Mom and Dad crisscrossing the country in Ticket to Ride

Since I am a board game junkie, I have from time to time tried to enlist each of my family members and friends to try a game with me at some point. For my parents, the enlistment time was probably about four months ago, and the game was Ticket to Ride.

Ticket to Ride, a widely popular game of the new board game generation, is a Eurogame in which each player concentrates on collecting card sets which allow them buy train routes between cities in the United States. The more routes you collect, and the longer the routes you collect, the more victory points you earn at the end of the game, and the player with the most victory points wins the game.

As far as the new generation of board games go, Ticket to Ride is also known as a gateway game, because those who play it or one of the other popular gateway games (Alhambra, Carcassone, Settlers of Catan, Dominion) tend to enjoy the experience and often enter the hobby, seeking out other similar titles to play.

It took a few plays for my parents to get it, but after they did, we actually began to break it out one night every few weeks to play it together.

Tonight was especially unique, though.

My dad called me and asked if I’d like to bring over “the train game”.

That was a first- a request from him to play the game.

Smiling inside, and a little surprised, my answer was brief.

“Sure!”

So we enjoyed two round of the train game tonight.

I am grateful to live near my folks and to be able to spend time with them. I often feel I have taken them for granted too much. But I am grateful we enjoy each other as adults.

Once we finished the second game and we had picked up and boxed the components near 10 PM, my mom opened the sliding glass door to the back porch because she wanted to check the outdoor temperature on a thermometer on the wall. A moment after stepping out of the door, she stuck her head back in and happily reported it was snowing. I went out into the backyard, and sure enough, big wet flakes were coming down and stacking up in the yard.

Snow is always welcomed here in Albuquerque, in part because it is a novelty around here, and in part because it is moisture. And snow, when it visits here, usually does not stick around town for more than a day or two.

The snow was a great surprise to cap off an enjoyable evening. After a week of high 70 degree daytime temperatures and springlike weather, and then a day of crazy winds here in town today, the quiet flurry of frosty flakes did their part to add to an already cool evening.