Last minute trips are often the best!

So, sometime in the middle of last week, I decided that "Redmond needed a nice birthday present", and what he needed was the easy weekend trip I'd been wanting to take for ages- a day in the Salisbury area at the North Carolina Transportation Museum followed by lodging somewhere with a pool and a day at the Zoo. Yeah, I dream big. Luckily, Redmond has been wanting to visit the transportation museum as well, so it actually
was a real birthday present for him, not something I called a birthday present but was really for me. ;-)

We pulled together a trip at the last possible second, and off we went. The NC Transportation Museum rose from the grassroots efforts of the citizens of E. Spencer when the long-abandoned railroad acreage in their town was slated to be destroyed. Now, the museum has rides on both steam and diesel engine trains, a restored roundhouse full of engines and several installations on the grounds with old cars, buses and helicopters, and other transportation devices. It's a fabulous experience for the toddler who loves trains. Sadie ran through and tried to identify which Thomas character each train resembled.

We bought a ticket to a train ride, but while we waited, the steam engine train rolled right by. We all get to wave at the train...



Here, we check out an old fire engine and an old helicopter.



When we boarded the train for our ride, Sadie decided to take the narrator's seat. Of course. After we filmed this, we hustled her to a seat where we wouldn't get in any trouble. She thinks she's singing karaoke. Note that I have her songs confused. She hums a track from "Carmen", "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and Beethoven's 9th. Sometimes they sound the same at first. She also will sing these songs with animal sounds. You haven't heard anything until you've heard "Habanera" from Carmen as sung by a seal. MeeMa is most likely responsible for the opera acquisition. I'm most likely responsible for the seal voice.



Here's some video from our nifty ride on the old steam train. Part 1.



Train Ride- part 2



Redmond stopped to take some video of the restored roundhouse.



Grinning outside the gift shop door. She knows that there are many Thomas product placements inside.



Outside a vintage passenger car.



An old engine. And to the left, a train.



Redmond and Sadie pose in front of a red caboose.



I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that this car was somehow connected to the Flagg Coal Co.



Sadie's figured out how to do that weird thing with her eyelids. Yay, me!



A nifty old orange school bus. I covet.this. much.



Another old train thingy. I think this was the one we originally built for the Russians in the early 20th century, but after the revolution, they ran out of money, and so we inherited the train. Apparently, we also inherited the small cardboard conductor that went with it.



The Green Crescent. Ok- I don't know what this is, but it's a train. I should have let Redmond write the captions for this entry.



A view of some of the trains in the roundhouse.



Sadie's goal is to try to climb higher than we can reach...



Anyway, the museum was very interesting, even for me. Thomas comes in the fall, so I guess we'll make the trek back for all the great product placement action!

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Salisbury because the pool looked nicer on the Internet than the other motel pools. And pools are crucially important to toddlers. We took a nice swim, and Sadie seems to have finally ditched the habit of launching herself into a swimming pool regardless of whether or not there's someone right there to catch her. She is finally learning fear, thank goodness!

She's beginning to find heights a bit scary. Here she is looking out the window at the Hampton Inn, getting a wee bit wigged out...



We have a gazillion zoo pictures, so I'm keeping it to a minimum this time.

Last time we visited the Africa section of the zoo, Sadie called the gorilla "Daddy". She didn't do it this year. I think she called her daddy "Gorilla".



We took a few films at the gorilla exhibit. Here's part 1:



Gorillas Deux



The Gorilla Strike Back!



Hide and seek in a rock joint...



You probably can't see the baboons up close, but trust me, they were very cute!



Sadie loves meerkats. We had to stop and watch them for a bit. Meerkats are all the rage now since "Meerkat Manor".

'

Sadie sees her own reflection in an exhibit at the zoo. Sometimes, I feel like she IS an exhibit at the zoo... ;-)



There's a new installation in the Africa section where kids can climb in helicopters. This was quite popular.



Video of Sadie in the helicopter...



And afterwards, she's sacked out in a fake "camp" near the elephants. I was ready to stretch out on one of those cots and take a nap.



First view of the elephants:



Elephant up close. Notice how red he (or she) is. The red clay in the soil permanently stains their skin.



Then, we headed home.

Sadie's been obsessed lately with playing "ghost" lately. Sometimes, she wants to be the ghost and chase us, and other times, she makes us be ghosts. We have worn out our comforters in the last week chasing her around wearing them over our heads. She often dictates which kind of ghost she wants us to be . The White Blankee ghost has the down comforter and the Flower ghost wears a comforter with a floral print Ikea duvet. She wants her ghosts to have the proper decor. Sometimes, she insists that I read her a story as a ghost and use a ghostly voice. And she calls me ghost. "Read me a story, ghost!" Here's Daddy being a ghost, early on in the ghosting games.