Riding the Train

Waiting at the station.

A couple of weeks ago my Little Sis called me on the phone, "Hey, want a free Trax pass?" She is all about a bargain and she always seems to know when something is up. I thought for a minute. What in the world would I do with one free Trax pass? Now if I could get one for everybody, that might be worth something...

She must have known what I was going to say because she just started talking. "You know how much my little guy loves trains, and kids 5 and under can ride for free." The excitement in her voice was rising, "And it's good for the FrontRunner too!"

Here comes the train!

Her enthusiasm was contagious. Ever since we went to see Thomas the Tank Engine last year in Heber City, my two little ones have loved the trains! Trax wasn't all that exciting, it could just get us around downtown, but the FrontRunner was a huge train that ran from Provo to Ogden. We could have some real fun with that.

Getting ready to roll.

She quickly entered my information into her computer to get my pass on its way. When I got home, I decided to check her link anyway since I had not received a confirmation. Turns out I had to use a different computer since hers had already ordered one, but they still had some left, so within minutes, my pass was really on its way!

These passes were courtesy of Utah Ride Clear and they were good for one week from the day they were first used. They were probably not intended for people to just play on the trains, but we were ever so grateful for the opportunity. We had never been on the FrontRunner before although Little Sis and her kids had been on it several times.

We planned the trip for March 21. My elementary kids went off track on that day so we would have to pay for them to go with us if we waited any longer. Besides, the passes expired on March 31 so we had to get going.

Little Sis graciously made all the trip plans which was good since she knew what she was doing and I didn't. We met at the South Jordan Station at 8:50 am. We only had a few hours since Curly had to be at school by 11:15. The train arrived right on schedule and we quickly climbed aboard. Our plan was to ride the train to Provo and then ride it right back again.

The kids loved the spacious seats and would have happily danced in the aisles if we had allowed them to. Baby Doll loved looking out the window and sharing treats with Sami and Aiden. Curly had a huge grin on his face the entire time! We looked for stores and houses at first, then school buses and finally rock formations and farms. There was always something to see. The kids loved being so close to Utah Lake and watching a small river meandering nearby. We saw horses and sheep and lots and lots of houses.

The ride was about 42 minutes each way. When we got to Provo we had a few minutes to regroup so we decided to take the kids into the upper car of the train. Yeah! These trains have two stories in them! The upper level had tighter seats and some of them had tables in the middle and there were people working on computers and Ipads. There were other families on the train at that hour and lots of little ones, so we weren't the only ones trying to keep our kids in their seats.

When we rolled into the Draper station we took that quick minute to take all the kids back to the lower level so we would be sure to get off on our stop. They were sad to leave. It was a fun train adventure and thanks to UTA and my Little Sis, it didn't cost us a thing!