Tweetsie Railroad – Day 2
Written by Lynn on July 29th, 2008Whenever we go to Boone, North Carolina, we have a rough plan already laid out. One day of our trip will be spent at Tweetsie Railroad. It’s just a given. We’ll do one “adventure drive,” as Hubby calls it, which is driving up some winding mountain road that scares us all and makes the kids gasp a few times. This year it was highway 194 South, higher up into the mountains to see Patricia. Definitely more about Patricia later (she’s day #3). Day 2 was spent at Tweetsie Railroad. Oh, we’ve been to Tweetsie plenty of times, but we just keep going back like a bunch of ol’ saps.
Actually it’s just a really pretty place. It’s relaxed. It’s not overcrowded. You can walk and talk and once you buy your tickets the kids can ride the rides all day. This year we walked in through the gates just as the train was filling up with passengers. We hopped right on.
I asked Big Joe to take a picture of me and Papa Bear. Obviously I’m looking at the camera (always have been), so I cannot tell when Hubby makes this face, which seems to be every single family photo we have.
Joe handed me the camera so I could make sure the photo was acceptable. I saw this. It’s funny, but it’s not. Not when you have a shoe box of family photos and your husband always looks like this. “Put your sun glasses on,” I told him. “It will hide your eyes in case you do that again.”
That’s better. Some day I’ll put a photo on here — a very nice photo, where he’s not acting like this. I don’t know what comes over him.
In case you didn’t know, the train at Tweetsie always stops out in the woods and robbers try to rob the train and take the passengers hostage. There’s shooting and yelling and this year there was dancing and all sorts of silliness!
Once back into “town,” the children dragged me to the ferris wheel and then the riding of rides began.
It was higher up than I thought. And went faster around than I thought.
Miss Priss LOVED it. She’s a true ride lover. I was okay, just sort of enduring it, but John was really not liking it AT ALL. I tried to get his face too, but missed it and he’s probably glad. He was not smiling.
What a pretty day we had. You could see for such a long distance, well, until a mountain blocked your view, but I don’t have a lens to take in a wide angle, so I can’t show you the full effect. Just take my word.
The following are all action photos, so pardon any blurring.
The Free Fall
The Tilt-A-Whirl
The Round Up
The Tornado
The Turnpike Cruisers (Miss Priss says “driving is easy.”)
Tweetsie Twister
And then the kids talked me into getting on the Chair Lift, which Hubby won’t do. He doesn’t do heights. Surprisingly, John was okay with it.
I don’t know what it is about cameras and making faces, but John’s inherited it too. (Whatever it is.)
We were very high up again!
The chair lift will take you up to the Deer Park, where you’ll find burros…
looking to eat anything you put near their mouths. 
And llamas…
and emus…
and plenty of sweet little goats who love to eat! You can buy little ice cream cones filled with feed for 50 cents (Hubby says they’re making a killing) and the little animals (you must mind bigger teeth!) will eat right from your hand. They love the cones especially.
That’s just about all I have to show you from Tweetsie, except you know that Hubby and his boys had to win some prizes for Miss Priss.
Hubby is such a good sport, letting me put all his trophies all over his shoulders and take a picture. (I guarantee you, underneath those glasses there’s a bewildered look.)
Miss Priss had to have her picture taken on one of the horses.
Last of all, which I thought was so sweet, Hubby had noticed a display of wooden birds in one of the gift shops and he insisted that I buy one for my office, which as you remember has a theme of birds and roses.
So this pretty blue jay is now perched in my office with all of the other birds.
More mountain stuff to come.
Lynn
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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Lynn, Tweetsie is such fun… even for us adults. I hope you are tucked safe at home with your lovely children and husband. I pray for you and the loss of your dear friend. what a shock this must have been.
Patricia
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Thank you Patricia! We are safe at home and enjoying it. I miss the mountains though. There’s something about the mountains that won’t leave you alone.
Thanks, too, about my friend. I’ll surely miss her. A lot of people will miss her. She was very special.
Lynn
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Hi Lynn
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. Looks like you had a great time in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I love driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is so beautiful.
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Hey Lynn! What a fun vacation! We so miss driving in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We took our kids to Tweetsie right before we moved back to Texas. Your post just brought back all those wonderful memories.
I love your new apron. And I checked out Patricia’s blog. I too am longing for the mountains now.
Praying for comfort and peace for your friend’s family.
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Rhondhi, we had a great time! Thanks.
Alana, thank you for your kind thoughts regarding my friend. Aren’t the mountains great? My children really enjoying going up there. And I do to0!
Lynn
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Good morning Lynn
I don’t know why everyone makes faces. Annie has decided that she doesn’t want to pose for blog pictures, but when one of the other kids gets their picture taken she tries to get in the shot LOL
That place looks like a lot of fun! I loved the burro shot