Choo Choo

This past weekend my husband and I took Brayden to Tweetsie Railroad in Boone, NC. It was awesome!! We have been to Boone/Blowing Rock and let me say it is just beautiful there. The mountains and all the other sights to see, it's just a very lovely place. This is our 1st trip to Tweetsie and we enjoyed it so much. There is lots in the park to see and do, I don't think we managed so see everything. When we first arrived Brayden noticed the choo choo right away and he was all about it. He couldn't wait to be up there in person and see it!! He was yelling for it he wanted to go so bad.
  So we get into the park and we are now up close and personal with Thomas and the choo choo's and it became a whole different story. Tweetsie Railroad operates and runs a real steam train. So it is very loud and it is very smokey/stinky. The train runs every 30 minutes. Our ride wasn't until 11:30 and so we had about an hour to pass before we needed to line up. After our discovery of Brayden NOT liking the train up close our day became visiting shops or trying to find a place to go to dodge Thomas when he would come back. Once he took off again we were fine to move about the park until we would hear that he was coming back again. I do believe overall Brayden really enjoyed himself other than that one small issue :-).
  It was now time for us to line up for our ride and daddy walked Brayden around while I stayed in line so we had a good spot. We lined up for the very last car that way we were no where near the loudness of the steam engine and we figured it wouldn't be as full back there. Brayden had a fit the whole time we waited on the train for everyone to board. I kept telling myself once we get moving he will be okay, he's just upset right now because he's unsure. I was right, once we got moving he was fine. They even stopped the train about half way and did a skit with Indians and Cowboys, he was into that! So his ride ended up going very smooth.
  After our train ride we had a really cool lunch and with Braydens he got a Tweetsie lunch box and cup. We then went to see Sir Topham Hatt and Brayden didn't like him either. From a far he was waving and seemed all interested but then once it was our turn for pictures he started crying. After that we decided we'd stop in the Thomas gift shop and we ended up getting him a blanket instead of a t-shirt. he blankets we less expensive, plus I figured he'd grow out of a shirt in no time and this way he could use his blankie for a very long time. His blankie says he spent the day out with Thomas!! It's cute!
  We decided that we probably won't take him back there until he is about 4 maybe. He might be okay to take next year but we will have to see about that. I know even though we had to dodge the train I had a great time and personally can't wait to take him back when he's a bit older.

I forgot to mention back home in High Point it was 76 degrees and there at Tweetsie is was only 55 degrees. Good thing I checked the mountain weather before we left so we could all dress accordingly!!

Lastly, I am trying to plan a 1 night stay for the beach. I am going with a Saturday night and looking to take my mom and dad with us. My mom has NEVER been to the ocean. I was thinking Wilmington Beach maybe, it's only about 3.5 hours away. If anyone knows of a decently priced place to stay please let me know! I am going to start some research on that soon.