RPR 8/6-11 Part Three

[PattiPB]

Here we are waking up on our last day at UO. A quick recap:

Grade A kids program worked everywhere!
FOTL is worth twice as much as the $109 room we had.
Dudley lifts me butt off the seat every time!
Don't order Flippers until you are in the room---we missed our delivery!
Do different wake-up calls for the kids so they won't fight!

8/11 - Sunday
TODAY IS FAVORITES DAY!!!
8 am wake up call (then 8:10 and 8:20!! LOL!!!) and we are in the RPR pool by 8:30. I called Star and got a late check-out of 12:30, which thrilled me! All my kids loved the pool, so it was a great choice to start the end of the trip.

11:15 I head upstairs to finish packing, followed by my family at 11:45. By 12:15 we call bell services, and check out by 12:30. They are holding our luggage.

By 1 pm, we are at IOA, doing everybody's favorite DRY rides. We did:
Spidey x2
DD x2
Cat in the Hat x2
Hulk
Sinbad Stunt Show

By 5 pm, we were at US, doing the same thing:
MIB
Jaws
Animal Planet live
Jimmy
and we all wanted to end the vacation with Shrek.

We closed the place at 8 pm (first night of early closure) and walked to RPR one last time. After retrieving our luggage and our car, we headed to the airport. However, we weren't leaving, we were changing cars!

Got a minivan at National, and headed north for the 13 hour ride to Asheville, NC. We only made it 3 hours to Lake City, and stopped at a Ramada Inn for the night. We finished the last 10 hours the next day. Our original plan was to be out of UO by about 3 pm and do more driving on Sunday, but we couldn't help ourselves!!!! LOL!!

It's OT, but for anyone who's followed this saga, continuel----
We got to Fontana Village, NC 6 pm Monday, and checked in.

If anyone is familiar with Deal's Gap, NC and the "Tail of the Dragon" they know exactly where I'm talking about. "Tail of the Dragon" is an 11 mile expanse of road with 311 hairpin turns in it. It is a HUGE favorite of bikers and Corvette people. We enjoyed it, but highly recommend a barf bag and some Dramamine!

We had a nice 2 BR cabin, and went to find my parents, 2 brothers and 1 sister. We had a total of 20 people (10 adults, 10 kids) and it was great! They filmed the movie Deliverance here (the cabin is still standing!) and this place was out of a turn-of-the-century guidebook! It was exactly like the resort in the movie Dirty Dancing! We went fishing, boating, played archery, mini golf, did some gem mining (I can't make this stuff up!!!), and horseback riding.

Everytime people asked where we were from, we got the funniest looks because we are from Vegas, and my parents came from Phoenix. I don't think too many people actually fly to vacation at this place, it's very rustic and completely out of the way (drive to Nashville to go to the airpot was 4 hours!)!!!!! We had a great time. My parents do a family reunion for all of us every two years, and it's the only time we get together, since they are all in Penn and VA. We had group dinners every night at one cabin or the other, and did marshmallow roasts and had campfires. It was the perfect complement to the high-tech and high-energy first part of our vacation!

So that is my report! Hope you enjoyed reading our saga. The saga of how my computer crashed and it took so long to get another one is nowhere near as pleasant, so I'll spare you!

Thanks for sticking with me to the end!

Patti

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Thank you for sharing. Your whole vacation including your family reunion sounds great!!!!!

Now, to plan the next one!!!! LOL...

 

[crazyme5kids]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing it!

 

[themepark]

I live about an hour away from Deals Gap and have traveled it many times so I know what you mean. Is it not the most curvy and steeply banked road you have ever seen? Did you see any of the motorcycle riders zipping thru there? Fontana Village and the surrounding area is very rustic but aren't the mountains beautiful? That's funny about the looks you got when telling where you are from. I guess they don't see too many people from way across the country. Believe it or not, the Great Smoky Mountains Natl Park is the most visited National Park in the country. Most of the visitors drive there though. I worked in the park many years ago and we would see lots of visitors from Florida, Georgia, Ohio, SC, and of course the locals in TN and NC. It's a driving vacation...like you said the Nashville airport is 4 hours away. There is an airport in Knoxville (about an hour away) but fares are outrageous to fly out of here!

Ok didn't mean to ramble. LOL Glad to hear you had such a great trip! I loved reading about the RPR and the parks. We loved staying there and can't wait to go back. It was great to read about something close to home too. Not to many people know about the Tail of the Dragon on US 129. Even some people who live near me have never heard of it.

 

[nicolep91]

Thanks for the great trip reports, Patti! I loved hearing about what your family enjoyed since my kids are about the same ages as yours (8 and almost 6). We're staying at RPR in November and I'm so excited - can't wait!

Thanks again,

 

[PattiPB]

Nicole---prepare to be AMAZED!!! Good luck with your weight loss goal! I just joined Curves, and like it so far!

Themepark---we had an AWESOME time! We saw a black bear while heading to Robbinsville one day---really neat! We loved going on the lake, and everything at Fontana Village was awesome. They went out of their way to make our whole stay enjoyable. A note you may find interesting: We live near Hoover Dam (obviously), and were SHOCKED by the open access to Fontana Dam. We took a guided boat tour, and he went right up to the dam! We have SERIOUS limitations about getting near the dam after 9/11/01, and every car going over the dam (still no trucks or RV's allowed!) is stopped and subject to search!

Patti

 

[TimeWarp]

Thanks for the trip reports. We are staying at RPR Thanksgiving Day through that weekend. I can't wait!! My boys are going to love IOA. A few questions... Did you walk to the HRH pool? Do they have a waterslide at the HRH? How was the kids water play area at RPR? Thanks, and...I know Tail of the Dragon.

An Asheville Native and have spent many weekends on Fontana Lake.

 

[nicolep91]

Originally posted by PattiPB
Nicole---prepare to be AMAZED!!! Good luck with your weight loss goal! I just joined Curves, and like it so far!
Patti

Thanks, Patti! I just started doing the South Beach Diet and I really like it so far. I've lost 5 lbs. and I've got about 12 more to go.

I have some friends who belong to Curves and they love it. I'm hesitant to spend the $$ to join since I have a bunch of exercise equipment at home (translation: my husband would kill me! lol!).

Good luck to you too!

 

[JessicaR]

Patti, I loved reading all 3 parts to your trip report! Sounds like it was perfect and what a nice way to end it with a family reunuion. Thanks for taking the time to write one!

 

[PattiPB]

Jessica---thanks! It was a great reason to keep notes every night! LOL!!!

Nicole---I'm anxious for my measurements on 9/25! My first month!!!

Timewarp---I envy you for Thanksgiving!!!!! It was the most wonderful hotel I've ever stayed in, and I've been in many 4 and 5 stars! HRH had a water slide (it was down the morning we were there!). I would take the boat from RPR to Citywalk, then walk to HRH pool. THERE IS A SHORTCUT!!! Sometime before you go, get SPECIFIC directions for it! We didn't, and ended up on a walking tour of the HRH grounds! LOL!!! After the pool, we took advantage of having our suits on, and did water rides on our way back to RPR. My kids FAR preferred the RPR pool, which has an awesome kids play area! Don't forget the Grade A kids stuff---it was wonderful!

We loved Fontana Lake. Living near Lake Mead, we are kind of spoiled, but the views on Fontana were very much different than we have here. DH wishes he had done Tail of the Dragon at least once without us, but in the minivan it wouldn't have really been the thrill he was seeking!!! LOL!!!!

Patti

 

[TimeWarp]

Thanks for the tips Patti. I have taken notes and am ready to go. I wish I was there right now!

 

[SpideyHulk24]

Time Warp- You and me both!!!

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful trip report ~ Thanx for sharing!!