Pigeon Forge, TN....

We arrived in Pigeon Forge, TN on Wednesday night and I must say that my first impressions were Not positive.  I had no idea how crowded and touristy commercialized it would be.  The older I get, the less I like people and crowded spaces, I much prefer the country and natural wonder places.  And I have to admit, that I was in a bad mood Wednesday night and Thursday morning because of the atmosphere of the area(sorry family).  Thursday morning we weren't even sure we wanted to go to Dollywood anymore and we searched around for other things to do. It started to rain and really put a damper on things.  But my hubby, being the good captain of our ship, pulled us through and dragged me out of my funk and persuaded us all to stick with our original plan and head to Dollywood(forecast said the rain would stop).

So off we went...

 First ride of the park... race cars.

 Took a scenic train ride on a real coal engine train(hubby was impressed with the engine).

 Rides for the kids...

 Hubby and 3 boys went on this coaster...

 And here is the proof...

 The kids...

 They also went on this coaster....

 Mason went on some rides all by himself(he was half asleep in this picture because I woke him up from a brief nap in the stroller).

 He said this was his favorite ride.

 We did the bumper cars...

 I went on this coaster with the kids(I screamed and may have cussed a bit ;) )

 Becca was a good big sister and rode a bunch of little kid rides with Mason.

 Having fun in the playground while the big kids were riding coasters... BTW, my 10 and 12yr olds went on the Wild Eagle coaster, neither hubby or I would go on it, they were brave souls. Look it up if you want to see that coaster, it's a doozy!!

 The kids again...

 The park was a lot better than we thought it would be. Great rides, clean, and scenic. They left a lot of trees throughout the park and it was well maintained.  All the staff was very friendly too.  We did take the advice of a lot of reviews we read and brought in our own water and snacks because the food was very expensive.  And I'm glad we were in shape, there was a lot of walking and hills, but nothing too bad.

One last thing... they had a zip line course that you could pay extra for. There were 4 lines and you had to hike to each line in the mountains. Three lines were about 600ft long and over 100ft off the ground, one line was 130ft off, and the last line was 815ft long.
Since we are on vacation and didn't know if the kids would get another chance, we decided to let the older two do it(you had to be at least 12 yrs old and 80lbs).

Here is Gavin flying across the first line....

 And here is Becca...I zoomed in so you can't see how high this really is.  And this girl is really afraid of heights but she pushed through it and conquered her fear(and had fun in the end).

 Ya,  I couldn't let those two go alone, so look who is up on that line....

 Me!   I was the last one in our group to go across the first line. And I must tell you, that I almost didn't. It took every fiber in my body to walk off that final step and trust that harness.  But it was fun!! And by the time we got to the 4th and final line, I wanted to do more.

So that was our day at Dollywood. I'm glad we went, it was fun and tiring.  I'm not at all fond of the Pigeon Forge area, just not my cup of tea, but maybe we will see some cute little towns today on our drive to meet my friend Paris and her family.

Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

Shenandoah Valley...

We only made Edinburg, VA a short pitstop on our journey, but we soon realized that there is so much this area has to offer.  We are already thinking about coming back here and staying a week to explore it all. There are so many caverns to explore(we only went to one), over a 100 miles of Skyline drive to see, national parks, history museums(and a quilt one), flea markets and antique stores, zip lines, and beautiful scenery. This really is a gorgeous place to visit(and I wouldn't mind living here).

Yesterday  we explored Shenandoah Caverns, they were spectacular.  Mason was terrified at first and kept asking if we could go back up(to the surface).  But he soon started to enjoy it and then really loved it.

 There were some really neat formations... these were the "bacon" ones...

 Pictures really don't do it justice.

 Can you see the ram's head here?

 I wish this picture wasn't so blurry because it captures the wonder on Mason's face.

 This was a 34' reflecting pool, beautiful.

 The wishing well...

 They also had several other little attractions there. We didn't go to two of the other ones because we ran out of time.

 We have also spent a lot of time doing this at our campsite...feeding all the ducks!

 Our site is right on the creek and the kids just love the friendly(and hungry) ducks. My favorite is the big tan one.

 Today, after sleeping in, we went for a jog through town(cute little town), stopped at the post office to mail some postcards, and then to the local bakery to buy breakfast.  After that we headed out to some Mennonite stores and then to Skyline drive in the Shenandoah National Forest.  It was a beautiful drive and I would love to drive the whole thing one day.

 And I can't even tell you how many farmhouses there are around here. Each one is neater than the last one. I wish I would have thought to take pictures of all of them.  But here are two on our drive home.   This one isn't pretty, but it caught my eye because of how it was sitting all alone and because it was abandoned. How I would love to save it.

 And this one... Love the brick and big porch on it, sitting pretty on a hill.

Seriously, there are so many scenes while you are driving that are just so picture perfect and from another era.  If you have a chance, do come visit this area, you will really love it.

We are off to Pigeon Forge tomorrow. I hope to visit my blog friend Paris and her family on our way there.

Sweet travels everyone,

Tiff