Saturday, October 4, 2008

Autumn At Oz

Here are a few pictures of our day at Oz in Beech Mountain North Carolina (which is about 45 minutes from our house). This area is a ski resort town in the winter months, but for one weekend in October, it turns into The Land of Oz. There used to be a Wizard of Oz theme park here and it closed many years ago, but the town reopens that area every first weekend in October for a Land of Oz weekend and over 100,000 people come to participate. The hubs went to the theme park as a child and thought it would be neat to take the boys (ie. he wanted to relive his long lost childhood memories). I must have been deprived because I didn't even know the place existed --- in all fairness, I am MUCH younger than he is, so it could have been closed by the time I was old enough to go. Anyway, here are some pics (just a few out of the hundred I took) of our day. We had beautiful fall weather and clear blue skies.............




At the bottom of the mountain












The scarecrow and the boys















Glenda, the good witch and the boys













The boys and I trying to stand up in the house that was toppled by a Kansas twister....
















We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country (in my humble opinion)













The whole Oz gang with a couple of flying monkeys named Lake and Kaden










We followed the yellow brick road











Beautiful view















The boys were a little scared when the Wizard's helper answered the door .......


Food is always an important part of our family outings!
We are NOT Wizard of Oz freaks (although we saw several people today that are). We actually rented the movie the other night to refresh our memories (our kids had never even seen it - I always thought it would scare them) we just thought it would be fun to take the boys to the Land of Oz for a little fall outing.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the wicked witch? Yeah, she really is dead.

16 comments:

Hollie said...

How fun!! I have heard of this.....looks like you guys had a great time:)

Heidi Zawisza said...

OH my gooooooooooooodnessssssss!
Carter is OBSESSED with The Wizard of Oz, and would absolutely LOVE this!! How far do you think this is from me? And is it only the first weekend of October?? I mean Carter would GO CRAZY here!

{patty} said...

That is awesome!! I'm so glad you had a good time!!
We love watching the WofO every year when it comes on tv even though we have it on DVD.
When Chase was small he watched it and that night dreamed that the witch was after his daddy. He wouldn't watch it after that. Even to this day, he does not like the witch. I will show him your photo just to confirm her demise. :)

Mommyluann said...

I'm so jealous..really I am. I remember that house from when I was a kid and also the witches feet under the house..and the yellow brick road....I saw it was 60.00 online..that quickly helped my decision for the day!

I'm glad you had a good time. You can tell Steve and I are from the same generation!!!!!

Stephanie said...

How fun! We are there next year, for sure.

~cassie~ said...

How much fun...I never knew this existed...I am back..in the blog world that it..I haven't been checking all of my blogs while I was in NY...So, tonight, I have been catching up...Loving the pics...Missed you! =) Have a great weekend...It is so good to be home...As you might say, "There is no place like home, There is no place like home" (imagine me clicking my heels together 3 times...minus the red shoes...my feet hurt from 4 days of walking in NYC....

Greg P. said...

Brotherly love doesn't get any better than seeing the picture of Kaden and Lake walking hand in hand down the yellow brick road.

Priceless.

Amie Mumpower said...

We have taken the kids to Oz but it was so cold when we were there. I had went when I was a child and loved it, so I also wanted my children to experience it.

Nicole said...

Oh I am so going next year!!! Stephanie had sent me an email about this but we were already going to the UT game and couldn't go. I never even knew of the theme park so like you was deprived as a child...haha...but TWOO is one of my most favorite movies ever!!! Thank you for the pictures so I can enjoy it thru you!!

Cheryl said...

Oh how fun! I would love to visit there!

Heather said...

Wow, this looks amazing! I love all of your pics! Your kids are so cute!

Eddie said...

The picture of the whole Oz gang and two flying monkeys. I got a question. Is that Steve acting like the tin man? Sure looks like him. You need to put the yellow brick road picture of Lake and Kaden in your next year Oct. calendar. I loved it.
Loving you and your family, Dad

ocean mommy said...

THIS LOOKS SO FUN!!!!

And YES, you do live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Carol said...

That looked like so much fun! I love little outings like that!

Denise said...

what a cool thing to do! it is beautiful there.

my kids have not seen the Wizard of Oz yet (ages 10,9,& 6) i was terrified of the monkeys, TERRIFIED! i think they are the only kids in north america who haven't seen it... poor deprived wizard of oz-less kids.

Alana said...

That looks like so much fun!

You do live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Hands down!