Last year, I had thought about taking Sawyer to Blowing Rock to Tweetsie Railroad. I knew he'd love the train, but I wasn't sure what else he would be able to ride. It'd probably been nearly 30 years since I'd been there. (Somewhere I have pictures of my brother and me ... in matching red jackets, me with no front teeth ... at Tweetsie Railroad. There's also a picture somewhere of my dad and his brothers there when they were kids.)
The park was free from children younger than 3, so I knew we should visit at least once before Sawyer's birthday. When I found out that Thomas the Tank Engine visits Tweetsie, I was sold. We made our epic Thomas/Tweetsie/First Camping trip and had such a blast.
After a huge debacle during our annual United Way auction at work, where I won tickets to Tweetsie that I thought were season tickets, but turned out to only be one-time tickets I could use any time this season (except for Thomas), I got my money back and decided I would splurge and buy us REAL season passes.
The season opens on weekends in mid-April, but this was really the first weekend we could go. I decided to keep Sawyer out of school Friday, so we drove up to my parents' house in Hickory on Thursday and spent the night. Friday morning, I planned to leave bright and early but we got a late start. It was quite overcast instead of sunny and my alarm never went off so I slept till 9:30.
My nephew and niece (Sawyer's BEST friend) come to my parents' house on Fridays, so it was all I could do to tear Sawyer away from playing with her. He had no interest in going to ride a train! We finally distracted them both and set out ... in the convertible, though it was too cold for the top down.
About halfway, the sun started coming out and it warmed up a lot. I pulled over in Lenoir to put the top down and put our shades on.
It was still blue skies when we pulled into a nearly empty parking lot. Sawyer and I walked right in, bought our season passes, had our pictures taken, ordered our Thomas tickets and hit the park.
Our first stop was the restrooms, a place we hit often now that Sawyer is wearing real underwear. (They were Thomas underwear, for that matter.) He doesn't like to be forced to go to the potty, but I was afraid he might forget once we got started riding things or need to go while we were in the middle of the 20-minute train ride.
Tweetsie wasn't in the "station," so we walked up the hill to check out the other rides. Our first stop was these antique-looking cars that are like go-karts. We had to wait through one cycle of guests to ride them. Next stop was the merry-go-round. Besides Sawyer and me, I think there was one other kid on it.
I wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, something Sawyer loved last year, but he wouldn't have it. There was a big group of people getting on so I figured it'd be easier to ride with them. He pitched a fit because he wanted to ride the airplanes beside it first. I pulled him aside as they started the Ferris wheel and told him that we'd just go home if he was going to cry and not cooperate. We would ride things that we both wanted to ride. He then decided it was imperative that we get on the Ferris wheel immediately, but it was already turning.
Luckily, for us, a small boy did NOT like it and they stopped it to let him and his granddad off. We hopped into their seats and went through a few more turns and stops as other kids started crying to get off.
After riding the airplanes (with one other kid), we walked back down the mountain but missed Tweetsie again. The train had just pulled out as we got to the bottom.
So we rode the chair lift up to the top of the mountain. We rode the Mouse Mine train, a miniature train that goes through a tunnel full of dancing mice characters who are mining for cheese. We walked through the Deer Park for the first time. We bought ice cream cones full of grain to feed the goats, deer, burros and emu in the "petting zoo."
Sawyer is not the least bit afraid of feeding them or petting them, but he steered clear of the emu. They were behind a fence, but they're as tall as I am and they have super-sharp beaks. I knew what it'd feel like because I fed an emu when Ray and I went to Australia. These were a little more aggressive, but I did it anyway. Two adults who came up behind us were scared of them and told their kids to watch "this nice lady feeding the 'ostriches' " because they weren't going to do it.
Sawyer liked the goats and the llamas best. Several people would've snuck these baby goats out with them. They were so cute.
We ALMOST made it past a shop with a full Thomas train station. But Sawyer noticed it out of the corner of his eye, and we had to go look. We played for a few minutes on the playground, where Sawyer climbed the "spider web."
By this time, I was getting chilly. The sun had started to go behind the clouds, and I was quite nervous that it would start raining. I decided we should head back down the hill and ride the train, just in case it did open up. After that, we'd go eat lunch and grab sweatshirts if we wanted to stay longer.
We just made it on the train before it started to pull out. Sawyer lead us to sit in the VERY front seat, where you'd couldn't see a thing. And it was so loud that he covered his ears every time the whistle blew.
During Thomas, they cut out a lot of the regular cowboys and Indians show during the train ride and don't shoot any guns. So this was our first time witnessing the bank robbers and and Indians. Sawyer was thoroughly confused by what they were doing. Frankly, it's got to be over most kids' heads. And I'm surprised the Native Americans haven't created an uproar about the Indian schtick.
We got back to town and headed for the car, making sure to get our hands stamped so we could come back in. Sawyer was obsessed with his "tattoo."
Like an idiot, I thought we'd be better off eating in town instead of at Tweetsie. And I just really wanted to be out of the cold for a bit. We found a nice restaurant and had yummy sandwiches and homemade chips. It probably cost me double what I would've spent on lunch at the park. (Next time, we're bringing a picnic.)
The rain held off, and Sawyer wanted to go back after lunch. Thankfully, I'd brought warm coats for us. It was about 50 degrees and falling. It took everything in my power to get Sawyer to stand for a picture with the train. He pitched a mighty fit because he was SURE it was going to start moving and run him over. I promised him that the bell would ring and they'd close the tracks before it moved. He really didn't trust me, but I finally got a few pictures.
We stayed a few more hours. We rode Tweetsie again and sat farther back where we could see better. We also rode the Ferris wheel and the airplane again ... we were the only people on both rides.
Our last stop was the fudge shop, where I bought us a treat for the road.
Just before we left, I wanted to walk out to the far end of the park and watch the train go by up close. I was hoping to get a video, but after waiting forever for it to start rolling, my battery was too low for video. I did get a picture of Sawyer as Tweetsie roared by. It's hard to wave at the train when your ears are covered, poor kid.
We had fun though. He was asleep before we got all the way down the mountain and then had to tell Grandmother about everything we'd done.
I think we'll get our money's worth out of these tickets.
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