Mini Vacation - August 7th, 2008

Well, we decided we needed to do something with the family before the summer ended, and since we are trying to save for a longer vacation, we decided to stay close and take a ride on the Heber Railroad.

Alexander wasn't too sure this was going to be that great at first; however, after having a little fresh air blow in his hair a while, things started to look a little more optimistic for him. Vanessa was all for it, and David was always ready to go.

About three miles into our journey, we were held up by a bunch of derelicts on horseback. Why would the train stop? You would think that a 100 ton locomotive could easily plow over a man on a horse.... Any way, perhaps their six shooters appeared more threatening to the engineer.

We later realized that this was probably staged... ;)

The view from the train down Provo Canyon was great. We rode the train about half way down the canyon where we chartered a ride back up to the Deer Creek Reservoir where we rented a raft and floated back down about 7 miles.

Again, the scenery was beautiful - the class I and II rapids were just right for David - he had a blast leaning over the side as we drifted into each rolling rapid allowing the water to come crashing over his head.




This is the perfect float trip for families with small kids. There was just enough white water to keep the kids excited and the whole trip lasted just under 90 minutes. However, now that it is over, I think they are all ready for some Class IV rapids...

We had about three hours before we had to get back onto the train so the same rafting outfitters took us up to Sundance where we intended to go up the ski lift and hike around a while... However, as soon as we got up there the weather changed and they had to close the lift. We tried to make the most of it by checking out the shops and occasionally finding a photo opportunity.

After the rain subsided, they still didn't open the lift... We would have to say that the least favorite part of this little trip was the wait for the van to pick us up.

We even had fun riding the train back to Heber City.

We still have three more days left to have fun this weekend... We plan on 'playing it by ear' - Who knows what else we will do.