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After a bit of planning we found a spring weekend that seemed available on our schedule,
Robert's paternal grandparent's schedule, Steve, Helen and Aaron's schedule (barring some grading Steve needed to do),
and Martha's schedule (barring a Montessori School function).
Unfortunately, at the last minute some things popped up at work that Sarah needed to take care of.
So Robert and I loaded up the car Friday morning and headed down to Richmond to pick up Martha.
Clearly Robert was prepared for anything on this first big trip without his mom.
After a stop to collect Williamsburg information for my Dad (who is planning a trip there next year) from the
tourism office next to the capitol, we picked up Martha just before lunch time and continued south for
a bit before a quick stop at McDonald's for lunch and some play-land time.
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We pulled into the parking lot of the Dos Amigos, the designated meeting spot for dinner and the
Martha hand-off (she was staying with my folks in Seven Devils while Robert and I stayed with
Steve, Helen and Aaron in Deep Gap) at 6:25 for a planned 6:30 dinner. A long trip but pretty good
timing for leaving Alexandria at 9:15. After dinner Robert and Aaron played for a bit before it
was Robert's bed time.
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The weather Saturday was not looking to be spectacular so we hung around the house before Aaron showed
Robert the playground at his school again. It's hard to say what was most fun: the climbing platforms,
the sand box or the scooter ride with Uncle Steve -- OK, that was the most fun, I think.
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That evening, Steve, Helen and Aaron hosted a birthday dinner for my dad. We all enjoyed the tasty beef stew and cornbread
and watching my dad open his presents.
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For Robert, the real excitement of the trip was Sunday. The weather was fantastic and we headed to
Tweetsie Railroad. I have never been there and this was Robert's
first trip as well. I didn't realize it was so much more than the train ride -- which is good as Robert was
too scared by the train robbers and scalping Indians to enjoy the actual Tweetsie train ride (the steam
whistle was a bit loud even for me). After the shooting started, he was in my lap covered up by Steve's coat.
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After getting off the train (and away from it), we found lots of things much more fun for Robert.
There were no lines so it was easy to walk up to any ride and hop on -- or hop on again.
For example, we took the cars for a spin four times (but Robert only drove once). The chair lift was fun,
but the cars were more fun; however, the chair lift took us up to the rides on the top level, like the Ferris wheel.
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Next to the Ferris wheel were the helicopters and propeller planes. Robert discovered empirically that it's easier to
get these helicopters to fly up pulling the bar back than it is to pull the stick back to get the planes to go up.
But they both go around and are fun to ride. I was just a little taken aback when I realized I was too big to ride with
him and he'd have to ride by himself.
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Not to far away were the boats and jet airplanes. There was a show just starting up when Robert was piloting the jet, so
he was a bit distracted by the huge rabbit and groundhog (I think) on the stage next door. We headed over there after
the jet ride and Robert got into the parade of kids dancing to Locomotion; how appropriate.
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Of course there was a playground as well as the rides. This playground even had a hand powered tram, I guess that's the best
name for it: you talked someone into turning the crank and the pink covered car went from one platform to the other.
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And up the hill just a bit higher was the petting zoo.
The emus were kind of aggressive when there was feed around (and they have very long necks).
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I think the RoundUp was Aaron's favorite ride -- at least it was the only ride he did that
no one else wanted to; though Robert was intrigued by how it went up and down in addition to spinning.
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For Robert, the high point was the Mouse Mine Train -- no bandits, just mice mining the seam of cheese in the tunnel.
He even explained the history of the mine to Sarah when he got back (we took three trips so he could study it in detail).
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After a full day of excitement, we headed to my folks' house where Martha had been slaving away over dinner
(though she had a glass of wine in her hand by the time we arrived). It was another great meal.
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Martha really liked Robert's choice from the Tweetsie gift shop:
a python he named "Jaguar" because it has spots like "Baby Jaguar"
from the Dora and Diego franchise. I'm not sure Robert will remember much of the trip other than all the
Tweetsie excitement, but I enjoyed the extended conversations with Martha on the drive and the chance to
catch up with my folks and Steve, Helen and Aaron.
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