Guest Blog - The Train Ride by Sweetie

Today was the recognition party for the girl scouts in Utah who sold more than 1000 boxes of cookies this year. It was at Heber Valley historic railroad or as  most of my generation who grew up going on it for field trips still call it, the Heber Creeper.

It was to be a full afternoon of  fun... choo choo train fun that is. I had been warned and was expecting it to be mostly moms and daughters, but to my surprise they were mostly a bunch of dads who liked the idea of riding an old time train.  

I’d like to say the day was perfect, but the steam locomotive was in for repairs. While the diesel is cool,  it’s not the same... and it was freezing. We were expecting cool and maybe rain, but after about 10 minutes with our light jackets, it was back to the car. Thank heavens I still had two winter coats and gloves! By then we were so so cold, we just couldn’t get warm. 

Lunch was outside and I suggested that once we got ours we could eat in the car.  But Scout thought it would be rude, and the person in charge (in a 4 ft wide foam cowboy hat) was standing between us and our escape so we sat down and ate while we shivered. After about 10 more minutes of this, Scout whispered, "She’s not looking, let's go to the car."  

Oh, the warmth was so welcome. I turned on the car for a few minutes and the heated seats. Suddenly Scout exclaimed, "My rear is getting warm! I think the seat is getting hot!" I realized she hadn’t experienced them before. Her mom thinks they are the best, and I'm guessing she does now as well.

After we warmed up it was much nicer, and eventually we were on the train. It was so fun! There was a robbery, fiddlers, folk singers, and scenery. Scout had a great time taking pictures. Overall it was a great afternoon with my lovely daughter even though for a while I thought we might be living a scene right out of Frozen.