Heber Valley Polar Express

First a bit of history from their website....
The Heber Valley Historic Railroad dates back to 1899 when trains served the pioneers who first settled the valley and now operates as non-profit organization. Today, vintage coaches are pulled over this beautiful vista by two 1907 Baldwin steam locomotives and three vintage diesel electric locomotives. Over 95,000 passengers ride the train each year and that number is steadily growing.

The railroad has been used in a number of motion pictures and was featured on TV episodes of "Touched by an Angel" and "Promised Land". In 1999 the Heber Valley Railroad purchased the "Movie Train". The Steam engine and ten railroad cars have been featured in 33 motion pictures over the past 20 years. The "Movie Train" is now in operation and you're welcome to come visit and ride where movie stars once worked.

My mom got my family, and my brother Phil's family tickets to ride the Heber Valley Polar Express. Once you board the train, you are served hot cocoa and cookies and the "ho-ho-hostess" (Greg was kind enough to rec commend that name in front of everyone on the train) tells you stories, the book The Polar Express is read to everyone, and the mic is open for anyone to sing Christmas carols. I volunteered Greg a few times to sing (we sat in the front row so you sort of have to expect it :) and he was such a good sport up there singing carols and dancing. I think it made my girls trip that much more fun. Hunter sang Jingle Bell Rock (might want to check the words to that one buddy) and my girls got up there, along with Makenzie and Hunter again, and sand Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells was sort of the favorite of the night among all the little kids. While on the train, the kids are visited by Mrs. Claus, elfs are always around talking with them, oh and the chef too, he was super cute. Then, the hostess throws it out there that they are nearing the north pole and to be on the look out for Santa. A few minutes later, all the kids start cheering and out the train window there is Santa waving at everyone. At this point the train has stopped because we were now at the north pole and Santa boards the train to pay everyone a nice visit. It was definitely a very cold night. When we were driving home we noticed that the temperature in the car read -1 (I guess that is a far cry from the freezing weather our friends up in Montana are getting!). Make sure that if you do go you dress the kids warm as it is still kind of chilly on the train. We were in such a rush to board the train when we first arrived that I didn't get any pictures of it. SO MUCH FUN!