Out of the Blue: All aboard!

It's no secret that Little Man likes trains just a little bit. We've been going to Tweetsie for two summers now and earlier this spring we started debating on whether or not to make it three summers. Doug emailed a random email address he found on their website to see if there was ever a time (other than Thomas Day) that the trains ran without gun fights. He got an email back with some details about education trains that run on certain Fridays in the spring and sometimes don't have guns. The email did a great job of answering our question so imagine our surprise when about a week later the general manager of Tweetsie called us to see if we had additional questions. Doug ended up talking to the GM for about 20 minutes and the GM said he would give Little Man a personal tour of the train shop the next time he was up! So, needless to say we decided that there would be a 3rd summer of Tweetsie!

We planned our first trip up this year during Spring Break, but unfortunately the little guy was too sick to go so he had to hang out with me at home that day instead. But today he finally got to head up the mountain. His excitement was pretty much summed up when Doug went looking for him and he was already sitting in his car seat all buckled up.

It was a thumbs up kind of day for Little Man.

This is the GM of Tweetsie Railroad hanging out with Little Man.

This was early on in the tour of the train yard and he hadn't quite warmed up to what he was doing as you can see by the lovely grimace.

See that cute little boy inside the train workshop? Apparently these guys not only take care of the trains at Tweetsie, but they also service other amusement parks like Busch Gardens, Dollywood, and Disney.

Having an intense conversation about train wheels.

This is a coach car that is rarely used from the 1890's. It is pretty fragile,but in working condition.

This was after he had warmed up to being on the engine. He found a lot of comfort in shoveling coal. Shoveling is a calming mechanism for Little Man and he spends hours doing it in our yard so this was heaven on earth!