Tweetsie Railroad

We had talked about taking Em to Tweetsie Railroad for a while because choo-choo trains are one of her favorite things right now. It's in Blowing Rock, which is less than a two-hour drive from us. A couple of weeks ago, I heard a radio commercial that Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego would be visiting Tweetsie Railroad the weekend of June 23, so the decision was made.

We went up Friday night and stayed in Boone, about 5 minutes away, so we could be at the park pretty early.  We arrived at the park around 9:30 Saturday morning, and except for making a stop to sit on the horsey, we headed straight for the tent where Dora was making her first appearance at 10:00 AM.

We got there early enough for Em to have Boots the Monkey painted on her face--when she saw him in the mirror afterwards, she was so excited.

There wasn't much to the show in our opinion, but it was perfect for Em--only about 15 minutes long, and plenty of singing and dancing.

We were sitting about mid-way under the tent on the bleachers, and Em decided that wasn't close enough--she climbed right down and went straight to the front so she could have an unobstructed view!

After the show, a line formed for pictures, so we waited the 15 minutes so Em could meet her favorite character.  I wasn't sure how she'd react because she's unpredictable with big costumes (remembering the Easter Bunny), but she was thrilled!  She gave both of them high fives, and then said she needed to give them big hugs!

Although she didn't want to leave the Dora tent, there was so much to do in the park that we were able to distract her pretty easily.  The chair lift was one of her favorite things (she loves to go up SO high!).

The chair lift took us up to Miner's Mountain, where there were lots of kids' rides, a place to pan for gold, a miniature train ride, and a petting zoo.

The rides were perfect, because they were for kids only, and Em really loved being able to ride all by herself like a big girl.

The animals were a big hit too!

The mini train ride was great--it took us through a cheese mine tunnel where they had cartoonish mice set up mining for cheese with lots of bright colors and music, which fascinated Emily.

There were several shows she enjoyed too--they all lasted about 15-20 minutes, which is perfect for her attention span.

She joined right in with the cloggers, and then wanted to take a picture with "the princesses" when they were done.

Same with the can-can dancers--she had to be right up front,

and needed her picture taken with them too!

There was a section like a county fair with more rides and games--Em and Daddy drove a car together.

She was steering and Mick was controlling the gas/brakes, but I think he gave up on the bumpers about halfway through and helped her steer.

There were a couple of rides where she got to go up high, and she liked those the most (helicopters and airplanes).

Had to try her hand at a couple of fair games, and with a little help from Daddy, she won a little blue alligator.

The ride on the big train was fun at the end of the day, but there were a couple of stops where cowboys got out and staged gunfights, and Em was not a fan.  She got pretty scared and kept telling us she wanted to go home.  The gunshots were enough for her to decide she didn't like the cowboys!

We stayed until about 5:00 that afternoon, so it was a full day.  We went back to the hotel and took a quick dip in the pool before heading out for dinner.

We had dinner and all went to bed pretty early--it was a long day, but so much fun!  We headed home before lunch on Sunday and still had a little weekend left when we got here.