The last time I searched for Christmastown was in 2013. In those days, the train to Christmastown started in Watsonville and headed north on the tracks to a magical and mysterious location near the Buena Vista landfill.
this is not the train to christmastown
This year the Train to Christmastown is not called the Train to Christmastown at all. It's called The Polar Express. You get on the train at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in your pajamas,
you rock me like a hurricane #1
and ride the train to the north pole to meet Santa Claus and his elves. Where the North Pole is located in/near/around New Brighton Beach State Park.
looks like high tide
And just like in 2013, I did not buy a ticket for the Train to Christmastown. I would buy a ticket to a Metalachi themed holiday train, but that's not what the SCCRTC is selling us. Instead, I parked at the parking lot near the beach,
China Beach
and putting one foot in front of the other, I walked the train tracks down the coast to what I hoped to find was Christmastown.
cut eucalyptus
I was reasonably confident I wouldn't get run over by a train while walking on the track on the first weekend of December, because, the Polar Express was canceled for safety reasons. Now, it's not really clear if the train was canceled because of genuine concern for the safety of the pajama-clad passengers of the train, or by some bureaucratic snafu for failing to file the correct paperwork with the Federal Railroad Administration (Thanks Obama!).
following the track to christmastown
The sadly hilarious yelp reviews from the last weekend in November suggested that there were some issues.
Nicole L says, "This was the worst experience ever... The scenery was pretty bad as the train when through mostly trailer parks and the train was rocking from side to side."
Meghan P. says, "When Santa did show up at the very end, he couldn't even interact with the kids because the train was rocking so violently from side-to-side almost the entire ride that he was about to fall over. The rocking of the train from side-to-side was for almost the whole hour long train ride. It was not just a slight rocking, but so much rocking that you physically had to hold onto the table to not crash into a window or your kid. It was uncomfortable and not worth the amount of $$ we paid."
eucalyptus litter
Daffy L. says, "Yes, the train rocked somewhat but I cannot think of one tourist train that has a perfectly smooth ride. And it was certainly smoother than the disgraceful roads in the region. "
Laura G. says, "There were no singing elves. Santa seemed drunk and was not interactive. The train was rocking so much that my chair's legs kept lifting off of the floor. Santa and the waiters kept falling and one worker in a black shirt fell on my sister who is 8 months pregnant!"
There's so much going on about fake news in the news these days. (Rigged elections. WMDs in Iraq. Truthers. Birthers. Moon Landings. The usual stuff). There's something about these reviews that doesn't seem quite right. It reminds me of one time where I watched a documentary about a different expedition to a possibly mythical location or creature, Incident at Loch Ness with Zak Penn and Werner Herzog. I watched the DVD and then eagerly logged onto Netflix to read the reviews, only to think that many of the reviews might have written by Zak Penn and his buddies using multiple fake accounts.
Is it possible? That all the reviews about rocking side to side were written by the nimby's at Trail Now?
Eventually I walked far enough that I though I might see something. Could it possibly be Christmastown? Or is it a homeless encampment?
is that christmastown? or a homeless encampment?
Oh my god! It's Christmastown!
Santa's sleigh next to the clock tower
It's Christmastown!
This is Santa's thrown room. The other chair is for his elf side-kick.
Santa's throne room!
deflated blowup reindeer
candycane at christmastown
When I made my way back from Christmastown, I was slightly sneaky, and took side trail to the tracks, and I found that I wasn't the only tourist in search of Christmastown that weekend.
Tourists walk the tracks. In search of Christmas Town
The next weekend I visited the boardwalk, where you board the train that takes you to Christmastown.
hot dog on a stick
across the trestle to Christmastown
to see the recently FRA approved Polar Express leave the boardwalk to Christmastown
climbing the train to christmastown
the squeaking means quality!
Maybe the train made it to Christmastown. Maybe the train made it back from Christmastown.
The complete flickr set of photos of the expedition to Christmastown is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/albums/72157676030793700.
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