The Tweetsie Railroad

Last week we were able to visit the Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, up in the mountains. A very sweet family named the Haury's gave us tickets so we could go. The Haury's daughter Melia has congenital heart defects very similar to Lydia's. We met in October of last year and our families have kept in touch every since. (They came down halfway through the day to spend some time together. It was a lot of fun!)

On the way up to Blowing Rock it poured down rain so we were questioning what kind of a day we would have. When we got there it was still "raining cats and dogs" as they say, but we decided to go have fun whether we got soaking wet or not. Well, we were pretty much drenched by the time we got from our car to the admission building! We decided it would be best to just get some ponchos for the kiddos and cut them down to size for them. As you can see from the pictures, it didn't hurt our spirits any! We really were having a great time getting soaked. Lydia and Caleb are always begging to go play in the rain, so I told them it was their big chance. =)

Because of the pouring rain when we got there, we decided to take the train ride first. And judging by the looks of glee on their faces, driving the two hours up there was worth it just to ride a real train. Even if we had to turn around and go home because it was raining so hard!


The train ride was pretty neat. We got to ride with some "Legends of the Old West", a.k.a cowboys. During the train ride the train had to stop so the cowboys could capture some outlaw and then later on they had to stop at a fort to fight the wild Indians to
get their gold back. Thankfully, by the time the train got back, it had stopped raining! And it stayed that way until we were ready to go home. What a blessing!

Here is Caleb riding the fake horse. I don't think he knew it was fake though! =) That's part of the train behind him. It was a real coal burning steam powered train.

Lydia and Caleb LOVED this ride. They got to ride it all by themselves. I thought I was going to cry watching them though. I just kept thinking, "Where have my babies gone?? Aren't they too little to be doing things like this?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!"

Isn't that cute? =) Lydia and Caleb rode just about every ride they could! Their favorite ride was the carousel. They kept saying that they were Mary Poppins. =) We rode little race cars, a kiddy train and the ferris wheel too. Lydia was really brave and rode this very "spinny" ride with Steven. It was one of those that you sit in the chair that spins around fast and then the whole thing with all the chairs also spin around.
She loved it! I was so surprised, I didn't know she was that brave!



There was also a petting zoo type place at Tweetsie. They had albino deer, llamas, burros, pygmy goats and emus. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the llama! I am a strange person who really likes llamas, okay? =) This llama in particular was really funny though. It was standing under the tree all prestigious and dignified. It wouldn't give anybody the time of day...he would either stare at you or turn his head and ignore you.

Lydia and Caleb really liked the pygmy goats. I have to say, they were adorable. Usuallly they are kind of afraid of animals, but Caleb kept sticking his arm through the fence and petting them. Then he started getting leaves and feeding the goats. In the picture you can see a white goat on the right, and right by his hand you can see a black goat. Well, for some reason, Caleb kept calling the black goats cows. The first time the black goat stuck his head out to lick Calebs hand and check him out, Caleb starts talking to him. I'm a few feet a way and I hear, "Hey Cow!" (pause) "How you doin' cow?" (pause) "You doin' fine?" (pause) "Good...havin' a good day?" After that he realized he were watching him and he started laughing. He's crazy!

Look at that face she is making! We didn't even tell her to make a scary face.












I like sweet Lydia smiles much better. =)










Caleb was SO tired! He fell asleep not long into our second train ride. (This was the last thing we did before going home.) I couldn't believe he stayed asleep...the cap guns the cowboys use are so loud! He woke up when we were almost back to the train station and he had this surprised look on his face and said, "Mommy! We are on the train! We are going for a train ride!" He had fallen and asleep and forgotten where we were!

So if any of you are ever in the mountains of North Carolina, our family would have to highly recommend going to the Tweetsie Railroad! We surely made lots of fun family memories there!