Trail of Lights 2012

This year, they brought back the Trail of Lights to Zilker Park. I loved going to this thing in the past so one Friday, we decided to be brave and go with the Greenbergs. You may be thinking, brave, why do you need to be brave? Well, let's just say that getting to, through, and from with 2 little kids could have been a complete nightmare. Especially considering we chose a weekend night of an event that ran for one week only  (Sun-Sun).  It also was pretty cold that night although I kind of liked it... made it feel more like Christmas!

Shot of the trail and downtown in the background

Fortunately, we teamed up with the Greenbergs who are very wise - we used the Kreig field shuttle and that was a HUGE choice.  We easily parked, got on a shuttle, and down to the trail. Riding the bus was the kids favorite part of the whole experience I'm pretty sure!

First stop... the Zilker tree to spin under the lights!

Evan spinning

Caitlin and Evan spinning

After that, we headed towards the trail. We got there right around the time it opened and there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. We foolishly walked all the way back to pretty much the exit of the trail before jumping in line as we could see no end.  The kids enjoyed running around a little at least as we walked towards the entrance.

Quick photo of the kids with the trail

Finally! We made it to the entrance.

Once we got inside, it was super crowded. You couldn't see both sides of the trail at once. It was a little chaotic keeping track of the kids although they did a pretty good job of staying close and riding on Daddy's shoulders. We grabbed a quick bite and then kept going.

Some of the displays

Once we made it about half way around, it did thin out which was nice.

Family photo with some of the trail behind us

Evan and a fire truck

Daddy and Caitlin with the fire truck

At this point, we were at the end. We made it back up to our shuttle and very luckily, got on one pretty quickly.  The lines for shuttles to other places were VERY LONG and after our shuttle left, we heard on the radio they were stopping other shuttles until they could bus some of those people! We again had made the right choice in choosing Kreig field.  We pretty easily got back to our car and back on the road. 

Overall, it was a fun evening and I think the kids enjoyed it even though it was rather long and crowded.  I'm glad we made the journey although next year.... I'm not sure we'll make it when we are outnumbered! If they made it a little longer (i.e. 2 weeks instead of just one), that might help with the crowds and I'd consider it. Otherwise, Trail of Lights, we'll see you in a few years!