all aboard

Gage loves trains. Our toy boxes are full of Thomas and his crew, enough GeoTrax to build a city that covers the entire second floor of our house, and an assortment of other toy trains of various shapes and sizes. Over the last six years, I'm pretty sure we've ridden every miniature train in the Austin area, he's been on the Hill County Flyer at least three times, and we rode the "real" Thomas when he visited Austin a few years ago. We've even gone to the train station just to watch the trains pull in and out!

So when Gage found out about Austin's Metro Rail commuter train, I knew a ride was inevitable, and we added it to our list of things to do over the Christmas break. Of course it wasn't easy...since the train is designed for commuters, there are no "round trip" tickets, and the schedule is fairly limited. We decided to coordinate our ride with a visit to Grammy, so Gage and I got on the train at the downtown station and rode about 45 minutes to Cedar Park, where Grammy met us and took Gage to her house in Leander. Meanwhile, Scott and Beck drove all the way from Dripping Springs to Cedar Park (in rush hour traffic) to meet the train and bring me home.

Two tickets for the Metro Rail: $2

Miles driven across town in rush hour traffic to meet the train: 75

An hour of pure joy for your child: Priceless!