaff and ran into a clear sky that was beautiful. We thought we were in the clear. Well about 10 miles outside of Flagstaff we hit a bunch of fog and rain and again could only see 30 yards.
When all was said and done we got home at 11 or so and we were both tired from the drive. Later that night we discovered that Bryan had a concussion from hitting his head on the chair and floor. He threw up several times. Despite all of the crazy things that happened, I believe that we will try and go next year. However, we will try and go earlier in December to avoid the snow. So that is our trip on The Polar Express.