Otters and Eagles and Bears, Oh My!!

"Posing" with the bears at the museum
The Bald Eagle
Black Bear waiting for treats
Napping away!

During the month of April every year, Grandfather Mountain has "Dollar Days." At this time all those living in the surrounding four counties get in for $1 per person which is greatly discounted from the usual admission price. We've been trying to take advantage of this time but the weather has not cooperated the past three Saturdays. Even with the chance of rain, we decided to brave it and were so glad we did. There is a small but nice museum that we visited and got our picture taken "with" the bears. Then, we went outside and saw deer, otter, eagles (bald and golden), and, the main attraction, black bears. The girls loved seeing the animals. One "noteable" from Evie came when we were looking at the bald eagle. She stuck her finger out and told Drew, "I want him to land on my finger, daddy." He had to explain that although that would be pretty neat the eagle is too heavy to land on her finger. She seemed to take it in stride.

After visiting the animals, we drove to a nice picnic spot and had some lunch. Then, we headed up to the "Swinging Bridge." This bridge is over a mile high in the air and spans an 80 foot chasm. Mary Fran and I stayed in the car because it was pretty windy and chilly and she has had a runny nose lately. Evie was game, however, so she and Drew climbed the 50 steps to get to the bridge and walked across. The views are beautiful up there and Drew said Evie loved it! She even walked back across by herself! We have one brave girl!

One more story...as we were driving up to the Swinging Bridge we had the windows down slightly. Evie all of a sudden said, "Sshh...I hear something everybody." We asked her what she heard and she said, "The otter's calling us." "What's he saying?" we asked and she responded with, "He's saying, 'Come back to me!'" Too funny!