We saw snow on the way there... (i'll explain what's on caitie's head a little later in this post.)
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Hey, look... they're welcomin' us; how thoughtful. (take notice of what's behind the welcome sign, i'll be talking about it later in this post.)
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Driving on the historical Route 66; gotta love this old-timey diner.
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A train, a train! It doesn't take much to excite us.
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Well, let me start by sayin' that I tried my best to keep my cool... I really did... well, sorta. We were making good time... we got to Williams at a decent hour, picked up the Polar Express train tickets, had time to check in to the hotel, get situated, and freshen up before heading back to the train station to board the train. We made it to the train station with not much time to spare, but were fortunate enough to find a parking space in the actual parking lot right by the entrance... the best spot in the whole lot... yes, we were doin' good. We grabbed everything... the girls, the tickets, the Polar Express book, my camera, the diaper bag... yep, we had everything we needed, or so we thought... We were one of the last ones to board the train, it was train car D, we found our seats, sat down, I prepared to feed Bailey... I reached out for her bottle, expecting Michael to hand it to me... I looked, Bailey started crying, Michael looked back at me wondering why I kept looking at him, I asked him for the bottle, he looked confused, I began to panic, I looked around, there was no bottle to be found. We left it in the cup holder in the SUV. Michael had prepared it before we left the hotel room so we wouldn't have to do it on the train. The train was set to leave in three minutes... so Michael ran to the front of the train car to find someone to ask if we could run to the SUV and get the bottle, they said no since the train was ready to go. By the time they made all the announcements, which lasted about three minutes, we could have had the bottle. I went to the back of the train car and in a panic told (not asked) a young man that was in contact with the engineer at the front that we HAD to get Bailey's bottle, there was no way around it. I even threatened him with having a crying baby on the train ride the whole way to the 'north pole' and back, which lasted almost an hour, and that I didn't think the other passengers would appreciate it, but it didn't work, they wouldn't budge. So I told Michael that he and Caitie could go on the train ride and me and Bailey would stay behind, and I, carrying Bailey, went to get off the train. Michael started to stay on, but decided at the last minute that he and Caitie would get off as well. He asked an older man that worked on the train if there were any tickets left for the next train, the older man said yes, so we took a chance there would be enough tickets for the four of us and exited the train. While doing so, everyone around, some passengers on the train, the train people, and other people walking around, heard expletives coming from my direction, and not the mumbling kind... I didn't care who heard me, they were said loud and clear. After calming down, I regretted having said such things. But all's well that ends well... we did make the next train, and were all able to sit together at the front of the train car (train car L. i just like to remember what train car we were in) BUT... we did lose our great parking space; the next train didn't come around for over an hour and we didn't have the extra stuff needed in the diaper bag in case Bailey needed another bottle since we hadn't planned on taking a later train, so we had to go back to the hotel and get what was needed before heading back to the train station. We almost missed the next train due to trying to find a decent parking space in the parking lot; we had to end up parking in the same space we did a couple of years ago, which was in a bank parking lot near the train station, so there was some walking involved. Here is a pic of my girls on the train... the second train.
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We're at the 'North Pole'. See Santa waving?
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And here he is on the train, handing Caitie her bell; he gave a bell to Bailey too. All of the kids on the train got one; the bell is part of the Polar Express story.
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Daddy showing Bailey her bell.
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I took a quick pic of Michael and the girls before departing the train.
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Caitie wanted a pic with one of the 'chefs' that served the hot chocolate and cookies. She and the other 'chefs' on our train car also sang Christmas songs and carried around the Polar Express book while it was being read over the speakers.
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I took a quick pic of Michael and the girls in the gift shop. We got there about five minutes to ten and looked around for maybe three minutes before heading over to stand in the 'pic with Santa' line; they closed the line at 10pm, so we left without a souvenir this time, unless you count the santa pics we purchased of Caitie and Bailey sitting on Santa's lap.
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Here's one of the pics of the girls sitting on Santa's lap. It's the same Santa that was on the train. If you're wondering what's under Caitie's pj bottoms, those are her jeans. It was really cold, so decided to leave her jeans on underneath.
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The last time we went to Williams for the Polar Express train ride, which was back in 2008, we went to the Grand Canyon the next day, since it's not too far away. We thought about going this time, but decided to head home instead. But when leaving, we noticed a place called 'Bearizona'. I had seen it advertised on billboards on the way up to Williams the day before, and then seeing it again when leaving Williams we decided to check it out.
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This is the entrance. (this is what I said to take notice of in one of the first pics above.)
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These are carvings of two baby bear cubs they have at the zoo. They're carved in one of the pillars in the drive-thru area where you pay to get in. This is a close-up shot.
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This is how it looks further away.
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This is a drive-thru zoo; there's no need to get out of the vehicle. But they do have a walk-thru zoo at the end of the drive-thru one that has baby animals to look at. Michael had a good way of describing the drive-thru zoo... think of it as being similar to what was seen in the movie Jurassic Park; the animals roam free in their designated areas, so you might see an animal far away, or right outside your window, close enough to be pet. You drive through at your own risk. The animals can charge your vehicle, spit at it, eat parts of it, pretty much do anything they want to it, this is why they advise you to drive through with your windows up, of which they strictly enforce this in the black bear area, this is the most dangerous area. Here you see Caitie looking out at a donkey right near her window; it was close enough to pet, but we kept the window up. We did open some windows when the animals weren't too close by though, mostly so I could get some pics without the green tint from the windows, which you can see in this pic. Wondering why Caitie has a toilet paper roll on her head? It comes in handy when there's a need to go potty in the wild... not that we did that in the drive-thru zoo area, that would have been just plain crazy... You aren't buyin' this, are ya? Actually, that white thing on her head is soft material used to help her headphones fit more snug; this was Michael's invention. Caitie watches cartoons/movies when on road trips, and sometimes on short trips to the store; she's spoiled that way.
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Here's a ram. See the fence in the distance? There's a cattle guard as well. This separates different species of animals and keeps them in their disignated areas.
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Here's another ram, or some so-called animal... I got pics of a lot of butts that day. The man standing in the cold warns you about the black bear area, which we were about to enter. He made sure we knew to keep our windows rolled up, and said the bears are known to charge vehicles, etc., so we needed to be extra careful going through that area.
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A pic of the entrance to the black bear area.
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"Black bears, you say? Should I be concerned?"
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I was hoping our SUV would be attacked by a black bear, but they ended up being polite bears, dang it! We plan to rub some raw steak meat on each tire before entering the black bear area next time... we want to see some action, baby! We should also plan to bring four spare tires too, I guess.
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This part reminds me of the Jurassic Park movie. I must admit, I do feel bad for the animals; they should be in their natural environment, meaning... without electric fences and such.
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When we were done with the drive-thru zoo, we decided to check out the walk-thru zoo. Caitie was excited... Bailey not so much; she knew she was leaving the comfort of the warm SUV for a cold, wet stroll looking at baby animals she would barely be able to see due to being wrapped up from head to toe in blankets.
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Bailey was in need of a diaper change, and once I was done with that, I decided to dress her in a thicker sleeper; the one she wore on the Polar Express train ride.
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I took a couple of pics of Bailey in her cute pink and white beanie.
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This is the entrance to the walk-thru zoo. It was cold, and it was sprinkling. The cold wind was unbearable... but we made it through.
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Here is one of the cute bear cubs; this was one of the cubs that was carved into the pillar at the entrance to the zoo.
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This is a cave area; you can see the bears through the 'windows'.
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See the little red fox?
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Walkin' through the zoo, which is still under construction; it won't be complete until the year 2013, I believe. There will be a hotel added and more animals as well. This zoo opened in March of this year, and has expanded since then, and will continue to do so for the next couple of years.
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Caitie wanted to climb in a makeshift cave, which ended up being just a big hole in the wall; it had a big opening, but had no depth.
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Here's the entrance to the 'cave'.
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Here's the gift shop. It's pretty small, but will be bigger once the zoo expands, I'm sure.
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Caitie picked out a donkey as a souvenir. She loves donkies. Michael and I both gasped when we saw Caitie's hands when in the gift shop... they were red... like tomato red; her hands were frozen, poor thing.
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This was right up my alley, but I passed on it.
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This is the zoo's mascot. I wanted to get Caitie's picture with him, but she wouldn't go near him.
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We were headin' out. We made it through the whole zoo in the cold rain.
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When we left the walk-thru zoo, we went through the drive-thru zoo again. You pay once and go through as many times as you want, which was nice. Here are some white buffalo; they have it made, see the prairie behind them? They get to roam there; the other animals aren't so lucky, their space isn't half as big.
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It was then time to go. We recommend you stop by this zoo if you're heading out that way, maybe on your way to Williams or the Grand Canyon, it's a neat experience. I don't think I would make a special trip there though, not until it's finished, anyway.
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