I bought our season tickets to Tweetsie this year knowing they covered our visit to see Thomas. I'd been thinking about our trip for a few weeks, planning what to pack, what I wanted us to do. I decided I wanted to try camping two nights this time, so we'd have a little more time enjoy the outdoors. And I wanted to camp on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the park we visited so often when I was growing up: Julian Price Park.
We set out Wednesday morning, a little later than I had hoped but excited. The skies were solid gray and thunderstorms were in the forecast, but I hoped they'd pass quickly. It rained off and on while we were driving but quit while we stopped for lunch. We soldiered on, but I was starting to worry that we were either going to be stuck in the rain or have to drive back to my parents' house and stay the night.
About 100 yards from the parkway, we hit a gray wall with about 30 feet of visibility. The fog was so heavy that we could barely see the entrance ramp or signs along the parkway. And it was drizzling just enough to still need wipers but not enough to keep them on regular. I have driven in torrential rain, blinding lightning and heavy snow, but I'm not sure I've ever been creeped out more than I was driving through this fog. I couldn't see anything off the sides of the road and only about 40 feet in front of the car. I focused on the double yellow lines, but it was so eerie. You hear about new pilots who get discombobulated flying during bad weather because they can't see the horizon or any reference points. I totally felt that ... it almost made me dizzy to being driving in this tunnel of cotton candy.
Luckily, there wasn't much traffic (though we did pass a [crazy] cyclist!). When we hit Blowing Rock, the fog cleared. It was still gray and overcast, but you could see trees and signs again!
It wasn't raining at Price Park, but I knew it would start again. We killed some time in the picnic area where I let Sawyer go wading in the stream. I knew he'd love it, and it gave me time to decide whether to stay or go.
The water was positively frigid. I couldn't stay in more than a minute before my feet hurt. Sawyer would've stayed in until he had frostbite. I kept making him take a break to thaw out, but he kept telling me he wasn't cold. He was throwing rocks and making splashes.
We drove into town so I could call my mom and check the weather. I knew we'd probably get rained on, but we'd have to go through road construction and potentially get detoured if we went to Hickory to stay with my parents, after my already harrowing drive in the fog. And we'd have another hour drive in the morning to come back for Thomas. I decided we were already there and it wasn't raining, so we might as well give camping a shot.
We bought firewood and headed back to the campground, where we picked out a high site by the lake. I set up our tent and air mattresses while Sawyer wandered around looking at bugs and rocks. There was still plenty of daylight and it still wasn't raining, so we went for a walk.
I couldn't believe how rough the parkway facilities looked. The lack of funding is taking its toll. The campground loops were full of potholes. The tent pads were falling apart. The grass hadn't been mowed. And the trail around the lake had areas that had been washed out, so we had to balance across wet logs to cross. It made me incredibly sad.
We checked out the lake and the dam. Well, what we could see of it. The fog over the lake was pretty thick.
We headed back to the campsite after a little potty accident and changed clothes. We started our fire (to the relief of our overly concerned neighbor who had to point out a great site and ask if we had firewood) and cooked hotdogs and baked beans.
After dinner, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores and Sawyer actually liked them this year.
The evening weather wasn't bad. It was cool enough to enjoy sitting by the fire. It wasn't raining. The bullfrogs were singing. I could've sat outside longer, but Sawyer was dying to get in the tent. And I was totally exhausted. We hit the "comfort station" to brush teeth, put out the fire and turned in.
After a few books, Sawyer was out. I was not so lucky. About 10:15, the rain started and it got harder and harder. It was actually kind of creepy because I could hear the roar of the loud rain hitting the lake before it filtered through the trees and hit us. It rained ALL NIGHT and kept me awake. Between really needing to hit the bathroom again, worrying about the wet tent and dreading a day at Tweetsie in the rain, I don't think I slept more than two hours. The tent started leaking a few drips about 3 a.m. so I had that to worry about, too.
At 6:45 a.m., a little voice said, "Mama, it's time to wake up!"
We rolled out of bed and folded everything in the tent up before walking to the bathroom. I noticed almost every one of our neighbors had already packed up and left. There were no less than 1,000 bugs clustered around the light in the bathhouse. I took down the tent as fast as I could, and we headed into Boone ... in our pajamas ... to get a hot breakfast, have a dry place to change clothes and kill a hour before Tweetsie opened.
Thursday morning was not as foggy, but it was raining.
After biscuits at Hardee's and dry clothes, we headed back to Tweetsie, which was largely deserted. There were maybe 30 cars in the parking lot. I don't love getting wet, but the lack of people was awfully nice. We got to ride most things without waiting. In fact, we were often the only ones on the ride.
The Tweetsie staff was very nice to try to dry off rides, but we were already wet. The ferris wheel operator told me he'd dry off the ride first, and I told him not to worry about it. But he said, "Well, I have to dry off the brake a bit." THAT drying off was OK with me. We were the only riders!
We visited the arcade and some of the indoor attractions to kill time until our appointed ride with Thomas.
Tearing Sawyer away from the train tables was hard, but it was finally our time to ride Thomas.
It was a shorter ride than the normal Tweetsie trip, which is great. And it's much funnier. I think the kids can actually understand the little show at "Fort Boone."
Afterward, we watched Thomas steam by before heading up the mountain for several other attractions.
We rode up the chair lift to the top of Tweetsie.
We rode the Mouse Train and then Sawyer rode another set of airplanes and a boat before we went to the Hopper and Porter show, where I convinced him to climb on stage with other kids and "hammer" railroad spikes in during a song.
We then went through the animal farm and fed the goats and llamas.
We were ready for lunch, so we visited Sir Topham Hatt before having a car picnic like a lot of other families.
I had thought we might leave about lunchtime because we'd be soaked and tired. But it had quit raining, and we were refreshed after lunch. We ditched our raincoats, went back inside and rode a few more things, which were more crowded this time.
We traded in our arcade tickets for an orange bouncy ball (which later prompted a meltdown because Sawyer let it go and it rolled under a fence. A nice employee heard Sawyer's blood-curdling screams and let us in to look for it, and I found it under a hedge).
We watched Thomas go by a few more times, bought a souvenir and a cute photo of the two of us together. Sawyer posed in the jail, like I did as a kid.
We walked out near the trestle to see Thomas go by once more before leaving. We waved goodbye and listened to the awesome sound of the whistle.
Instead of two nights camping, we opted for a dry bed and extra time at Grandmother and Pops' house. It wasn't the trip I had envisioned, but we still had a good time ... as we always do.
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