Little town. . .

Look! There's downtown Vail!

*BLINK*

Oops. You missed it.

With the wonders of modern technology, I am able to share with you what you might've seen if you had propped your eye lids open with toothpicks or tape, and didn't blink. . .

Some of the buildings here have been around forever, and thus, seem more fitting to be presented to you in black and white :)

You know you live in small southern Arizona town when you have a guns and ammo shop in town. . .and still lack a grocery store. Priorities, people! Really! Personally, I believe in buying my meat from a butcher, not killing it. And I believe in arming myself at home with a security system, not keeping a gun under my pillow or on my hip. . .but that's just me.

Choo choo tracks :)

Our little church

The coffee caboose. It resides between the tracks. Joe makes some yummy lattes :)

The newer part of town. . .Walgreens and big subdivisions.

We live in a small town. A VERY small town.

I consider the town"small" because I can expect to see cattle alongside the road on any given day; and downtown only consists of a couple of restaurants, schools (some of the best in the state, which is why we moved here from Tucson), a Walgreens, a Dairy Queen, a post office, a coffee caboose (yes, a caboose!), a gas station, a beauty salon, a church, a dentist, and a few other small town essentials . . . including an impressive golf course and club house (what? you mean every small town doesn't have one of those?) and two sets of railroad tracks. When you move to Vail, you learn pretty fast (the hard way) to allow time for one or two trains to pass by when you need to go anywhere in a hurry.

The trains. They rumble by quite often here. No commuter trains to speak of in southern Arizona. Mostly we see freight trains. Very loooooong freight trains. I have yet to witness an Amtrak train pass through town, but I know they do because my dad took Amtrak to Tucson a few times, and would have had to pass through here :) My dad loved trains. He preferred traveling the country by train. He didn't mind that they often ran late. He just figured extra time into his trips. He loved researching the histories and highlights of the towns the train would be pass through, and he loved the opportunity of meeting new people. In fact, he always opted to ride coach instead of getting a sleeping room. When we traveled as a family, when I was younger, my mother and older sisters opted for a bed and private bathroom. . .but when I was a little girl, I loved sitting/sleeping with my dad in coach. As a mother, I now realize why my dad was always awake each time I woke up. He was in protective Papa Bear mode, protecting me from other passengers. But my dad hardly ever slept, so it did not even phase me at the time. Bless his heart for letting me stay with him instead of sending to my mom or sisters' rooms so he could sleep. I liked hearing his stories about the towns we were passing, or landmarks seen from the train window. When I got sleepy, I would ask him to wake me up if we were going to pass anything interesting. I really wish I could remember everything he told me. . .or even just a handful of the things he taught me while I sat in coach with him and watched the country fly past the windows. . .he was such a wealth of information! I may not remember the specifics of what he taught me on those trips, but I will never forget the awesome experiences. I wish he was still around to share them with Hannah.

My dad always had plenty of entertaining stories to share after his solo train adventures across the country. He told me the southern route to Tucson from Chicago, was one of his favorite train routes. He was never disappointed. He met lots of amusing and intriguing people from all walks of life. Undoubtedly, my dad left his mark in a lot of people's hearts as well. He loved meeting new people, and my dad was such a kind and gentle soul, that people felt at ease talking to him and sharing their life stories. The train was always full of friends he never met, but got to know along the way :)

While some people who live near the tracks in town may curse the noise of a loud train horn, I find it very comforting. Every single time I hear a train horn, I think of my dad. (then again, I don't live right next to the tracks, so there is a bit of a buffer) So, I love the fact that Vail has two sets of train tracks. I get to hear trains all the time from my house, and it makes me feel closer to my dad. I miss my Dad. . .

**as I type this TWO howling trains can be heard from my house. It is extremely rare that I hear two trains at once, so now I REALLY feel like my dad is with me at this moment :) Perhaps, sensing I am writing about him, enjoying memories from my childhood, and thinking about trains :) Or not so subtly calling to my attention the fact that I am digressing in this post, and steering me back on track to the original topic of this post!**

Anyhoo, back to Vail. It is a small town, but it spans many miles. There are some pretty big subdivisions, lots of ranches, horse farms, and lots of open desert within its borders. It is outside Tucson, and so civilization is not too far away. We have the best of both worlds, really. I love it here. We've been here almost a year now, and I have not regretted the move once :) You are just as likely to see classy SUVs with golf clubs in the back stopped at the train tracks as you are a beat up pickup truck with a horse trailer hitched on the back. And you are just as likely to see women wearing high heels or fancy running shoes waiting in line at Walgreens, as you are to see men in dusty old cowboy boots. So, there are all kinds of people out here in this little town.

Here's a small example of how it can REALLY feel small sometimes. The town Holiday Festival, if you can even call it a festival, was a couple weekends ago. So, we thought we'd check it out! Santa was coming (by fire truck of course); and the lighting of the town Christmas Tree was going to take place. All right! A town Christmas tree! I was sure it would be spectacular, and illuminate the sky!!!! (A Chicago girl at heart, I had high expectations) Well, it turns out the "tree" is not a tree after all. It is a metal pole with strands of lights strung downward diagonally. . .made in a tree shape, and it sits behind an old fire truck that has seen better days (not expecting that thing to put out any fires in my lifetime!). A grand tree, it is not. In fact, a similarly crafted tree erected behind the Walgreens by my house dwarfs the town tree by at least 500,000 feet!!! OK, not by THAT many feet exactly, but it really is a pathetic little thing. But, it is cute. I have to smile each time I pass it.

There were horse and wagon rides at the festival! We got a ride all to ourselves, and it was fun. . .but a bit dusty :)

Well, the older gals were having fun! Looks like Hannah is nervous she's going to bounce out of the wagon. . .

Yep, that's the "tree" peeking out from behind the old fire truck. Fantabulous, eh?

You know you are jealous and wish your town had one just like it!

One of the reasons I love our small town. The views from our property are breathtaking. . .

From our backyard, you can see the golf course in the distance. . .

Now, to take yet another interesting turn and go completely off track again. . . (OK, this is getting eerie, another train is blaring right now! My dad must be laughing at me!)

OK Dad, I can tie this in, I swear! It is still about a little town. . .kind of. . .

Since it fits the title of this post AND because each post SHOULD be about Hannah since it is her blog, here's a video of Hannah singing "Little Town" from Beauty and the Beast. Her very favorite song :) ***NOTE: you must enter a password to view the video. The video's password is: littletown) Every time she sings this song, she grabs a book, just like Belle is holding in the movie when she sings this song. She carefully selects one that has no pictures in it, just like Belle's book (usually one of my old Nancy Drew books). It is too cute!

My mom loves to tell me how I sang perfectly in key when I was in preschool. During a performance, all the other tots blurted out the words to "I'm a Little Teapot" in any ol' key they saw fit, and none of their keys/pitches actually matched the song. And then there was me and the teacher, singing beautifully in tune! Well, as you can see from the video, I guess my dreams of Hannah following in my footsteps must not begin until she's wearing much bigger shoes. . . but I LOVE listening to Hannah sing, regardless of what key she is (not) in. . . Bless her sweet heart :)