Verde Canyon, AZ

In India you take trains for granted and many of us fall in love with them without realizing it. When you get to the US, you pretty much end up flying and driving everywhere you go. So when we heard of this train ride through the Verde Canyon on the Verde Canyon Railroad we were naturally excited: it was almost a year since we had taken a train ride anywhere and this was through a Canyon!


Dadda (Adi's mum) was with us, and the three of us decided to head out there and signed up for the evening "Starlight Express". That was a mistake in hindsight since that one full moon night turned out to be a cloudy one. But then who can predict the weather anway. The train left at 4:30pm which in Arizona in July means a good 3 hours to sunset, so it was pretty well lit on the journey inside the canyon: the return was well, just a train ride in the dark.


While the experience was a great one, we returned feeling somewhat unexhilerated. Many a train ride in India passes through similar, sometimes more amazing scenery, so it wasn't a big thing for any of us. Nonetheless, it was an evening well spent and we got to see a Bald Eagle too! And saw another example of how the US promotes it's tourist attractions: even the average ones. If you're thinking of taking the Verde Canyon RR, I would recommend a visit to the Grand Canyon instead. And then you can follow it up with an AmTran ride somewhere or a local train in Chicago. For some $40, this train ride just may not be worth it till you're well past retirement and can't climb those canyons anyway.



Click here to see more pictures from our ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad!