The Polar Express Field Trip

Meadow and I ventured out on a long, long field trip last Thursday. We had to get up at 3:30 am and be at my friend Debbie's house at 4:15 am, travel an hour away, board a Coach bus, and travel 4 hours to ride a train with the theme planned as, "The Polar Express."

The day was long and the train ride short and disappointing but the time spent between Meadow and I: PRICELESS. We spent the entire day together as best friends. We wore our pajamas! We watched 2 Christmas movies on the way to the train and 2 Christmas movies on the way home. We laughed, we talked and we truly had a ball.

Below are a few pictures of our trip.

Early morning, two sleepy girls!

After we arrived, we seen the *chefs* going to their coaches.

Gift shops were nearby.

The Engine

Our coach: The Dillsboro

Meadow in front of our coach

People walking down the tracks to find their coaches.

One of our chefs. She was so funny!

After we had boarded our coach. Look at that smile!

This picture shows the inside of the coach.

The view from our cabin before the train ride started. This was a very poverty sticken town. Nothing like what we had expected.

Meadow, taking pictures of me!

Mommy and Meadow

Our other chef getting things ready. We are served hot cocoa. Yummy!

We are also fed chocolate, marshmallow santas. Mmmm

Meadow in front of town decorations after our train ride.

Back on the coach bus.

Tired eyes, but we had a great time.

The disappointment came for several reasons. We were under the assumption that the place we were visiting was nicer than it was. We also thought that the train ride would last more than an hour and that the scenery would be at least pretty. There were spots that were gorgeous, with maybe two pretty homes, and a few places that you could see the river without seeing garbage or trash but for the most part there was junk every where. Who wants to ride down a dump road on a train? We had also been told that our tickets were first class and that we would be on the nicest coach, with souvenir Polar Express mugs with our cocoa and shortbread cookies. That wasn't true. Traveling more than 4 hours each way was a hard day just to ride this train. BUT as stated above, Meadow and I had a great time together.