Day 3 Dollywood & Pigeon Forge

What a blinking day! Dollywood mofos!

We woke up bright and early and were delighted to discover that the rain had stopped. We decided just to have breakfast in the hotel and we were delighted that we did. They had a cook your own waffle station which delighted me and hot biscuits to delight Kirsty.

After breakfast we headed to Dollywood! The journey from Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge was short but beautiful, alongside the river the whole way. We arrived at Dollywood just as it opened so we got parked pretty close to the entrance. It became apparent quite quickly that it was quite a quiet day. Rides that are obviously super popular in the high season had no wait at all. The whole park was awesome, lots of old style buildings and old cars etc.

We went on a couple of roller-coasters, including the super Fire Chaser Express. We were too scared to go on the biggest roller-coasters though. The park is weird a lot of families and young people were there just for the theme park stuff and then there were a lot of older people who were just there for the Dolly stuff. We enjoyed a bit of both.

We went on a 30 minute steam train ride which was cool but we got covered in soot and got stuff in our eyes. Our lunch was a southern buffet called Aunt Grannies! America!

There were various shows through the day and we went to a few but the best one was a band that did pop country covers. They were great but a little big Glee-y. The highlight of the day for me was the Dolly museum - the welcome was done by a hologram of Dolly! We also went on her tour bus that she used until 2009 - it even had a Dolly sized bath in it.

Once we were done with Dolly we headed into Pigeon Forge and Hard Rock to buy souvenirs for John and Lorna - apparently they are discontinuing the charms that Lorna collects. Bad times. Pigeon Forge is massive. It has every tacky (wonderful) thing you can imagine. It also really loves Jesus, there is a gift shop across from our hotel just called Jesus Saves!

Once we were checked in to our motel - the wonderful mom & pop Mountain Breeze - we headed over to The Island. It has a lot of restaurants, attractions and shops including a Margaritaville Hotel and and a Paula Deen shop and restaurant. There were rocking chairs everywhere so you could just chill and enjoy the atmosphere and music. We sat outside the Ole Smokey Moonshine Distillery for a while and enjoyed a really good bluegrass band. The night got better when I went inside the distillery and did a moonshine tasting. $5 to taste 13 different moonshines, the peach one was probably my favourite. K didn't partake cos she was driving but I gave her a wee sip of all of mine. Before it started she asked how much alcohol it would be as she was driving and they were like "about 4 shots all in so you'll be fine to drive"?!? You got your $5 back against any purchase so we got a couple of shot glasses.

It was after 8pm by this point so we decided to grab some food. We just went to Cheddar's cos the bbq joint we had considered was shutting at 9. We both got the wee steak (6oz) with chips, onion strings and carrots (k) and green beans (me). I got a pint of lagunitas ipa with it and k got a diet Dr Pepper. The food was delicious but the service was a bit rushed, they cleared my plate and brought us our bill while K was still eating! The change in exchange rate has been really apparent on the trip already. Dinner was $36 including a hefty tip which is still good but previously this would have been £24 (crazy cheap) but now it's about £30.

After dinner we tracked down some mini golf. Most were closed but luckily Firehouse Golf was still open. Unusually,  I won - it appears that lightly buzzed is my prime mini golf state.

We're back in the room now and K is watching Full House while I write this. Nashville tomorrow!

Comments

  1. Aidan25 April 2017 at 10:06

    Sounds like a packed day. Interesting you've noticed the weak pound too. Rides sound a hoot. And a jesus saves shop - wt(actual)f?!

    ReplyDelete

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