The Pinon Express

You may have heard of The Polar Express, but have you heard of The Piñon Express?  It’s a story of Christmas magic.Capture1

The Piñon Express is a way for us New Mexicans to catch a ride to the North Pole to visit Santa.

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We hitched a ride on The Piñon Express this past weekend.

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The Albuquerque Trolley picked us up at Hotel Albuquerque and off we went.

 

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We toured the streets of downtown Albuquerque with Atticus sitting up front near the driver.

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As we drove, we listened to what sounded like Liam Neeson reading the original story.

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It wasn’t long before Santa’s engineers beckoned us to the North Pole with their lanterns.Capture6

We waited in the railyard until it was our turn to see Santa.

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While we waited, we were entertained by Jack Frost himself.

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It turns out that Jack Frost is an excellent magician.  Cyan helped him perform two tricks.

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Atticus was a little reluctant to be a magician’s assistant.

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But eventually he warmed up to Jack Frost.

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It was finally our turn to see Santa.  And his awesome photographer friend Liz Lopez.

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We climbed into the engine of a giant old stream locomotive engine where Santa was waiting for us.  We were the last to board.

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Cyan asked Santa for a stuffed kitty.

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Atticus asked for Kinder Eggs.

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Santa reviewed some of his rules.  He gave us a copy and we posted them on the fridge.

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Santa used his magic to make us junior elves.

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Then we said see you soon as we headed down to join the other kids who were listening to Mrs. Claus tell stories.

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We enjoyed cookies and hot cocoa from Rude Boy Cookies.  No relation to Rihanna.

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Santa played music for us.

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Then we all sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer together.

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Then it was time to say goodbye to Santa and Mrs. Claus.

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We hopped back on the trolley, left the North Pole and headed back to Albuquerque.

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We were hungry from our journey up north so we decided to go into Hotel Albuquerque for a bite to eat at Garduño’s.

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Atticus and Cyan wanted to take a picture in front of their beautiful Christmas tree.

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Thanks to everyone at the Albuquerque Tourism & Sightseeing Factory for bringing us some Christmas magic!