Road Trip - Day Five

We had a more leisurely morning than we've had in the past couple of days. We needed tickets to the last event of our trip, but the earliest time we could get was 1 PM. However, there were a few things that we could at the event before it was our time to board the bus so we went early.

Where did we go? To the Land of Oz - that's where. It's located at the top of Beech Mountain. This is a big deal around here. The attraction was originally opened back in the '70s. At the time (and only for a brief time), it was the most popular tourist attraction in North Carolina. Eventually, it closed but it does get reopened from time to time. I believe it's now open on select weekends in the summer and this year, there were two autumn weekends that the attraction was open.

We were extremely lucky to be in the area and the date just fit in with the rest of our plans. This was planned by Ronda who is a Wizard of Oz groupie.

It was cold and very windy when we exited the car so the big question was to keep the shorts or put on pants. I kept the shorts for which I was glad as it was hot once we were in the shelter of the mountain.

While we waited, they had a VIP lounge which we had access to. But we also wandered around - there were several vendors who had merchandise for sale and there was a small museum of items from the movie.

At last, it was our turn to get on the bus which would take us up to the top of the mountain. There's a ski resort ion the mountain which is obviously used by skiers in winter and mountain bikers in the summer.

The Land of Oz was very cool. We started off in Kansas with Dorothy's house and the farm. She was carrying Toto and her basket. What was so cool was that there were a LOT of Dorothy's. Mostly little girls dressed up as Dorothy, but a few much older ones as well and a few Glenda's and one wicked witch. So cute. At the first part of the tour, there was a teeny little girl who kept sidling up to the real Dorothy as she was singing "Somewhere over the rainbow."  Too cute.

Then we went into Dorothy's house. Through the tornado and out into the Land of Oz. The transition was very nicely done. Along the BRILLIANT yellow brick road, we saw munchkins, the poppies, and got to meet with all the characters for a photo op. It was very transparent, but there were multiples of each of the main characters.

What fun until we arrived at the gates of Emerald City. The door was closed and we were waiting. Waiting for our turn? Oh - there's a bell. Well - if you watched the movie, you know what happens. We had arrived at the Emerald City. They had a neat little play to finish up the show. I failed at the clicking of my heels - Hey - it's been years since I watched the movie, but we got in anyway!

All in all, it was brilliantly done and what a treasure for all the Oz fans.

At last, we were ready for the long drive home.

We hadn't been in the van for long when we noticed a sign that said: "Welcome to Tennessee". Wait a minute - we didn't think we'd be hitting Tennessee. We needed to get a geocache which we quickly located. What did we do before we had cell phones with apps with maps and other information? Shelly is big into NASCAR racing and there was a major speedway right along the road so we popped in. She got some souvenirs and we were able to get into the speedway and went right down to the track. With permission of course.

Let's just say that the Bristol Speedway is HUGE. Totally huge and steep. We went all the way down to the bottom and then we had to make our way back up the stairs. But what fun - that's the closest I've ever been to a speedway.

Back in the van and we got geocaches in Virginia which some of us were missing. Somewhere along the way, one of the geocaches that we found was to sign a logbook at a tiny church. The places and highways are all blending into each other.

We switched drivers after dinner and I drove until about 10:30 which is very late for me. We had a bit of rain - actually quite heavy at one point. But the roads are good, traffic is light and we were fine. We're now in Virginia and hope to be home later this afternoon.

I finished my ball of dishcloth yarn. When I started out at the beginning of the trip, I found two dishcloths that I had already made. I believe I knit 9 more of them. I had a small amount of yarn leftover so I found the center of it. I then knit to that mark increasing as I went and then decreased. So I got one slighter smaller dishcloth and no yarn leftover. Yeah!!!!!

Oh - remember that Ronda and I were working on a project the day before we left? We were making these cute embroidered pouches. Ronda has a HUGE stash of Wizard of Oz fabric and so we made one for each of us. They were completely made on the embroidery machine including the insertion of the zipper.

Making the last pouch (the yellow one)

There were a few lines of stitching that we did on a regular sewing machine to close up the cover.

Marking the final stitching lines on the last one

Here's the tally at the end of the day.  One had been made before but needed a bit of work to finish it off. We worked well as a team - I manned the embroidery machine and Ronda did all the finishing work.

The zippered side of the pouches

The end view

The tally for the day!

The insides were all the same.

The inside of the zippered pouches

The plan was not to make as many as we did, however, I goofed on the choice of fabrics for one and then had to remake one.

We also made one for Katherine with a Canadian theme which we supplemented with some Canadian maple syrup and Smarties.

It's time to get ready and meet the others for breakfast so we can get on the road and get home. We had a blast on the road trip, but I'm ready to get home!! Besides, I have a ton of work to do when I get there. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!