A two-fer might be too much

Our ride aboard Tweetsie’s Ghost Train last year was frightful.

Not so much because of the ghouls, goblins and spooks inside and outside the train though. It was a rough experience because Sawyer barfed on me.

Chalk it up to bad candy corn, unsettling strobe lights or a fear of the unknown, but I felt sure it was a one-off. He’s never had one issue on any of the other rides at Tweetsie.

And even though I didn’t think the Ghost Train experience was that terrific, I was willing to go back and see what difference a year made. This year, we decided to bring reinforcements: Daddy!

I’d been telling Ray how often Sawyer says, “I wish Dad were here,” when we go places like Tweetsie. It’s easily one of Sawyer’s favorite places, but Dad had never been there. So Ray said to pick a day and we’d go.

I decided it would be Tweetsie overload to go all day and all night, so I convinced him to do Grandfather Mountain during the day and then we’d have a break and do the Ghost Train, which doesn’t open until 7 p.m. It was a good plan in my head, and for just Sawyer and me, it would’ve been totally doable. He’s a great sport about me cramming several different activities into one day. Ray, on the other hand, is not used to it. (Or you might say he’s not as good of a sport. Ha ha!)

Our drive up to the mountains wasn’t bad, even with Ray taking work phone calls most of the way. The leaves were very pretty and, because it was a Friday, there wasn’t much traffic.

But the weather turned a little sour when we hit Boone. The clouds were rolling in, and we drove through patches of drizzle on the stretch of N.C. 105 out to Linville. That should’ve been an omen, but like I said, we’re used to being a traveling duo, not a trio. I had packed rain jackets and though nothing of some drizzle.

Ray was not as wowed by Grandfather Mountain as the rest of the family. Sawyer and I had such good time there last summer (save for the dead car battery), but Dad is not an ambler. I forget how different our styles are. He wants to move through parks like that quickly; I like to wander around taking photos.

We popped into the nature center first. The geography and geology displays weren’t much of a draw for the two guys, so we headed out to see the animals. Sawyer loves the animals and could easily stay at each habitat for half an hour. But Daddy herded us along. We did spend extra time in the otter habitat, but mostly because the otters were in the water and one played with Sawyer through the glass for 10 minutes.

He’d swim back and forth then pop up out of the water in front of Sawyer. We told him to put his hands on the glass, and sure enough, the otter copied him. The whole group of visitors were cracking up at this otter show. We visited the other animals – the bears, the eagle, the cougar, the deer – but moved on pretty quickly after spotting them. I most enjoyed watching a few wild squirrels hide nuts in the roots of a tree near the trail.

After making the animal rounds, we headed back to the car and drove to the summit. We all climbed up to the bridge, which was really singing in the wind, and walked across. Since Ray was with us, I let Sawyer climb a little farther out onto the rocky cliffs than I was willing to last time. The clouds were rolling in, and soon you couldn’t even see the valley below us.

As the drizzle started, we decided to head back and grab a snack in the gift shop. The rain tapered off as we ate our crackers and candy bars, so I asked Ray if we could hike down the short trail to the lower parking lot. He said he’d meet Sawyer and me there.

It was only about a quarter mile, but the scenery was beautiful. We hiked right under the bridge and passed some monstrous rock walls. Even over such a short descent, you could see the difference in the trees and terrain. Sawyer stayed ahead of me most of the way, jumping off granite steps, but I’d call him back every so often to check out a cool bug or snail on the pathway.

We arrived at the lower lot, where Ray was waiting for us, just before the bottom dropped out. So our short visit to Grandfather was done. We left to drive back into Boone, but it was only about 3 p.m. I wondered what we’d do to kill the next four hours until Tweetsie opened.

Thankfully, Sawyer fell asleep. I sweet-talked Ray into letting me hit the Goodwill while he slept, but even that didn’t kill too much time. The thrift stores were full of college kids hunting Halloween costumes, and Sawyer woke up.

So I texted my friend Margaret, who was in town for Appalachian’s homecoming game. She graciously let us crash at their house for an hour; Sawyer watched cartoons while Ray chilled and Margaret and I talked.

About 6:30, we headed back to Boone to grab dinner – Sawyer chose Chick-fil-A, and we barely beat a huge group of soccer parents and players.

Tweetsie looked almost like a Ghost Town, instead of a Ghost Train. The rain, and likely homecoming weekend, kept it from ever being crowded, a bonus for the mom who hates crowds.

We walked right in and boarded the train within about 10 minutes. The train scenario was even more lame this year than last; the “scariest” part was being squirted with water that was supposed to seem like blood.

After the train, we headed up to ride the merry-go-round and the Ferris wheel, which made Ray a little queasy. Ray showed off his shooting skills at the arcade “saloon.”

Last year, I couldn’t take Sawyer through any of the things that I thought would be too scary for him. So we skipped the Haunted House, the Haunted Forest and a couple other grown-up spooks. This year, we took turns. I went through the haunted house while Ray and Sawyer strolled around, and Ray went through the forest.

The haunted house gave me a good laugh. I’m not easily scared in haunted setups, but I don’t usually go through them alone. I knew we’d go in some sort of group, but I wondered whose group they’d put me in. Ahead of me were five women about my age. Behind me, two teenage boys goofing off with cap guns. Beavis and Butthead won out.

I was first, and the two boys decided they wanted to go in with guns blazing. They were full of bravado. Since I was leading, I had to open all the doors and go around the corners first, which I did pretty quickly. It helped knowing the shape and size of the building (which is usually a concert hall for a western show), so I had a pretty good idea of where and how the maze of halls was taking us to the exit. I didn’t really pass one thing that scared me, and even then, I’m not a screamer. But those teenage boys, they were whooping and hollering behind me. At one point, I got too far ahead of them. And when they caught up, one said, “Hey, don’t leave us!” Ha ha! Right. You’re on your own, Beavis and Butthead.

Anyway, after a few more attractions – the 3-D neon maze, a spinning tunnel and a hall of red, pulsating lights, we were ready to head home. We did stick around a few more minutes though, to catch the performance of “Thriller” by all the Tweetsie conductors and Halloween characters. It was pretty amusing, though I told Ray that most of the kids there have no clue how big “Thriller” was when it came out. We are old!

Sawyer was asleep before we drove too far, but Ray and I enjoyed talking the rest of the drive home. It’s nice to have him along for the ride, even when we have different opinions on how to make it happen.