Day two of our 60-65 Adventure began wbreakfast with Santa.

Do you ever get too old for Santa?  As we stood with him, the lyrics from Amy Grant’s song, “Grown-Up Christmas List” flooded my head.  Being that there are 351 days until Christmas, Santa didn’t ask what I wanted for Christmas.  If he had, I would have sung this chorus;

No more lives torn apart

That wars would never start

And time would heal all hearts

And love would never end…

I’m sure this will be my wish next Christmas as well so ‘I’ll keep my wises close to my heart for the next eleven months.

It was a gorgeous day in Gatlinburg, temperatures in the 60s and sunny.  We headed to Ober Mountain.  Our initial plan, for as much as we had a plan, was to take The Gatlinburg Sky Tram up to the Ober Mountain Adventure Park and look around.  At what?  We had no idea.  We made our way to the ticket counter to buy our tram tickets.  The cost was $29 to ride up and then back down.  The attendant at the ticket booth asked us if we wanted just the tram ticket or a “fun pass.”  Jim asked what kind of fun did we get with the fun pass.  ‘Ice skating, Rock Climbing, The Family Snow Zone,  The Carousel, Ice Bumper Cars,  the Wildlife Habitat, The Sky Village Express  , and, of course, the tram ride.”  Of that list, we thought the wildlife habitat and maybe the Sky Village Express sounded like possibilities.  As it turns out, if we bought a ticket for any one of these other individual experiences, the cost was equivalent to purchasing the Fun Pass.  Sold!

In completing our transaction, the attendant asked if either of us was over 60.  I responded, “Yes.”  And Jim told her that he was 39.  Without missing a beat, she said, “That’s too bad because there is a$10 discount if you are 60 or over.”  Sometimes it pays to be old!

Up the mountain we went!

After the ten minute ride, we disembarked at the adventure park.  It was relatively early and crowds were non-existent.  Seeing a lonely operator sitting next to the still carousel, we decided to take a spin.  Why not?  We paid for it.

What fun!  You aren’t too old for a carousel until you can’t get your leg over the horse.  So far, so good!

Despite my fear of heights, we then rode the Sky Village Express further up the mountain.

I was distracted on the way up by looking down at all of the hats, mittens, sunglasses, water bottles, shoes, and even a cell phone, that previous riders had lost on their way up.

The views from the observation deck were worth every white knuckle moment of the ride up.

Once we made our way back down, it was time for more kid-like fun.  We rode the Ice Bumper cars.

We weren’t the only kids at heart on the ice!  We had a blast!

This cute guy is a resident in the wildlife refuge.

He and his friends seemed so full of joy.  How can you not smile at that face?

Since we didn’t want to interrupt our vacation time with an ER visit, we skipped the ice skating and rock climbing wall.

The tram ride back down to the bottom of the mountain followed by a late lunch, and a stroll through the shops in Gatlinburg finished our day…until it was time for nightly cookies and milk with Santa!

May we never lose the spark of wonder and joy the comes with living with a child-like spirit.