We're Home!

 Hi all!  As the title says, we are back from North Carolina!  We had such a great trip.  Since it would take around four more posts to show you all the pictures we took, I just decided to make a collage for the picture-heavy (i.e. interesting) days of our family vacation.

 Our vacation stated on the first, so we headed up Blue Ridge Parkway to Linville caverns (on the left) and, after lunch, Linville falls (on right).  I think the caverns were cool, but also a little freaky.  All the rock was actually still growing, so you weren't allowed to touch the sides. Bats used to live inside, but they all died off.  Eight deserters from the army lived in it during the Civil War, but they were found because the smoke from their camp-fires seeped through the rock out of Grandfather Mountain.  The falls were pretty, but after all that hiking I was ready to go back to our cabin hotel!

August second I was a little sick, so we just hung around the cabin and did a little window-shopping.

 Mount Mitchell was majestic!  Once we drove to the visitor's center, it was only a short climb to the top.  I felt like I could see the whole valley from there!  In the middle of the viewing platform there was a stone compass that pointed out where we were.  Did you know that Mt. Mitchell is the highest point east of the Mississippi river?

After a yummy lunch, we headed out on the balsam nature trail.  It was so beautiful!  The sun had come out, and a cool breeze blew through the trees.

 Biltmore was amazing and the overwhelmingly large home of three people: George and Edith Vanderbilt plus their daughter.  Today, it's owned by two of their descendants, who have made it open to the public.  That place is HUGE!!

We were able to get tickets because if you bought two adult tickets, the kids got in for free.

"If we lived here, I could have my own bedroom!" I said, starring up at the giant roof.

"Since there's only the five of us, you could have three!" Mom replied with a smile.

If you're wondering why there are no pictures from the inside of the house, it's because they don't allow it.  There was a sign that said, among other things, "No indoor photography".  I asked Dad if I could take a picture of that sign.  He just laughed.  ;^)

On http://www.biltmore.com, you can see a few pictures of the inside, which are amazing.  If you're ever in the area, I would totally recommend going there.

On our drive back to Florida, my parents surprised Elizabeth and I by re-routing our trip through Atlanta, so we could go to the American Girl Store!  (Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, thank you so much!!!)  It was so fun seeing all the resent releases, hanging out in the store, and buying a new outfit (I got the Coconut Cutie Outfit!).  

What fun things did you do this summer?

The Museum of Life and Science

 Hi all!  Guess what?  We're in North Carolina!  Well, actually, we've been here since Saturday.  Anyway, we came here mostly for my mom and dad's work, and also partly for vacation. Yesterday afternoon, we drove over to the Museum of Life and Science.

 After we bought out tickets, my family and I discussed where we wanted to go first.

"Girls, since it looks like rain, I think we should start outside." Mom said.  "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure!" I replied.

"Absolutely." Elizabeth added.

 "Than let's go!"

 Our first stop was "the farmyard".  There were pigs, a donkey, a cow and other such things.

 The cow was just standing in the corner of it's pen, in a slightly strange position, as you can see.

"I wonder why it's doing that." Elizabeth pondered. "That seems unnatural."

"Maybe it's stuck." I offered.

"No, that cow isn't stuck, it's exercising." Dad joked, making us laugh.

 Here's my sister and I in front of the butterfly house.

 It was kind of hot inside, but the prettiness made it worth it.

Almost everywhere you looked, butterflies were floating and flying thought the air.  Some of the pictures we took were a little blurry, but most of them were just fine.  Elizabeth stood still for nearly five minutes, (how, I'll never understand), and a butterfly actually landed on her shoulder!  It flew away before we could get a picture, though.

 After the butterfly house, we went on the Dinosaur Trail.

 One thing I noticed while we were walking is that North Carolina has many more trees and bugs than Florida.  On the bright side, there's less humidity.  It's still pretty hot here, though.

 You can't see it in the picture, but by this time, I was sweating.  When the trail ended, we moved on to the "in the wild" section.

 This is the black bear area.  We didn't really see any bears, but the waterfall was pretty.  I think if the bears were out in the sun they would have overheated.  I sure felt like I was.  

We couldn't really see any of the wolfs, either, except one whose head was sticking out of a cave.  By then, my whole family was ready to go back into the air conditioning.  There was a deep leather sofa next to one of the indoor exhibits (called "Falling Sand"), where we sat down to rest for a couple minutes.  It felt so good after the heat.

 "Falling Sand" was basically a projected screen with a little stream of particles going from top to bottom.  Every so often, a stream would 'dry up' and a different color would start falling.  What made it so cool was the "sand" would interact with your shadow.

 You can move your arms to throw the sand up, or gather it on you shoulders.

 It's so fun!  I could just stand there and do it all day!

 Next, we moved on the the "science" part of the museum.  Both Elizabeth and I thought the Cloud Basin was really neat.

"I feel like Elsa." my sister commented, lightly blowing on the mist and making it swirl.

 "This is fascinating and fabsome!" I laughed.

 After that, we walked over to the flying area.  The museum had a paper airplane launcher, so of course I tried it out.  We checked out some other fun stuff too, but I kind of forgot to take pictures of that.

Over all, I had a great time.

Where would you want to go on vacation?