Choo-Choos & Shoes
All last year there were talks of going down to Arizona in December for quite a few reasons. For starters, it is always nice to get out of the cold, but really Auntie Sherri saw that the Broadway Show of Cinderella was coming to the Gammage and she’s always secretly wanted to Ride the Train for the Santa Experience up north of her. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out with all we had going on. So when I discovered that the very same show was coming to the Civic Center, I immediately bought some tickets in hopes that she could squeeze in the vacation time to come up. And since it was in June, I knew the 1880 Train would be rolling again by then too.
The early flight on Friday left us plenty of time for some shoe shopping and lunch. It worked out perfectly that Grandma Nancy could come over for the day and enjoy some time with us too. It is always a blessing to see these two sisters together.
On Saturday, we got up and made our way to Hill City. Jackson was pretty excited because he has been asking to ride on a train for quite a few months now. Ellie had just gone on the train a week ago for a school field trip, so she wasn’t as excited. After we heard the “all aboard” and the train left the station, Jackson was glued to the window the whole time. It is a beautiful time of year to take the train. Everything was so green, the weather was perfect and with the 20 rail-road crossings, we got to hear the whistle blow quite a few times.
After the train ride we ate lunch at the Alpine Inn which we made sure ended with their famous bread pudding. We took the long way home so Sherri could enjoy a bit more of the Black Hills and I secretly hope that naps would happen in the back seat. That evening we enjoyed the back yard a bit and then ended the night with a game of marbles.
Sunday came time to get dressed up for the show. Auntie Sherri was very excited because she grew up watching the original musical on TV. When the tickets went on sale, I had no idea if Grandma Nancy would want to see it to or if she would be busy, which was the case. So we had an extra ticket and decided to invite our friend Hannah, who loves dance, music and theatre too. All four of us were on the edge of our seats for the whole show. It was such a wonderful production and had a little twist in the story that we hadn’t seen before.
We are so grateful that Auntie Sherri loves the Black Hills and was able to come up to visit us again this summer and hope to see her again real soon!
More Photos from the Weekend
