Day Out with Thomas

Today we got back on track, and headed up to the station in Bryson City, North Carolina. It was there that we met Thomas the Train, who seemed to be in a good mood. Take a look at his photo there, and you can see he's happy to be taking kids and families for a ride up and down the track. We had tickets to this event for the last few months, but had no idea that so much would be happening on this very date. In fact, this morning before making the long drive north, we were officially - once and for all - getting our new house taken care of. On top of that, there were deadlines for print jobs for church, and let's just say it was a hectic morning for all of us.

And then there was the long drive. Bryson City is one of those places that I always seem to underestimate in regards to distance: it took us well over two hours to drive our way up. Fortunately, we had just enough time to arrive at the depot, wolf down our sandwiches that Mommy so carefully packed - and board the train. Here's a group shot of us after climbing aboard Thomas the train.

Madison really, really enjoyed it. When she first got on a carousel some time ago, her face was very serious - but we knew that was because she was intensely enjoying this. Same for when she went horseback riding. And now, the same with her ride on this train: she was so into it. We rode not that far away, and rode really slowly. The ticket said about 25 minutes we'd be gone, and that was that. My guess is that they were wanting more kids to have an opportunity to ride, so they had shorter rides.

But today was an off day - and the temperature was (I'm not making this up) ninety-seven degrees. Fortunately, there was a little breeze in the open car we selected. Boy, I'm glad I selected an open car when we bought these tickets!

We made it as far as an old bridge and stopped there for a while, overlooking the river. It was about a mile and a half away - and then we started to go back. An announcer over the intercom let us know that Sir Topham Hatt was needing Thomas back at the station. So back we rolled towards town. But before then, Madison got an honorary degree in engineering. I guess she's heading to Georgia Tech.

Anyway, after that, we saw a train museum after that, where Madison had a blast pressing buttons and activating large train sets in huge, intricate landscapes. It was all done very nicely, and the older ones (that would be me) really appreciated the very old train toys and lanterns.

Soon after that, we got ourselves some ice cream inside - which Madison gobbled up quickly. Okay, everyone gobbled their ice cream up quickly. Part of this might be because it was so incredibly hot outside. This would explain why we avoided the inflatable bouncy things and other activities: it was simply too hot to do that!

We left shortly after that, ending our day with Thomas - and wouldn't you know it? The sky opened up and the rain poured out all the way home. At least it didn't rain on our day, and at the same time, everything cooled off very nicely for us when we finally arrived at the house.

Madison has simply adored having Baba and Nana here. She was excited the entire drive up - and the entire drive down, playing games with Nana in the backseat. The two had a great time ...while Mommy and Baba took a well-deserved rest.

We'll see how long she lasts now though. After dinner, I'm predicting an early night!