Pigeon Forge, TN

Since Carol was here for TJ's graduation, TJ and I headed out for a few days of relaxation in the Great Smokey Mountains!  We stayed in Pigeon Forge and had a blast!  The first night we went to the Dixie Stampede - Dolly Parton's dinner show with animals.  The dinner was great and so was the entertainment!

 After eating way too much we took a walk down the "strip."  This place is such a touristy place - we had no idea.

The next day was Dollywood!  We got to the park and I realized I had forgotten my military ID card for our discount.  I was so bummed.  While we were waiting in line a lady came up to us and asked if we wanted a free ticket!  We were like - uh, for real?!  Sure enough, she happened to have an extra ticket!  Lucky us!  Dollywood was fun.  We are roller coaster junkies and love the big, scary rides.  Dollywood didn't really have a lot of those.  There were a couple we enjoyed, but it wasn't like Hershey Park or Busch Gardens.  They did have really good shows and we enjoyed those while it rained in the afternoon.

Our third day was all about shopping and relaxing.  They had a huge outlet mall and we I had so much fun shopping!  Living in Blacksburg the last 3 years hasn't really given me any opportunities to shop.  I made up for those 3 years :)

The last day before heading home we stopped at the Titanic Museum.  I love hearing stories of the Titanic and Brena is obsessed with it.  There were no photos allowed in the museum.  It was an amazing museum!  There were so many artifacts and cool things to read and see.  I could have spent at least a day in there.  One thing they had was a section made to look like the deck of the boat on the night it sunk.  It looked like night out with stars and it was COLD.  They also an "iceberg" you could touch and feel the coldness of it.  They also had a trough of water that was 28 degrees, just like the water was the night it sunk.  You could put your hand in there and feel what it felt like.  After about 5 seconds of my hand immersed in the water my bones were already hurting!

Then it was home to all the crazy kids.  Thank you Carol for watching the kids for us!  This was a MUCH needed getaway!