Vacation: day 3

Our trip left off at the aquarium.  We pick it up after traveling to Charlotte, NC, where we spent the day at the Nascar Hall of Fame.  We love how the windows of the building reflect the ground giving the appearance of a waving checkered flag.  Somebody was thinkin'. 

This was truly cool, but definitely geared towards the male population (no pun intended :)

Evidence:

We watched a video before starting our hall of fame experience.  E especially loved watching, but didn't love the seats that folded him in half.

After the show, we were able to visit different attractions within the hall.  Along the outside walls of the building were a bunch of cars lined up on a gradual incline.  Here is a collage of some of the cars on the incline as well as throughout the hall.  The top middle photo shows how the cars on the incline were displayed. 

We walked along the incline and then took a picture of the steepness.  Will looks like he is on his toes, but his feet are flat on the suface.  The surface is at a 33 degree incline and it represents the super speedway tracks and the incline they race on.

A collage to sum up the experience:

Some of the neat features of the hall of fame were the stations where we could practice being in the pits.  After receiving instruction, Will was timed on his own pitstop.  Here's a video for ya (at the end I forgot that I was still in video mode and went to take a pic of his time so it goes sideways for a sec - sorry):

Will had the highest time and his name was put on the time board.  The times listed below his are faster; however, they were done with 2 and 3 people on a team.  Will flew solo.

We were able to do the same thing with driving.  We practiced for a while on some arcade-type drives.  Then we got into a car and had a simulated driving experience.  E was able to sit on my lap during the simulation, and he fell asleep during the 5 minute drive. 

Some other gems.

 We tried to capture Emerson giving her a pound, but he was so timid and fast that we only got the withdraw.  Sidenote: Will doesn't like the M&M car so he refused to be in these pictures. 

After spending lots and lots of time at the hall, we booked it to Asheville, NC.  We mostly rested here and took in the scenery.  Look closely at the collage and you'll see the ritziest McDonald's you'll ever see.  It was located right outside the main entrance to the Biltmore Estate, which we only drove up to instead of toured.  The Biltmore was just slightly out of our budget (ahem over $50/ea just to tour the estate!) so we just drove around the area and oohed and ahhed at all the wealth. We also drove on Blueridge Parkway for a few miles.  This is "America's Favorite Drive" and is 469 miles connecting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  We wish we could've spent more time driving it, but we would've had to go out of our way quite a bit.  We only spent a few hours in Asheville, but it was nice and we would love to go back.