Sunday, July 16

The big day finally arrived! TWEETSIE RAILROAD!

As expected, Nathan was incredibly excited. His cousins had been talking this event up for a while. It was odd for me-retracing steps from over 30 years ago, up the same mountain, taking the same train, and riding what were probably the same amusement park rides.

The weather was perfect & the lines were short. We started with the Merry-Go-Round and quickly moved to the "race cars" (see earlier post on racing), clipping around the short track at speed of almost 2 miles an hour. Then it was on to bigger things -- the bi-planes.

Nathan & Elizabeth boarded solo, each in their own machine, and listened carefully to the directions ("pull the stick down to make the plane go up"). They were marvelous pilots!

But the real thrill was the ferris wheel. Unfortunately, children had to be accompanied by an adult. Brad rode with Elizabeth. Susan has baby Samuel for an excuse. I was stuck. Not wanted to encourage fear in my child, I boarded the damn ferris wheel. Some would say it was a beautiful view of the mountains. And while it would be nice to share a picture from the top of the wheel, I wasn't about to move my arms and risk rocking the chair we were in. All this was before the ride really started. Once started, IT WENT FAST. I practiced deep breathing and quietly repeated the mantra, "this will pass." Nathan whooped it up, yelling "whee!" and waving widely to Aunt Susan below. And yes, Aunt Susan was laughing at me when we FINALLY got off.

After lunch as the "Feed & Seed" we boarded the main attraction. Nathan, being very experienced on trains, took the front seat with cousin Owen. Elizabeth fell in behind... Even Sammie joined up for the ride.



This time, my experiences from 30-some years ago gave me a notch up on the kids. At Tweetsie, they do a "re-enactment" of a bank robbery from the turn of the century. Cowboys, guns, bandits, guns, a sheriff on a horse, guns, and "Indians" (I was pleased to know that the cowboys no longer scalp the Indians; indeed, the Native Americans are shown in a positive light and help to capture the bank robbers). I tried to warn Nathan of this, knowing he would be frightened But you can't hold back a train man... he insisted on being upfront. When the ruckus took place, poor Nathan was reduced to tears, ran to me & wouldn't let go for the rest of the ride. You know, I think we both prefer the peacefulness of the Boone, Iowa train ride.

We rounded off the day with more kiddie rides, some over-priced food, and a meltdown or two because Mom wouldn't let Nathan buy a cap gun. It was a long (e.g, 1.5 hr) drive back to Winston-Salem, but Susan's new minivan has a DVD player with individual headphones for each kid. If we could just get baby Sammie to keep his on...

Saturday, July 15

We shared the day with Grandma & Papa in Martinsville. The local farmer's market had plenty of corn, tomatoes and melons. Nathan enjoyed the dinasaur display at the market.



While the corn wasn't as delicious as some we've had in Iowa, it made a nice lunch.



Grandma & Nathan were excited to see the movie "Cars." Both enjoyed the intensity of the racing movie -- seems appropriate that we viewed it in Martinsville, home of Martinsville Speedway. After the show, Grandma & Nathan created their own race train at the house, complete with sharp curves & smooth pavement.