The Old West"ern" of North Carolina

We decided to venture out to Tweetsie Railroad - and historic amusement park that has been around for fifty years. We usually head toward Dollywood but no one felt like staying in a hotel overnight and a day trip into Gatlinburg during high tourist season can be a big gamble. Traffic can creep along at five miles an hour for miles and miles.

So we escaped to Blowing Rock to visit an amusement park that I have not been to in 26 years. And it has not changed in 26 years either! This particular day though was the last day for Thomas the Train's visit to the park - we had tickets to ride the train, visit Sir Topham Hat and all the other fun stuff that Thomas' Day Out provides. And it was PACKED. We started to say things like "let's skip waiting for this ride" and "maybe we should eat now even though it is only 11 AM" And Tweetsie is not that big - we ran out of things to do an hour before our train ride was scheduled to leave.

But all in all it was worth it - J got to see Thomas in real life and take a ride. On the train ride you stop at an old western "town" and watch a cowboy/Indian gun fight - well, you used to. Now it would not be appropriate to invoke gun violence in front of young children (never mind this is the old west we're talking about) so instead they settled on what appeared to be comedy while decorated in "Red Face" and chased each other around a little gate. I didn't know whether to be appalled, sad at the quality of this little show or insulted for the Native Americans. But I guess it beat witnessing a family with elementary school-aged children all sharing drags of cigarettes with their parents, as my dad did.

And mom and I sat on the same fake horses we sat on 26 years ago and took the same picture at the same angle. One of these days I'll post the old and new shots together. I guess it is good some things, like our youthful beauty, never changes right? :)