EG's big weekend

Two years ago Ella's 3rd grade spring outing with her Indian Princess tribe fell on the same weekend as my brother Morgan's wedding. We had to miss Camp Seafarer that year, so I took her on an Epic Mountain Adventure to Boone, NC. Evil Genius didn't have a conflict like that, so I offered her the choice. She didn't really enjoy last years' Camp Seafarer the way that Ella did and it's really expensive. So I let her choose between that or a trip like Ella had. She picked the trip, so I was able to plan a fun weekend in Boone for just the two of us! It just so happened that her weekend started on the last day of school (and Ella's 5th grade graduation). So after school, we headed for the mountains!

IT'S AN EPIC MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE (part 2)

97* when we left Raleigh, and only 72* in Boone when we got there!

EG took this one

In the hotel

She separated the peanut butter from the M&M shell

Friday all we really did was drive up to Boone. It is always refreshing to my soul when I can get back to the mountains. Being able to show my kids individually what I love so much about this region is very special to me. After we got checked into the hotel, we drove around Boone for a bit, grabbed some food, and got rested for a big saturday.

EG in front of the water wheel

Giant ropes course in front of .......

TWEETSIE!

Her favorite part about that picture is that there's someone else taking a picture of their kid in the background of our picture. Tweetsie railroad is an amusement park between Boone and Blowing Rock that has an actual steam engine train. When I was in college, I worked here as an indian (actor) for one of the shows, it was the best job ever. Basically I got paid to sit on a couch and drink beer all day.

EG went to Jail

Indian represent!

She was a good driver

Cool view from the racecars

Inside the swinging ride thingy

on the carousel

She named the horse lickety-split

In front of the #12 Tweetsie Railroad

Riding the train

Indians are attacking the fort!

I went to jail when we got back

then I rode a horse

She was terrified of taking the ski lift to get to the top amusement rides

that terrified!

Pretty view from up there!

We were sitting on a "cowch"

Baby goats at the petting zoo!

mean mugging for the wanted poster

I had a blast. It was a warm day, but not too hot to be uncomfortable. She really embraced the rides and the environment and had a wonderful time. I didn't really expect her to be quite as daring as she actually acted, so we really had a lot of fun.

After Tweetsie, it was Blowing Rock night. We got dressed up a bit, and I got to take her out for a fancy dinner at Twigs Restaurant in Blowing Rock. Now that it's June of 2016, I can say that it's been more than 20 years that Kelley and I have been together. We met in the bar at Twigs in April of 1996. So to take EG to dinner at the same place where her Mommy and I met so long ago is really special.  and of course, EG insisted on taking the same bar stool that Mommy had and I had to have the same stool as well. So sweet!

She took this inside of Twigs

Cheese fries was the only thing on the menu she would eat there

her Americana dress was a hit in front of the main dining room

We drove around a bit after dinner to show her some of the other places where Kelley lived in Blowing Rock and ended up on Main street where Kelley and I used to work back in the day.

This is the Fantastic View at Canyon's restaurant. 20 years ago it was an apartment building.

So CUTE!

Kelley and I both used to work at Windwood

Kilwins Ice Cream is a must stop at

So is the Hat Shop next door

EG had a blast out in Blowing Rock, but I'm sure she got tired of me telling her about stuff that we did 20 years ago. All that was left in the weekend was Boone Day. And that is always fun. We started out driving around town showing her the apartments Kelley and I had when I was in college, then ended up on campus at Appalachian State. I got to show her the school of music, some of the cooler parts of campus, and we ended up at Macado's on King Street for lunch before heading back to Raleigh.

The amazing view from the back side of Rich Mountain

EG with my freshman dorm building in the background (Bowie, on the left)

In front of the football stadium

School of Music - 4th floor practice rooms

At Macado's

That gorilla is nasty

She even added some graffiti

Founders Bell on campus!

Yosef! The original mountain man

The closest she's ever been to ducks

Overall this was an amazing weekend that really exceeded my expectations. We had a blast just being together the whole time. This was very special to me, and I'm sure very special for Lena too. This really was a trip for the books. I'm grateful to be able to do this with each of my girls.

67* when we left Boone, 92* when we got back to Raleigh on Sunday afternoon

Ella and EG in front of Yosef - I got a few years older too!

Since this is officially the end of EG's 3rd year of the Indian Princess program, that means we're done. She doesn't want to go to Rockmont like Ella did. And since she is my youngest, that means that I am officially done with everything Indian Princess now. I can honestly say that it has been one of the best things I have done as a parent. It's been 5 years that we have had something IP related going on every month. I still have to glue some patches onto the vests, eventually I will get around to it. But I cannot say enough good things about the YMCA's Indian Princess program, also known as Y-Guides. So much fun, and we've all made lifelong relationships.