Sunday, May 4, 2008

FrontRunner

On Monday, Jordan and I got to ride UTA's newest feature, Front Runner. It is a light rail train that goes from Ogden to Salt Lake City. The grand opening was the Saturday before and they were offering free rides for a couple of days, so we hopped on board and gave it a try!

Our adventure started at our house. The Ogden Station is two blocks from our house, so while everyone else who wanted to ride it probably drove to the station, we were able to walk there and hop on board. The train was very full, but we were able to find a couple of seats and enjoy the ride down to SLC. At one of the stops, the train got so full, that Jordan gave up his seat and stood for the rest of the ride to accommodate on older lady. What a gentleman! The train ride was very smooth and enjoyable. It was so much fun to be some of the first people to ride the new train.

Once we arrived in SLC, we hopped on the TRAX and rode to the Clark Planetarium where we caught an IMAX show about Mummies. The greatest part was we had a two for one coupon! I love a good deal! We walked around the Planetarium and saw all the exhibits. Jordan was able to give a weather forecast

and I was able to walk on Mars. After the Planetarium, we walked over to the Gateway where we were able to enjoy a wonderful picnic, the gorgeous weather and all the pretty flowers that have finally made there way to Utah!

To reward ourselves for planning such a wonderful outing, we stopped at one of the restaurants for a little sweet treat. I never could say no to dessert! After our dessert, we walked back to the Inter Modal Hub, where TRAX and Front Runner meet, and hopped on the train back to Ogden. While the ride down to SLC was very full, it was nothing like the ride back to Ogden! There was standing room only, and the only reason I got a seat was because a very nice man took pity on poor pregnant me and gave up his seat. The ride home took longer than the ride to SLC because there were so many people getting on and off at each stop, it delayed the trains timetable. Even though it wasn't as fast as it was supposed to be, it was a very nice ride. We got off the train at about sunset and there was still a long line of people at the station to get on and try out the new mode of transportation.
You can see in the picture below all the people crammed like sardines in the cars.

It was so nice to see so many people get out and try out this new train and see all the benefits it could give to us. While we rode down to SLC, one of Jordan's uncles and his family rode up to Ogden and walked around 25th Street. I hope more people do that and get to see how nice our little street is!

4 comments:

Ali said...

I'm curious, how long did it really take? Cute prego belly pictures Crystal...I can't believe you are so close!!

Heather said...

I'm glad you posted a picture Crystal! You look so cute. How fun and exciting that you're getting closer to the big day!

Megan said...

Crystal. You hardly look pregnant! You're face is totally thin. Are you really sure there's a baby in there? Anyway...I'm kind of jealous you got to try out front runner. My mom enjoyed trying it out too!

PML said...

That is so cool that they have that system now. When we lived in Salt Lake and drove to Ogden to see Seth's parents, that would have been fun to use instead of sitting in traffic on Friday afternoon.