Go Faster!

We parted ways for a little bit today to do a couple of different things.  Craig, Michelle, Caitlyn, & Ingrid went to the rummage sale at Dollywood’s Splash Village (I guess they close the park for a day and have a sale but it was a bit of a bust) and then to the NASCAR speed park to ride go-karts (well, Craig & Caitlyn went there and Ingrid & Michelle went across the street to the very large Tanger Outlets.

We headed to “The Track” with our munchkins to give Sophie a chance to ride a couple of fair-type rides as well as a couple of turns on a go-kart with us.  We weren’t really sure what we were going to do (rides require points, you buy points at the window ahead of time but there’s different deals…the lady behind the glass figured it out and basically said, here, this is what you’re buying.  She also commented on the wagon.)

First up was the go-kart track (mostly because it was right next to us anyway).  Tom took Sophie for her first go-kart ride around the wooden track; it had a spiral ramp and then came back down by where Max & I were waiting.  She seemed to be enjoying herself (though she did cover her ears at first…not sure if it was the go-kart that was loud or the wood track they were driving over).

[Max in his wagon cage]

After karting around a bit, it was time to head to the kiddie rides.  Since parents ride free with the kiddos, we tried the Merry-Go-Round first so Max could get out of the wagon a bit.  Tom got Sophie to sit on a giraffe – they don’t go up and down like the zebras but it was a step up from the bench that she wanted to sit on.  I took Max to another giraffe and off we went.  Sophie liked it, Max loved it, I thought I was going to get sick.  I couldn’t look up – just stared toward the floor so I couldn’t see things spinning. 

The next ride Sophie picked was like a kiddie version of the teacups.  Insane if you ask me.  To add to the spinning excitement, the guy actually would give her car a little spin every time.  Insane.  The worker was pretty good, he would slow her spinning down if it looked like she was getting a little queasy or spin her faster other times.  She really got a kick out of it.

Tom took both kids on the train.  After the merry-go-round I figured I’d sit out the seemingly innocent ride and not make a mess of the train.  I wasn’t sure how Sophie would like the whistle that the guy blew every time they went past but she was good with it.  She likes to say “choo-choo, all aboard!” so the train was a good ride for her.

Swings were next:  they had the mini version of the swings that you see at the carnival so it was a perfect step up for Sophie since she LOVES swings.  I think she actually got a little bored with that one actually.

Sophie had spotted the little arcade so she sweet talked her Daddy out of a couple of bucks for some games.  After winning some tickets, we crossed the bridge over to the other side of the park to try out the other go-kart track.  Tom stayed on the upper-level while I took her down for the ride.  She had fun trying to steer but after a little bit she was asking to sit on my lap to steer on my side of the kart.  When we walked to the go-karts she had been eyeing up the bumper boats so after our spin on the karts I took her up to Tom for a bumper boat ride.  I guess her side of the boat had the control for the squirt gun so she had a good time getting the other riders.  The go-karts didn’t have other people on the track so the boats was the first time she could engage others.

After a quick snack we crossed back over to the other side of the park to use up her last ride token.  After much deliberation, Sophie chose the airplanes.  She picked out her blue Snoopy flier and she was up and away.  I took Max out of his wagon cage to watch Sophie and he had fun waving “hi” to his big sister.  Rides complete, we headed back across the parking lot to cash in Sophie’s tickets.  She was able to pick out two Dum-Dums and a pencil so she was in heaven.

Ingrid said she’d watch the kids one night so Tom & I could go out to dinner.  We cashed in a little early and Michelle stayed back to help take the kids to the pool and Tom, Craig, Caitlyn, & I went to the NASCAR park since their pass was good all day.  It was a scorcher on the blacktop, but we had a lot of fun on the different tracks.  It was a little disappointing that the karts weren’t fast enough that you had to let off the gas on any corners, but it was still fun to spin around the track.  Of course, it was more fun when you had a kart that was fast and could actually race around the corners.  Tom got a chance to tackle the rock wall inside the building and Caitlyn got to play some games too.  Craig, Tom, & Caitlyn also rode their carnival-type rides and roller-coaster; I stayed away for the sake of my stomach.

After dropping Craig and Caitlyn off back at the cabin, Tom & I headed out to the Old Mill for dinner.  The place was definitely busy but their menu picks the sides for you (you can change them if you want) so the wait wasn’t too long.  The food was good and it was great to have a dinner together without having to worry about feeding the kids first and keeping them happy.  We strolled around a couple of the shops after dinner and looked at the trout in the river before heading home for our last night on vacation.