Pengs on Trains

For my birthday, Linz told me that she was not going to get me anything materialistic but instead, made plans for us that would involve me needing to dedicate an entire Saturday for an activity together.

I'm obviously very good at shopping for myself. I'm also very good at planning birthdays - making it hard for those in my life to surprise me. She decided this year she was going to make it happen. Never one to have been surprised, I was ecstatic at the idea. I told her I just needed to know what to wear - could I wear a dress? Flats? Lipstick?

Yes, she told me. I could wear all of the above. It would take us two and a half hours to get to our destination and the activity itself would be two hours. She also said that what we were doing would involve drinking (surprise!).

The car ride was stocked with snacks, good music and lots of laughs (she knows the way to my heart - we haven't been Pengs for 15 years for nothin'). Before I knew it, we pulled in and I saw it.

THE ROYAL GORGE TRAIN.

This has been a dream of mine since moving to Colorado. I am absolutely in love with the idea of trains - there's something just so romantic about them. And this particular one happens to go through the Royal Gorge (hence the name). And, you guys, when we boarded they actually called "All ABOARD!" 

Swoon!

The trip itself took two hours (or three tequila sunrises) and the train is complete with an open-air deck where you can stand and see the Gorge. The only thing that could have made this trip any better was a guy named Bob, wearing a bolo tie with a handlebar mustache to tell us all about the history of the Gorge and the world's highest suspension bridge (956 feet high and a quarter mile wide across the canyon!). Oh wait, Bob was there!!!

When the train arrived back at the station, we were not ready to exit. Can't we just stay and do it again and again?

So, Pengs and I made a promise to each other to make the Denver to San Francisco train happen within two years. And thank you to her for making this making this girl's train dream come true.

One of 30 adventures before 30 down. 29 to go - all aboard!