Tag Archives: Pigeon Forge

adventure, Amusement Parks, Attractions, Outdoors

Dolled up in Dollywood

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I come to this post a bit conflicted.  Dollywood was highly recommended by several of our friends, and it had its share of really cool things.  We loved eating at Miss Lillian’s, never suspecting we’d be serenaded by the grand lady herself.  photo(10)Miss Lillian is charming, funny, and worth the price of admission. The chicken was great too!

The Dollywood Express, an artifact from the Alaska-Canada Railroad, took us up into the Smoky Mountains–the real draw for us here in the region.

On the five-mile loop, there was perhaps a half-mile that could be reached by foot from a public area. I had the good sense to dphoto(12)rop my phone in one of these rare spots just after taking this photo. Once again, I prove there is a God watching out for fools.  And it was a pretty ride.

The Wings of America bird show was extremely entertaining, and easily rivaled Busch Gardens.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed both the information and the show.  One of those rare education-disguised-as-entertainment moments.photo(11) They even had a bird that collected donations in its beak! NPR may want to consider something like it. A line formed quickly to give dollar bills to the Foundation.

On the minus side, we are spoiled by Busch Gardens and Hershey Park, with online apps to show ride locations and wait times.  The park map was hard to decipher, and did not include show times and locations.  We stumbled upon a great Mother Africa show that reminded me so much of Gymkana on America’s Got Talent!

Finally, the trams.  Granted, it was opening day, and the place was packed.  A woman working the tram line assured us that, even for a day when everyone knew Dolly would be there, this was a crowd no one expected.  But to be herded into one more serpentine line just to get to our car….photo(13)I guess I am a whiner sometimes after all.

So we have four days in Hot Springs.  Your suggestions?

adventure, Attractions

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

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Just a stone’s throw east of Pigeon Forge is the resort town of Gatlinburg. Both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have grown gangbusters since Franklyn Roosevelt designated the Great Smoky Mountains a park in 1940.  And both have attracted an astounding array of shops, attractions, and amusements to occupy every rainy day ’til the Rapture.

Speaking of rapture, The culture is a fascinating mix of overt Christian themes and symbols, and a reverence for all things Dukes of Hazzard.  In the midst of a grand log cabin facade on a row of shops is the message, Jesus Saves.  In Terry Evanswood’s Wonders of Magic at Wonderworks, he threatens jokingly at one point to lock the doors and preach for two hours.  (Read Jen’s and son 2’s review of the show here. )

Our kids delighted yesterday, returning from Gatlinburg’s very impressive Ripley’s Aquarium, in reading off the number of signs that advertised knives.  “Tobacco, beer, knives.” “Linens, moccasins, knives.” A dizzying array, including the selection for the discerning Christian: King James Knives. Open 24 hours. What do tourists do with all those knives?

For several wonderful hours yesterday we fished at Herbert Holt State Park outside of Gatlinburg, and our four-year-old made a steady stream of friends on the playground. IMG_6504Okay, we didn’t catch anything. But with the park rules limiting fishing to children only, nobody seemed to care much that fish weren’t biting.  It was a great spot for a picnic snack.

I expected the Ripley’s Aquarium to be, well, you know, two-headed sharks and blurred images of mermaids in grainy newsreels. Instead, I would have to say that while it lacked the grandeur of the National Aquarium,  the Japanese Crabs– about the size of a mastiff skeleton–were compelling, as was the exhibit devoted to slime in the natural world.

While twoIMG_1492 hours was probably enough, the collection is impressive, including a very cool feature that allowed the kids to control the sIMG_1527peed and direction of videos explaining the animals on display.  Nothing like watching a killer shark dismember a dolphin in slo-mo, then regurgitate the whole mammal, over and over!

adventure, Attractions

One Day to Float

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To say we were unprepared for the final days of our home sale would be a monumental understatement.  What began as a steady, somewhat disciplined effort so many months ago ended in a cartoon-like scene of jettisoning anything not breathing to empty our mother ship. The morning of our home closing Friday, we found ourselves in a lifeboat 29 feet long, full of God-knows-what. Somewhere in the clutter, three kids, including our very sick youngest.

Hands had been extended, and we took one. Or several. The trip that had waited this long could wait one more day. So before we set out on points south and west, we rested and recovered in Mount Airy, MD, at Rich and Teresa”s.

Snow was on the way again, so we couldn’t wait too long. But that one day was priceless.

Long ago, standing on the side of some dusty exit ramp on another journey, I realized that the freedom to travel, at least for me, comes part and parcel with having an umbilical cord that connects me to a home. We are free, emotionally, to make this trip with our kids because we rest in the certain knowledge that if we fall, we will land in a safety net of love that extends further than we can ever drive, or sail, or walk.

As the magician Terry Evanswood said during his WonderWorks Magic Show last night in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, realizing how blessed we are is the real magic.  We left a house in Eldersburg last week.  We will always have a home.

This week we are in eastern Tennessee, at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Suggestions, anyone?

Next, we discover Pigeon Forge, and the teacher learns valuable lessons while road schooling.