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| no partners | | Finally, we get to spend some holiday time as a family (except my dad). Usually my younger brother and his wife and MY young niece get out of Dodge for the holidays. Well this time I fixed them. I said, "Where are you going? We'll come join you for a couple days  ." I was tired of not being able to enjoy my now 6 year old niece having Xmas morning without us. So he agreed. The original plan was Sunrise but fortunately that didn't work out and they instead parked the RV at Prescott Valley Fairgrounds.
One of the events for the family holiday would be the Santa Claus Express  . Now we're talking. So my mom, brother and me drove up to Clarkdale and met them at the train station. It's a quick and easy drive and I had never driven through Cottonwood before so I enjoyed that.
The train ride was wonderful as we were fortunate to have a sunny day with limited off and on clouds. My other brother and I stayed outside for the entire ride to Perkinsville. It's a very scenic ride especially as we get closer to the canyon and river. The one nice thing with the naked trees is you get to see the river  more often.
The Interpretive person who was in our car as well as the train's recording pointed out some of the highlights along the way including the ruins both old and more contemporary as well as the various rock formations (Johnr1 would have liked that and I'm sure he would have added some of his own  ).
Once Santa and Mrs. Claus got to our car, my niece and brother came out so she could say hello to Santa. She is normally pretty shy; especially around a lot of people but this time we lucked out and with her dad's gentle lift on to Santa's lap, we got a couple cute pics (however, I'm not too sure about the look on Santa's face - seemed somewhat menacing to me  ).
Later in the canyon we got to watch an eagle sore above. Fortunately, I was able to zoom in and get a couple pics. We didn't quite realize it was an eagle until later when we were flipping through the pics on the camera's LCD.
My brother and niece both stayed out with us for about another 1/2 hour before going back inside so that was great fun. Now going thru that screeching tunnel was just like Disneyland (the kids all screaming as the train's recording asked  ) so I'm glad it wasn't a long tunnel. The story about the curved tunnel is quite interesting too. At Perkinsville, they switch the engines to the other side to take you back to Clarkdale and while they're doing this, they offer up icecream sandwiches. My brother and I had one of those and chased it with a pretty decent tasting Verde Canyon RR-labeled ale beer.
On the way back, we all stayed outside for the first few miles and then it started to get nippy so we went inside where it was nice and toasty. Unfortunately though, after being out of the canyon for a couple miles, we missed  the 3 eagles that flew by. It was great fun to watch the eagles as the sun was shining perfectly on them.
We arrived back in Clarkdale safe and sound. Clarkdale is named after a senator from the state of Montana (also one of the 3 Copper Kings) and of course, we're from Montana. His daughter, the reclusive and very wealthy heiress Huguette Marcelle was just in the news as she passed away in May 2011 at the age of 104). We are always surprised how many Montanans came to Arizona, then and now.
Videos:
Part 1 of our journey - http://youtu.be/yOOsr-eXoDo
Part 2 of our journey - http://youtu.be/YJ8zfUt2A2Y
Part 3 of our journey - http://youtu.be/Ul20O1X9N1I |
| _____________________
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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