We were stopping overnight in Santa Cruz on our way up the coast to visit our daughter. We were meeting her in Sonoma. We wanted to break the drive up instead of driving straight through in one day. Santa Cruz is about half way.

We thought we would go to a Thai Restaurant for dinner that our daughter had introduced us to when she was living in Santa Cruz. As we drove up to the restaurant we noticed it was closed. This was Christmas Eve.  My husband started checking his smart phone for other places. If you stay on the main streets it is very well-lit. When you get onto the residential streets it is quite dark.

We were pulling up to a stop light and the street was very dark with a heavy mist in the air. I noticed some bright lights down the road coming toward the intersection. I wasn’t sure what it was until it got closer as the mist caused the lights to glow.

It was a train covered in beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. It looked like something from the Polar Express. It slowly came across the intersection and stopped.

We were transfixed. It was so beautiful. We could see passengers inside having a good time. Santa Claus was walking down the aisle of the train giving out gifts from his large sack.

Slowly the train began moving again and left the intersection behind. We sat there for a while looking after it. We did find another great Thai restaurant a while later. I did not know about the Christmas Train. I would love to take a ride on it if we are up in Santa Cruz again around Christmas.

Here is a video by Matt Corley via You Tube:

The Christmas Train is operated by Roaring Camp Railroads. The train in the video is shown crossing Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz.