Grand Canyon 2017, All Aboard!!

Where does any great train trip start?

Dodge City,

of course!

Lots of fun at

The Dodge House!

The beginning of our trip

also happened to be

St. Patty's Day!

Don't worry.....he just couldn't do it! 😊

Not scared of stairs anymore!

We were so proud of the boys.

They jumped right out of bed,

at 0415

packed their own suitcases,

dressed and happily

made it to the train 

depot!

For the 0525

train arrival!

Waiting,

but so excited!

We see lights!

Hello adventure!

After rummaging around a while,

I convinced him to get a little more sleep.

But it didn't last long.

As soon as the sun peeked through,

we were off to 

the observation car

to enjoy

the beautiful sunrise.

But, that didn't last long either....

because we smelled breakfast!

Before we knew it,

we were in Colorado

and had 

our first fresh air stop.

(there were multiple stops, but most are just quick enough to board and unboard,)

The boys ran off some energy

and we enjoyed some cool

morning air and sunshine.

All Aboard!

Time to chilax!

It was so nice to just sit

and enjoy the peace,

beautiful views.

(and have pop and candy!)

I really looked forward 

to quality,

uninterrupted time

to play games

and talk 

with the boys.

We sat here pretty much

all day.

They loved it.

We spotted mountains!

Yeah!

up up up.

The train wound slowly 

through the mountains.

The boys learned 

pretty quickly

how to pop their ears!

And....

he is out.....

He went to his seat,

closed his blinds,

And meant business

with this nap.

Sleep pic #1.

The engineer was really good

about telling us some

history

about things we saw.

I don't really remember 

what he said now...

but it was fun to look

for things he was

pointing out!

Hello New Mexico!

For some reason

the boys were very pumped about

going to this state.

(I think maybe they were thinking Mexico....)😉

Watching...

And....

sleep pic #2.  💤

Thank you Amtrak 

for a great day with my family!

love, the rockinryans