06/28/08

Today's pictures are from the train ride that began in Bryson City, NC and went to the Nantahala River Gorge over Fontana Lake. We went last Tuesday. There are lots of pictures from here so bear with me!!

We rode in an open train car and it was so much fun. You could really see and enjoy the beauty much better than being inside the enclosed train car. The day was beautiful and so much fun. We stopped at the Nantahala River Gorge and had a picnic lunch. It was neat to watch people white water raft. We were going to try to do that, but there was not time to do the train ride and the rafting. Maybe another time!

Enjoy the pics today.... Have to go get ready for a surprise party. :)

Great Smoky Mountain Train!
We rode on the Wildwater car... your typical touristy family pic. :)

Getting ready to start our ride!

An old barn along the way...

An old abandoned house along the tracks.... kinda sad...

These houseboats were all over Fontana Lake! It was quite neat to see. Apparently, long ago when they were working on making this into a lake, there was an actual "town" here! From what I understood (which was difficult to hear over people and the open car) they had people who actually lived where the lake is now. They did whatever they were supposed to do and then when it was time to flood the area to make the lake they had to move. There are actual streets and buildings and such underneath all of that water!
View of Fontana Lake from train

View from the train of Fontana Lake
View from the bridge over Fontana Lake

This was when we stopped on the bridge over Fontana Lake. This was wonderful... the wind blew quite a bit from this point!! It was awesome to look out from high up and capture the beauty. We just didn't want to fall out of our car.... he hee

View of the train rounding the bend from our car.

We were amazed at how much rock had to be blown away for the train tracks to go through. This was just one section I could capture. There were sections on the track that you had to make sure your arms, etc. were in or you would get hit by rock! It was that close to the track.

People enjoying the rapids.

This was an actual photograph you could stick your head through at the front. Steve was in this one... I also have one of Wesley in it. Steve cracked me up. You'll definitely have to click on that one to make it larger so you can see Steve's face. lol

These flowers were blooming near the comfort station there. Thought it was pretty with the train in the background. :)

Rapids... it was beautiful that day!

Waiting for the train to start our return trip.

Near the rapids where we had stopped for lunch.

One of the last looks at Fontana Lake from the train.