Photodump Part 2 ~ Grandfather Mountain and Tweetsie Railroad

Here are some more pictures from our little mountain vacation last week.

First up - Grandfather Mountain

                                                  Split Rock                                                                  Sphinx Rock

Some pictures we took when we stopped at Sphinx Rock and Split Rock on our way up the mountain. They give you a little audio tour CD to listen to that tells you what everything is which was kind of nice.

We were trying to get him to wear a coonskin cap at the gift shop, but he wasn't having it

The lady at the base of the mountain had warned us about the 40+ MPH winds at the top and told us to hold onto our kid. She wasn't joking - it was ridiculously windy.  We decided to put the munchkin in the hip hammock sling thing for safe keeping.

Yep, I did all this climbing over rocks with my boot on my foot (and got a LOT of comments from randoms)

A little family pic outside the bear enclosure.

The molting bear, watching the otters, and feeding time for the deer.  There were also some cougars, but they wouldn't come out of hiding.

This one cracks me up  :)

Up next Tweetsie Railroad!

The entire family

Uh oh - what did he do now??

Andrew wasn't so sure about these fake horses

But he enjoyed standing in the tee pee

Hoisting myself up there with this damn boot was not easy

Riding the railroad around the park and watching the skit with his daddy

His first amusement park ride. We actually went on twice in a row since it wasn't crowded and he enjoyed it.

Yep, I let my 16 month old have cotton candy.  Might explain why he didn't nap all day  ;)

The animals in the deer park (emu, llama, miniature horse and a burro)

Andrew was very excited by the llama.  He kept raising his arms and yelling - it was hilarious

So long Tweetsie!  Catch you next time!

We were there from 11:30 until about 5:30 and all the kids did amazingly well.  Afterward we even stopped at the Daniel Boone Inn for dinner and they all made it through with no meltdowns - I was shocked.

We packed up and headed home the next day and were greeted by almost 100 degree temps when we got here. Awesome.  Anyway, besides the stellar cold that my mom decided to share with me it was a nice little vacation and it was good to get away and relax a little.  Now it's back to reality and counting down to the next adventure.

Vacation Picture Overload ~ Blue Ridge Parkway and The Biltmore

I'm going to break my huge photodump of vacation pictures up into two posts because there is a LOT.

Here are some pictures from our time in Asheville visiting the Biltmore and some stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

When we got to Asheville we checked into our hotel and then headed out to find Devil's Courthouse:

It was a little chilly and rainy when we left the car so the munchkin has on his awesome camo rain jacket

I didn't wear my walking boot for this hike - pretty sure my doctor would not be thrilled.

View from the top

Can't resist kissing this kid

This picture does no justice to how steep the walk was. At least 3/4 of it was paved. The last part was like walking through a dry creek bed. Perfect with my bum foot.

View from the bottom

That big rock behind us is what we were just on top of

A stop along the parkway

Looking Glass Rock

Andrew swimming in the whirlpool tub in our hotel room. I couldn't get the drainplug in the regular tub so we had to use this one.

Time for the Biltmore!

You aren't allowed to take pictures in the house, but I snuck one in the stone hallway in the basement

In the gardens

250 rooms in this place

A little photo-op in the garden

Andrew was less than impressed with the conservatory

And he was out by the end of the tour

A little stop along the parkway for some lunch and to stretch our legs

Hanging out on top of Mt Mitchell

Nice rat tail on the dude behind us. And no, Andrew is not wearing shoes - we're rednecky like that sometimes.

View from Mt Mitchell

I'll come back tomorrow with pictures from the rest of our trip.

We're Back!

I know I've been MIA for a week, but we were on vacation starting this past Saturday and the free WiFi was spotty at best so I didn't even bother getting my laptop out of the bag while we were gone.

Anyway, we made it back from our trip to Asheville/Banner Elk/Boone in one piece and I'm trying to get caught up on an assload of work.  I will be doing a big photo dump of our trip next week, but in the meantime here are a few sneak peeks:

Andrew chilling in our hotel room Saturday afternoon

Sticking his finger in a hole at the top of Devil's Courthouse

His new trick - standing all on his own (finally!)

A tour at Biltmore

Playing on mommy and daddy's bed

He was very amused by the llama

His own "room"

Oh, and our little munchkin turned 16 months yesterday. Crazy.