Mini Summer Mountain Vacation

The whole purpose of this trip was to take Grant to see Thomas the Train at Tweetsie Railroad. We had pre-paid for a vacation at this resort we like where we've stayed previously. It just made sense to book it so we could make a mini vacation out of the Thomas event. Sadly, it'll be the last time we stay there because of how they tried to force their time share stuff on us. (I could get into ALL the stuff that happened prior to our check-in but my mother-in-law reads this blog and I don't think Husband would want her to know what he said to these people. So I will leave it at this: Festiva Resorts - our stay was at their Blue Ridge Villas in Banner Elk - is a very crooked business and I would never again recommend them to someone.) 

The view from our room (during a rainy spell). It made me
sad we won't be visiting here again.

Anyway! On the drive up, we stopped at a rest stop and I grabbed a brochure for Grant about Tweetsie Railroad. 

He sat back there "reading" it to us and asked us when we were going. For the four hundredth time, we told him we were going the next day. He told us "According to this, it says we have to go...um...today." I think he was just a little excited.

We tried to make the most of our time at the resort because it's a nice place to stay. They have a nice indoor pool so we hit that every night. 

This boy LOVES to swim, just like his Mama!

The day before we left, Husband had thrown his back out. Doesn't that make for a fun vacation? So when he had to rest in the room for a bit, Grant and I would go on adventures around the resort. 

We played at their little play area.

Went for some good walks.

And Grant developed a love for Tether ball and
Cornhole (he called it bean bags).

The condos there all have gas logs in the fire place and we'd never used them. It was a bit chilly at night and we liked to have them going at night. Grant would constantly pretend to be cold and bring us the remote for the logs "Here. Here you go. I'm cold."

They have a little mini golf course there too, so on our last night there we had a family game of mini golf. I firmly believe there is no one on this planet worse than me at miniature golf...and clearly our child gets his mini golf skills from me. But it was fun all the same.

Proud of himself for finally getting the ball in hole!

Showing Daddy how it's done (I love this picture)

And the next morning it was time to leave. Vacation always seems so short but it was a nice little family getaway!

We kept the door open a lot and Grant loved to go
outside to see what was going on. That morning
it was ducks on the pond.

I talked Husband into driving part of the way home on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't think it could ever get tired of the views on the Parkway!

I love the mountains!

2013 Mountain Vacation

Just about 3 weeks ago we took another trip up to the mountains like last year. We stayed at the same resort, we're kind of in love with the place. We honestly could have stayed anywhere though. Summer was stressful with my stomach issues, then surgery, Grant being sick constantly (currently recovering from pneumonia)...we needed a vacation.

On the way up, we spontaneously decided to jump on the Blue Ridge Parkway randomly pulling over to admire the gorgeous scenery and take pictures.

The mountains are the best!

Our longest stop along the parkway was a Price Lake. It was so pretty there! We just got out and wandered for a bit. Grant had a great time throwing rocks in the water (he doesn't have fantastic aim and was forced to stop after beaning me in the head).

I'm pretty sure he could have done that for hours.

Mountain roads are curvy, yes? The Parkway is no exception. Husband seemed to find these curvy roads to be a dare of some sort. Not long before our destination, Grant started gagging and crying in the backseat. Husband's maneuvring of the mountain roads was not appreciated by all. Nonetheless, we made it. Without vomiting.

Our room looked similar to last year, though our view was better :)

View

We took Grant to the pool a couple nights after dinner but that was really the only amentity that we managed to take advantage of this time. There is never enough time when you're on vacation, huh?

Our first full day there, Grant wanted to "go see the bears at Grandfodder Mountain" [Grandfather Mountain], so I've got some pictures coming about that. And the only other thing we had planned was to go see Nate's aunt who lives a little ways away.

Nate and Grant took advantage of the pond area and how close we were to it taking a lot of little fishing trips.

Wainting patiently for Daddy to get his fishing pole ready

My fishermen

Excitement over their catch

We did some shopping and checked out local places for dinner and hung out a lot in our room just to relax. One of the things we rarely do on vacation is relax! And we visited Nate's aunt and Grant had so much fun playing with her!

Baseball in the backyard!

I was sick on vacation with some crud I'd had for weeks so our last two nights there I wasn't able to take Grant to the pool. I just didn't have it in me. However, the bath tub in our room was enourmous and Grant had quite a good time in there :)

It definitely seemed to go by too fast but we had a good time. We're already making plans to go back next year and visit one of their places at the beach!

Next up: Grandfather Mountain