Annual Deep Creek Trip

This week was our annual trip to Bryson City, N.C. to the Deep Creek campground. At this posting, Alison and the kids are still there, as I had to come home to go back to work. Here Cal enjoys his first real dip in the cool waters of Deep Creek.

Mac had plenty of birthday gifts from the week before, so our camper was crawling with Bionicle creatures.

Alina had a lot of fun riding her bike around the circle of the campground, with Mac and our friends Henley and Carter Edge, who came up for a couple of days. She also enjoyed our trip to the "Ruby Mine" near Nantahala Gorge. She is already a natural at picking out good stones!

Cal and I took a ride to Dillsboro on Friday, to again see our old friend "Thomas the Tank Engine." Our timing last year was such that we got to do it then as well. This was a lot of fun for Cal, and I very much enjoyed taking him there. Your guess is as good as mine as to Cal's stated observation toward the end of the video!

I took Alina, Mac and Cal on a real passenger train ride on the Great Smokey Mountain Railway from Bryson City to Nantahala Gorge on Sunday. We almost had the whole car to ourselves! You may not imagine how that would be possible, until you see what some of the in route entertainment consisted of:

Mac is our reader, and I bought him this book of campfire stories. I did not realize that they were very gory with a lot of the characters being driven to their deaths by demons or perceived demons! Of course, Mac ate all of this up! He could not put it down!

Back at the campground, Cal felt the near-constant need to patrol the place on his new three-wheeler. Of course, we could not let him do this alone, so I got lots of laps in myself with this exact view: Note he is not using the pedals yet!

It was a very nice trip, and I look forward to Alison and the children's return home mid-week. - McP