Scenic Valley Railroad

Sunday afternoon, my parents picked up Heather and I for a fall adventure. We headed to Boone to ride on the Scenic Valley Railroad. This has been on Heather's and my to-do list for a while now, so we were really excited to check it out.
Here we are, ready to ride the train and see the fall colors!

We had a little time before our train departed so we walked around the station. This caboose was also a concession stand!

Heather and I in front of the train that we are going to ride.

My parents in front of the train, all smiles and ready to go!

This guy, I will call him Crabby Pants, was walking around checking things on the train. I would guess that he is a volunteer. He was standing by us so Heather asked him, "Do you think it will be a good afternoon for the leaves?" He replied, "No, probably not. With all this rain we are having, I don't think it will be very good." To which Heather said, "Well we already bought our tickets, so I guess we will try anyway!" We chuckled, he walked away.

My mom and Heather, ready to go!

The bench seats could be adjusted so you could face each other...here is the view Heather got for the whole train ride!

This was our "tour guide" Sheldon, he new more history of Boone and the trains than

wikipedia. ...and the scenic valley.

Tall bridge we went over, 156 feet tall!

Down past the river.

We went out 7 miles and then came back 7 miles. At the turn around spot we met the dinner train on their way back. Our engine unhooked from the front, took a turn around and came back to the other side to pull us back.
Heading back, the sun came out and so did the fall colors!

Headed back past the YMCA camp.

Across another scenic valley

...and the fall colors
And we made it back!

We had a great time riding on the train and spending the afternoon with my parents. We had a lot of laughs and saw a lot of fall colors in the Iowa country side.