The Georgetown Christmas Loop

While we love old traditions, sometimes trying new ones is fun, too.  This year we checked out the Georgetown Christmas Loop with the Bayons and the Weagraffs.  It's an old steam engine that is all decked out for the holidays, inside and out, that climbs up into the mountains... with Santa!  What made our ride special is that it was at night and rode through thousands of twinkle lights along the track!

On our way to Georgetown we stopped in Idaho Springs to meet the Weagraffs for dinner.  Kaity snagged a table at Tommy Knockers.  They had a live reindeer, Cupid, a "helper Santa," a cookie decorating station and were giving (really good) gifts to the kiddos who visited - all on the house!  The food was so-so, but the service was great - we'd totally go back!

At the the Georgetown station folks were already milling around for our train ride.  The whole place was beautifully draped in lights.  If it was standing still, it was lit.  There was (free) cocoa and cookies for everyone, blazing braziers with lots of seats to keep warm, and even chestnuts being roasted over an open fire (I tried one.  Not my taste.  The ambiance was perfect tho!)

We got our tickets and crossed a glowing bridge to the tent to wait for our car to be called.  We found our (coach) car and were pleasantly surprised it wasn't as crowded as I thought it'd be - full, but the kids had room to be... well, kids.  As we chugged up the mountain the lights became more frequent and intricate.  The kids were glued to the windows of the train car!  Van and Brody were slightly disappointed at the speed (or lack there of) at which we were traveling.

On the way back down the hill Santa came into our car!  Van and Wes were the first to say hello.  Santa kinda chided Van on his Steelers jammies, which was funny.  When asked if they'd been doing well at school and at home they both replied in the affirmative... but then Wes decided to be honest about Van's behavior at school (which hasn't been bad, but needed to be corrected a few times).  He threw his big brother right under the bus!  Santa laughed it off and said he knew Van was doing his best.  They each were given a beautiful silver bell ornament with the train name and year on it.  A perfect keepsake from an amazing evening!