Day 12 (part 2)

(Before I forget again...I meant to say that Nathan and I loved visiting Biltmore when we used to live in Durham. It was a lovely way to spend a weekend away from school...)

After Biltmore, we headed to the Great Smoky Mountains. Because they're there and were somewhat on our way. ;) We made the short (but steep) hike to Clingmans Dome...a somewhat ugly dealio marking the highest point in Tennessee and the third highest point east of the Mississippi.

Being the Coloradoans that we are, we laughed in the face of such a measly elevation (6643 ft), lol, but enjoyed it all the same. Micah made me take a picture of this cloud that looks, to him, like a moose head. Then we took some pictures of us. ;)

Along the path, we were treated to a rather up close visit from a mama black bear and three of her adorable cubs. They were hanging out right there...the mama grazing and the cubs climbing a tree. (Truly, it was a little crazy...they shouldn't have been so close (15-20 feet) and it really seemed like the mama wasn't big enough to be a mama.)

And, on our way out of the park, we saw one more bear and some wild turkeys...all just to the side of the road. All in all, a pretty good...though short...national park visit. And that was Day 12.

Day 12

Continuing our walk down memory lane, Nathan and I made the boys go to Biltmore Estate for the day. :) We started with the house tour (and boys decided they could deal with living there and having an indoor bowling alley and heated pool and gym...though they agreed that there would definitely need to be some technology upgrades, lol). (Photography isn't allowed inside, sorry.)

Then we wandered the gardens and greenhouses some. (We know some folks who would LOVE spending time there.) Before we headed back to the car, we finally remembered to get a full group photo. Sadly, I think this may be our first of the trip. ;)

After that, we drove round the estate to a newly opened area to do a late lunch, have some ice cream, and see the Biltmore Legacy exhibit. Asher & Micah enjoyed the farm exhibits, too.

(Stay tuned for the rest of Day 12...)

Day 11

Having used Friday's good weather for Busch Gardens and having a forecast of afternoon rain again and having decided that getting on the road earlier would make our last couple days of driving less icky...we sadly opted not to hit Colonial Williamsburg or Jamestown.

Instead, we spent the morning/early afternoon at the Yorktown Battlefield (the National Parks portion of things). It was a good choice. ;) Boys got to learn more about the end of the Revolutionary War. I got to learn the difference between mortars and howitzers and field guns and how to operate them (apparently the boys already knew). We got to see a replica sailing ship in the river while visiting Victory Monument.

And we all got to see the volunteer re-enacting folks fire a 6 pound and an 18 pound cannon. Cool. (The boys definitely preferred the battlefield tour and weaponry and such to the archeological stuff we'd have seen at Jamestown, lol.)

After that we bid adieu to the area and started driving to NC, with a brief detour in Durham to show the boys where we used to live and where I'd gone to law and graduate school.

Day 10

We hit Busch Gardens again and were very glad to have gone the day before...when lines were shorter and the weather was nicer. :) Still, it was a good day.

To start, we revisited some of the boys' favorite rides.

(That first picture, though, is of the Griffon roller coaster. Nathan and I rode it yesterday. I wanted to show y'all that vertical drop. Seriously. Oy. ;) Noah wasn't at all interested and the younger two weren't tall enough, lol. Have I mentioned how lovely it is having a preteen who can supervise younger brothers so that we could do some rides on our own?)

And Nathan and Asher tried one of the rides we didn't hit yesterday...the Mach Tower...a 240 foot vertical drop. Um, Asher didn't really enjoy that. But he was a trooper and was proud of himself for trying it.

Then, because Nathan had taken the younger two yesterday while Noah and I stayed dry (not being as appropriately dressed for it), I ended up on both water rides with all three boys despite the cooler temperatures. Having already hit most things, though, we'd come better prepared and brought dry clothes for after. ;)

Of course, the dry clothes were pretty much moot when the skies opened up and made Busch Gardens a park where every ride's a water ride, lol. I was able to find a couple of kid-sized ponchos for Asher and Micah (adult sizes were sold out). Meanwhile, Nathan and Asher opted to go on one last coaster, making it on the last car before the ride closed temporarily due to weather.

Asher would like you to know that riding a coaster in the rain hurts, as the water pelting your face stings. :)

After that, we joined the throngs of people leaving the park in the downpour. We made it to our van and back to the hotel to get dry and warm. And I was pretty proud of myself for nabbing the hotel's only working guest laundry dryer before everyone else made a run on it. ;)

We did dinner at the local Italian restaurant we'd found a couple days ago (yum!!) then retired for the night. Whew.

Day 9

Based on the weather forecast, we changed up our plans a bit and headed for Busch Gardens for a truly beautiful day.

We got there at opening and stayed until closing time, rode a great many rides, discovered that Micah is not actually fond of big coasters (though he rode more than one), enjoyed the Family Dryer after Nathan and the younger two opted for some water rides (awesome!), and basically had a lovely day.