Riding the Rails

A train ride has always seemed like a great adventure to me. We would sometimes see them off in the distance traveling parallel to the road while on vacation as a kid and we would try to count the cars as we passed by. In Tucson I would often have to wait for the train on my way to or from the discount bread store. Of course these were trains that were carrying cargo and not people, but still I always thought it would be fun to travel by train.

Max loves trains and when they came to visit he told me about all the trains he has, he even brought a few trains cars with him. Apparently he has so many toy trains sets that the one I moved all the way to Alaska no longer holds any appeal to him. Nevertheless, the thing that I was most excited about his family's visit (other than seeing them all) was an excuse to go for a ride on the Great Alaska Railway.

Don't you just love the color scheme? These passenger trains are so colorful. You can get on one at Seward and ride it all the way to Fairbanks. I booked Max and I a ride from Anchorage to Wasilla, a mere 40 minute ride up the tracks.

The train station in Anchorage. Max was a little trooper and after many late nights and busy, busy days, he woke up early the last day he had here and joined me for a ride. He had been waiting for this train ride for a very long time and finally we got to do it.

The conductor actually called "all aboard" inside the station and as soon as the doors opened we were on our way.

He looks a little excited doesn't he?

Ready to board.

We found this model of the train just before we boarded.

Still think he's excited? As soon as the train pulled out of the station, excited Max became serious Max. He would not smile or hardly even look at me. He sat like this for a minute or two and then he was kneeling on the seat with his arms resting on the window ledge just watching everything as we passed by. Everything means mostly trees, but we did see some random buildings, men working on the train tracks (they stood back and waved) and a few homes. A while after all this excitement Max feel asleep with his face still up against the window. He woke up in time to watch us pull into Wasilla.

Waving to everyone in Grandpa's suburban as they pulled into the cute little depot in Wasilla.

A little side note. This little depot is the oldest original train station in Alaska. It is not a manned train station - no way to buy a ticket or even go inside, you can safely guess that although a few people got on here, we were the only ones getting off. While standing just to the side of the windows I thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look thinking "oh, maybe we can go in and they will have a bench to wait on, a memento or two available to purchase...the ever ending "what to do in Alaska" literature. But no, what I saw was a life size photo of Sarah Palin smiling at me through the window!

Yes, it is June and yes, we are still wearing jackets. Sometimes we actually get to take them off it gets so warm.