Every trip teaches me something and this trip taught not save all the driving for the last day! I thought we did well with no more than 2-3 hours of driving per day. The problem is that we have been traveling 2-3 hours further from home each day so our drive back home was 8+ hours.

We slept in a little – but after yesterday’s 4:45am wake up call, anything would be sleeping in 😊 – packed our bags, our clean laundry (love having a washer and dryer at end of a trip), our snacks and cooler and said goodbye to the treehouse rental.

It was a lllloooooonnnnnggggg drive, but we snacked, and ate, and made the best of the drive.

We made it home after 9 hours and with some daylight to spare. Just enough time begin the battle with the mud 😳🥴😳

Some pieces were eventually just sacrificed to the trash… we had the very best time and cannot wait for our next adventure!

Today started EARLY… like 5:30 am early for fishing on Lake Guntersville. Lake Guntersville is beautiful lake – it’s a manmade lake created when the Tennessee Valley Authority damned up part of the Tennessee River.

We were trying to beat the rain, which we almost did… we cut our 4 hour fishing trip to 3 hours and 15 minutes… Captain John would have continued but we were wet and cold, and ready to head home.

It was a great day of fishing in spite of the rain!Capt John was great, especially with boys. They learned to use bait casters or spinners instead of the normal fishing poles that they were used to using.

Leo hooked a fish within about 10 minutes of us being on the water!And about 3 minutes later…Thank you God that they both caught at least 1 🙌 but Michael was on fire today – He caught 5 bass! (and he kissed every one 🤢)Leo had a bit of a dry spell after his first fish (see grumpy face below), but then he was catching them left and right too!We tried 4 different spots but nothing could help Mike and I catch even one fish 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♂️ oh well, as long as the boys did!

Michael and Leo loved zipping along on the boat in between the fishing spots, and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle my hair made as we went (you’ll see the final version later) 🥴

And then we watched as the rain rolled in… and it came in fast! We tried to outrun it but we just got soaked! We stayed under a bridge for about 15 minutes (learning some interesting things about Brian Canterbury 🤪🤦🏻‍♀️)

At this point, we only had about 45 left with Capt John, but honestly, we were done. So we headed back to the dock… in the rain… flying across the water. And as you can guess, Michael and Leo laughed their heads off 🤣😂🤣Capt John was a really great sport and was very patient with the boys. The boys said this was their favorite part of the trip (and they’ve said that about each day so far 🥰)We were soaked through by grinning from ear to earWe got back to the cabin, took very hot showers and ate lunch, and then headed into Guntersville to explore a bit. Guntersville is a really lovely town, and we got a great recommendation for dinner… at a gas station. No, seriously 😳🤨

Meanwhile, we got a text from Craig, the owner of the cabin we are renting, inviting boys to stop by the campground office if they want to see him throwing clay (putting clay on potters wheel) and maybe make something of their own. We did, and he showed them how to use a Potter’s wheel and gave us some clay to make their own ornaments at the cabin tonight. He also offered to take us to see a waterfall and salamanders near the cabin. We ran by his studio to see his pottery and get some tools for us to use when making our ornaments.

Now, his “studio” oh my! It is his in-laws old home and is FULL of stuff! Full to the point that the folks from American Pickers called him and asked him to send pictures so they can decide whether to come. (He’s still waiting to hear but I bet they come)

Keep in mind, there are at least 5 other barns that he owns in the property as well 😳. It was overwhelming but he was just so thoughtful and had some of the best stories! He was the federal attorney regarding land development in this area, taught land development at Auburn, audited a class on pottery, drafted land use blueprints for the government… he was just a really interesting person.

Anyway, after the studio tour, he took us to a natural waterfall on the property by the cabin. It runs all year long, never dries up and never changes temperatures. It was gorgeous! Craig even climbed down into the waterfall to catch salamanders for the boys! So yea, they think he’s awesome!!!He really was such a great host!

Side note: Seriously! Enough with the rain!!! Ugh! I feel like we have been on a cycle of dry to cold, to wet and cold, to warm and dry, to wet and cold to dry and warm all day long.

Anyway, we got dry (again), taking a little rest before dinner at the gas station. Mike and I decided to go ahead and make our ornaments. And Boys made theirs when we got home. It was so much fun designing these. We are leaving these here, and Craig is going to put them in kiln, paint and glaze, and then ship to us. I can’t wait to see the finished products! in meantime, Craig gave us an ornament to remember our trip ♥️

Now it’s time for the gas station dinner… this afternoon the guy at Guntersville Outfitters just swore that food was great, and worth the trip. And gave us the backstory: Guntersville girl whose parents own/operate the South Sauty Creek Gas Station, leaves Guntersville to attend Culinary school and work “up north” for a while. She doesn’t like the big city and decides to come home, but she still wants to be a chef. What do you do… open a fantastic restaurant inside the gas station, of course,and Homecoming Cafe and Country Store was born!I’ve eaten at the counter in drug stores and ice cream parlors but I’ve never been served a ribeye with béarnaise and hand cut fries, or a burger with homemade chili, or the best chicken tenders I’ve ever had with homemade mac & cheese! Seriously, have you ever eaten at a gas station where it looked like this? The food was delicious, and the boys loved getting to drink from mason jars! If you are ever near Guntersville, Alabama, it is so worth the trip!

We have absolutely loved these organic side trips that have developed on this trip. It’s been fun to not plan every detail and meal. We are headed home tomorrow with a vague idea of which roads we are taking, so who knows which roads… but I know I am ready to be at home with my “stuff” soon 🥰

(I had to wear my favorite vacation shirt once during vacation!)

Today is our last travel day, but before we leave Huntsville, we must spend a little time in space at the US Space and Rocket Center, and by little time, we mean all day 😉 🚀

We checked out of our last Holiday Inn Express and were at the Space Center a little after opening. First thing we see is the Pathfinder Shuttle with rockets and fuel tank – WOW! They are huge!

As we walked up to the entrance, we noticed 2 gravestones, which I thought was a little morbid 🤨 until I read the markers. These are the actual graves of Miss Baker, and her husband, Big George, the squirrel monkey who was the first US animal to go into space and return alive in 1959 😇 She died 24 years later.

There were so many exhibits and artifacts inside the Space Center. Just like at Cape Canaveral, we could flip every switch and push every button available!

They had a great hands-on presentation that these 2 got involved in 🤣😂🤣

And a rock climbing wall (astronauts have to stay in shape)!

We loved the “future” soldier outfits because they looked like something from a video game (Mike and I think they probably already have this biomedical tech and loved that it’s apparently sponsored by Under Armour – see the label 🤦🏻‍♀️)The planetarium show about the sun, moon and interplanetary space travel was really cool… although the live action “space commander” was a bit cheesy for the boys – bless her, she tried.Then we headed outside to see these huge rockets and aircrafts up close!The Saturn 5 building and the Space Station/SkyLab areas were great. It was almost overwhelming trying to take it all in, but I think we managed pretty well.And of course we found some “simulator” rides… Although the G Force ride was a little much for Leo…But it was such a fun day, and who knows maybe we have some future astronauts🚀🚀🚀We left Huntsville and headed to Guntersville, Alabama for the last leg of the journey. We rented a “tree house cabin” through Airbnb, and it is so fun! The boys are loving having an Alexa in the house. If I hear one more time “Alexa what time is it?” Ugh! Look at your watch!!! 🤪

I love that there’s a tornado shelter down the road, just in case 😉Boys wanted to practice their casting before we go fishing tomorrow with a guide on the lake so we squeezed that in before dinner

It is really beautiful here – hoping for a little dry weather tomorrow when we fish. We had dinner at Top of the River – we got 4 separate recommendations for this place from 4 different people. The food was good but the desserts were awesome And I loved their catch line: Catfish Exceptionale! 🤣😂🤣Tomorrow is our last full day of vacation so we are starting bright and early (and I mean EARLY) meeting our fishing guide at 6:15 🥴😳🥴😳🥴

Hope the coffee is strong and the fish are biting ☕️🎣☕️🎣☕️ guess we can sleep some other time 🤪

The plan for Wednesday was drive to Huntsville, Alabama and spend the day at NASA’s US Space & Rocket Center, but you know what they say about the best laid plans… Mike has been snarfully for the last few days (which we’ve been chalking up to different environments and hire air). and Michael started having an achy ear late Tuesday night (Swimmer’s Ear gets us every year!) So we checked out of the hotel in Nashville planning to go to a Walgreens Minute Clinic nearby.

However, as we are sitting in the parking lot, Mike remembered MD Live was offered by BCBS through Cone Health. Man! This service is Awesome!!! Remember when you could call your doctor and tell them what was wrong (because every person/mother knows the symptoms of a sinus infection and swimmers ear) and they’d call you in a prescription? Well that’s what this is!

We called in and gave information on symptoms to a consultant. She read us a long legal waiver that basically said if we croak because of these symptoms, then it’s our own fault for not going to a doctor’s office. Then a few minutes later, the doctor called us back, and based on this and a few questions she asked confirming symptoms etc., she sent in prescription for us. You can even do a video chat if you prefer 🤗

We found a Walgreens near where we were headed and boom 💥 We’re on our way with medication! Thanks Walgreens 💊The telephone calls and delay getting meds filled pushed back our arrival time at Huntsville until around 1:30. The Space Center closed at 5, so we decided to put it off until tomorrow and just meander our way to Huntsville and just see where the day took us.

We started off in Franklin, Tennessee – because yep, there was a battle there 🤗. We just walked the grounds today, but we met the nicest guide, Randy Purcell of the Battle of Franklin Trust. His son graduated from HP University so we enjoyed talking to him and he gave us a personal tour around the grounds.

Clearly they thought the well was cool 🤪 they also loved this building which had real bullet holes for the Civil War! the other side of the house doesn’t do justice to all the bullet holes there truly are…

It was really a beautiful park. And we got really cool pens in the shape of rifles! (Because who doesn’t need that?!?)

We left Franklin and just started heading toward Huntsville. We saw some beautiful Tennessee landscapes and we can now say we’ve been through Fayetteville, Tennessee. It reminded us of the town from My Cousin Vinny. Oh yea, you blend. 🤣

It was almost 1:30, and we were getting hungry for a meal – not the basket ‘o snacks that we have in the car. As we started looking for lunch spots, we saw a sign for Lynchburg. Okay, maybe we’ll go there… we started looking for places to eat and checking the Trip Advisor app. Well guess what’s in Lynchburg, Tennessee?

We wondered if boys would be okay there, and after some research, they actually have a “Dry County Tour” for families, which had great reviews. So off we went. Lynchburg, Tennessee was a beautiful town with a really cute town square. It reminded me of an old mill town where clearly everything was related to, or a result of, the Distillery.

We had lunch at the Barbecue Caboose Cafe.Don’t let the look of this place scare you, this was some of the best baby back ribs I have ever had! And the potato salad- yum! It was that old-timey kind of potato salad – like the covered dish lunch after church kind of potato salad. You could even smell the smoker just working away.

and boys thought it was really cool that Guy Fiery had eaten here too!

We headed over to the distillery and read up on the process of making whiskey, and mask. There were tons of displays and information on exactly what they do to make whiskey from crushing the corn and barley, to making the mash, adding yeast, and then letting it ferment, and so on…For instance, see the difference in the bottles above? The one on the left (clear) is how the whiskey looks when it’s put in the barrels. Then they are stored on 7 floors of a warehouse without any insulation, heating or AC. The difference in the 3 remaining bottles above shows the difference after being stored for the same amount of time. The change is due solely to where the barrel was placed in the storage warehouse. The higher the floor, the darker and smoother the whiskey due to the expanding and contracting, etc. from the elements.

Then we headed out on our “Dry County Tour”. Here’s Jennifer our guide:

And here’s one of the coolest hydrangeas I’ve seen. It’s almost like a tree instead of a bush

Boys liked the cave where the spring water comes from (guess they were ready to go caving again).

And look they even had a little Jack on the Rocks (get it, especially since Jack Daniels was only 5’2″ tall)

It was a really interesting tour. We smelled the mash as it ferments 🤢… wow! That would take your breath away, and how that make their our charcoal from White Oak trees to sweeten the whiskey🥃

Boys even played a little checkers with a new friend… although he was really slow with his moves 😂🤣😂In case you’re wondering you can buy a whole barrel of whiskey for about $10,000 – $14,000. They bottle it into 250 bottles and you can create your own personalized label. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I find a sack of money 😏 we just left the barrels with old Jack.

Then it was off to Huntsville. We have stayed at Holiday Inn Expresses along our trip, and Huntsville no exception. BUT we ran into a problem. The hotel was doing renovations to the first floor. The other floors were finished but the the first floor wasn’t, and guess what’s on the first floor? The indoor pool! We had planned our arrival time to account for an hour and a half of pool time, showers and then bed. Ugh! The other Holiday Inns in town were completely booked. So, we would just have to make the best of it.

However, we decided that God knew Michael needed to rest his ears, and as we look across the parking lot from the hotel, there’s a place called TopGolf. It’s like bowling and darts but with golf shots. Instead of a lane, you rent a bay (on one of 3 levels). They provide the clubs and balls. The balls have microchipped and score where your ball lands and whether it’s in the target.It was so much fun! We have been trying to get the boys into golf since Mike and I love to play, and this was a perfect introduction! it was a perfect unplanned end to our unplanned day! And the TopGolf folks asked us to pose for their spring break pictures!

This is the perfect picture of us! We really are living our best life ♥️ We are so thankful!!!

Up early tomorrow to be there to turn the key at the Space & Rocket Center, and then it’s on to our last stop, Guntersville, Alabama to sloooooowwwww down and relax 😉

We had an incredibly well-rounded day in Nashville. We had a little bit of history, little bit of big city, little bit of nature, little bit of redneck TV, and little bit of country music 🎶

We started today at The Hermitage – the home of Andrew Jackson. I wasn’t expecting to spend 3 hours there but it was really a neat place. So much history to see. The Ladies Hermitage Association modeled The Hermitage after Mount Vernon, but The Hermitage was so much more realistic and interactive than Mount Vernon.

The tour guides told us today that they had been notified by the US Treasury that this was Andrew Jackson’s last year on the $20 bill. (Harriet Tubman is supposed to be on the $20 bill starting in 2020.) However, I kind of like these two on the twenty-dollar bill. ♥️

We toured the grounds, gardens and Mansion. Mike was jealous of Andrew Jackson’s salt box and smokehouse. The guide said Andrew Jackson said you could eat everything on a pig except the squeal 🤪🐖🤪🐖🤪🐖

We were sure to be quiet and reverent and stayed on the path at all times…Yea, right! It wasn’t that kind of place! Other than the mansion, they encouraged us to explore and touch everything. And we did!

The gardens were gorgeous, and included the graves of Andrew Jackson, his wife Rachel, and a former slave named Alfred – who became free and remained at the house working as an overseer. He donated items to the Ladies Hermitage Association in exchange for him being buried near Andrew and Rachel Jackson… and he was.

What was supposed to be about an hour visit turned into a 3.5 hour excursion… but if the boys choose to stay at a historical site longer than I planned, I’m not arguing! Nothing like a little disguised learning 😉

We left The Hermitage, and decided to balance out the culture we just learned with a visit to Cooter’s Place and the Dukes of Hazard Museum 🤣🤣🤣

We didn’t go through the museum the outside was enough to utterly confuse Michael and Leo. We tried to explain to the boys why we both loved the Duke Boys, Uncle Jess, Daisy and Deputy Enos so much… but pretty sure they still don’t get it. Whatever, it was awesome if you grew up in the early 80’s

Then we caught an Uber and headed into downtown Nashville to start checking off the must-see’s of Music City.

Pedestrian Bridge near Tennessee Titan’s stadium… check!

Lunch at local spot (Luigi’s Pizza)… check!

Music Row… where we heard amazing singers belting their heart out at 2 o’clock on a Tuesday trying to catch their big break… check!Ryman Theater… check!

Vanderbilt University, The Parthenon and Centennial Park… check!

Even worked in a little ninja warrior training …

I think we wore Michael out💤 but Leo is still going strong!

We all took a bit of a rest, then changed and headed out to mark a bucket list off for me – The Grand Ole Opry! But before the Opry, we killed some time of Dave & Buster arcade – life-sized Rock’em Sock’em Robots anyone 🤗

And of course basketball 🏀 It was so fun – seriously, arcades are just fun 🤗

And now, on to the Grand Ole Opry!! It was just amazing!!!

Tonight was a live broadcast of the weekly Grand Ole Opry Radio Show with a showcase of different artists, and the induction of Kelsea Ballerini into the Grand Ole Opry, which was pretty cool, even though we had no clue who she was. (I kept thinking about that scene from Coal Miner’s Daughter “We did it, Dew. Imma get to sang on the Grand Ole Opry.” 🎶😂🎶)But we really went in thinking “we’ll go and if we get bored, we can leave.” Wow, Were we wrong!

It was such great show. Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry performed:

Then one of announcers came out and said some guy wants to come sing and maybe sell some shirts? Enter, Keith Urban!

Then when they were inducting Kelsea Ballerini into the Grand Ole Opry, they said someone special from Oklahoma wanted to the honors… Carrie Underwood!

There were a couple of other groups were performed and they were all great! But as the blue grass band was finishing, they invited their long lost relative to come sing the last song with them… Vince Gill!

What a great night! We all had the best time! Michael said he really wasn’t excited about this part of trip but it turned out pretty cool ♥️🎶♥️🎶♥️

We made it back to the hotel in time to have a little down time before bed (backgammon, drawing and old maid). We are headed out of Tennessee tomorrow with a stop in Franklin, Tennessee before we head to Alabama.

Tennessee – you’ve been amazing! 😁

We started out this morning with a completely free day. Our only goal was to end the day is Nashville.

We started off checking out the Chattanooga National Cemetery. Thousands of men and women are buried here from the civil war through present. (They were actually preparing for two new gravesites) It was a beautiful place. A huge peaceful hill in the middle of a busy city.

We kept seeing coins on the grave stones and memorials – enough that we realized it wasn’t just dropped money. After some research, we learned that thus tradition was started during the Vietnam War as a way to acknowledge the fallen without getting into touchy political conversations. Each coin means something different too:

A penny = you visited the grave;

A nickel = you were in boot camp with the deceased soldier;

A dime = you served with the deceased solider; and

A quarter = you were present when the solider died. This was particularly special to boys because we saw a quarter on one of the markers.

We then decided to check out the distance to Chickamauga Battleground – smaller version of Gettysburg. Once Michael (both the 40-year old one and the 11-year old one) heard the words “civil war battlefield” there was no turning back. So, off we go to Chickamauga Battlefield in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. It was only a 25 minute drive, so with a free day, it was a no brainer. This was a really cool battlefield. The 2 Michaels were completely in their happy place 😀 Leo and I enjoyed it too but maybe not quite as much 😉

The park service had a great visitors center with a movie explaining the significance of the Battle of Chickamauga and Chattanooga.

I need to pray for Michael’s teacher next week. They just started their Civil War Unit and he is fully charged with new Civil War info. Poor Ms. Brown!

These three had to formulate our plan to see all the battlefield in minimal time a and i must admit admit that did an awesome job!

Battlefields are made for little boys! Grab a stick, it becomes a rifle and you’re all set!

We found Union General John Wilder’s Tower built in his honor after the Civil War . General Wilder led the “lightning bridge” in the Civil War. They were a mounted brigade who used a new repeating rifle – firing 3x faster than a regular rifle which the men purchased themselves rather than wade through government red tape 😉.

The Tower was insanely high! But we figured we were 300-feet below ground yesterday, why not do the opposite today 🤪

The park service also had a audio tour that we could listen to on the internet- we just logged in to listen to each tour stop along the battle. I think Michael and Leo touched every canon on the entire battlefield but these three had a great time together ♥️

We left Chickamauga and headed to Nashville. on the way, we saw a sign for “The Lodge Cast Iron Outlet.” Well, since we had nothing to do, and who doesn’t love a cast iron skillet… Look what we found…

the actual factory where they make cast iron skills and cookware since 1896!!! We really wanted to go on a tour but they only give tours during the Cornbread Festival on April 27th and 28th. (Make your plans now to attend!) We did however score some great cast iron cookware from the scratch and dent section – 50-60% off due to a tiny imperfection, uh, yes please!

We finally made it to Nashville! We skipped lunch due to our battlefield excursion and just filled up on snacks, so we headed out to an early dinner at Hattie B’s. We had heard “if you’re ever in Nashville, you have to eat fried chicken at Hattie B.’s”. So, we went to Hattie B.’s

Hattie’s was delicious! Everyone was in the clean plate club by the time we left!

But wait! What about dessert? How about Jeni’s Ice Cream? This place was awesome! I had a half a scoop each of “coffee with cream and sugar” ice cream and “brambleberry crumble” ice cream. Oh my! It was like having dessert with coffee all at once! We headed back to the hotel with very full bellies. After a bit of down time, we headed to the pool to get rid of the last bit of energy 😊

Tomorrow we head out to explore Nashville and watch a show at the Grand Ol’ Opry (bucket list ✅)

I woke up this morning and no longer have a child single digits! Today, Leo turned 10!

10 sounds so much bigger than 9.

10 is 2 whole hands.

10 means he’s not a little boy anymore 😩😢😩

Enough of that – on to the celebrating!

🎉Woo-hoo! 10 🎉

We always want better for our kids – I spent my 10th birthday at the Rockingham Skating Rink, Leo spent his birthday 300 feet underground in the caves of Tennessee.

We said goodbye to Pigeon Forge and headed to Chattanooga. We managed to avoid most of the severe weather. Some spots of heavy rain but not anything bad for very long. It was a beautiful drive – here is our view crossing the Tennessee River…

Mike really enjoyed me rolling down the windows for photos (He’s smiling on the inside)

We arrived at Raccoon Mountain Caverns in our required clothing – long pants, long sleeve shirts, and old sneakers – ready to get “caving”

We had a few snacks and explored a bit before we “geared up”

Once we got our gear, I left my phone in the car because our guide warned that getting completely muddy was a distinct possibility. So, all my cave photos are thanks to two cavers in my group. I’m still waiting on some pictures, and I’m hoping those pictures will truly show the caves. You really cannot grasp how small some of these spaces were and how far down we were 😳🥴

Anyway… off we went! Our guide, Jasmine, first came to the caves with an overnight trip when she was 12 and after that, she decided to become a geologist. She’s now in college studying geology, and a caver. She was fantastic – teaching us about the caves and mixing in a little science. She was also part spider-monkey because she would crawl around those caves like Spider-Man!!!

Who else had people sing happy birthday to them in a cave?

Michael thoroughly enjoyed his cave time 😊

There’s Mike in grey shirt 😳

Stalactites hanging from ceiling (c for ceiling and they are hanging on tight… different from stalagmites on the ground – they might trip you 👍🏻)

Baby salamanders were everywhere.

Fossils were all along the cave walls.

It was really amazing in the caves. They have been kept natural with the only lights being the ones attached to our helmets.

Sometimes the ceiling was 75 feet above you, and at other times you crawled on your belly and still scraped the ceiling. We slid down mud slides, and jumped into pools of water… and oh the mud!!!

It was a physically and mentally challenging day, but I am so glad we did it! (We’ll add more pictures when we get them) 

Thankfully we remembered grocery bags for our shoes and clothes, and changed at the bath house nearby. Honestly, I was afraid if we showed up at the hotel looking like this, they would somehow lose our reservation 🤪

After we were semi-cleaned up, we made our way to the hotel in Chattanooga. When I booked the room, I mentioned that we were celebrating a birthday. Once we got to our room, we had a sweet surprise from the Holiday Inn staff:

*let me just add a plug for the Holiday Inn Rewards Club – they really make you feel special to be a member. I didn’t have a cake or candle and these guys just went above and beyond. The birthday boy was thrilled 😍

But still the mud! Ooh my word, the mud was everywhere still!!! Even after showering at the hotel with soap and washcloth, there was still mud coming off on the towel 🥴🤪🥴

We were starving by dinner because we skipped lunch. Raccoon Caverns recommended not eating a big meal before going in the caves since no bathrooms and it’s a 3-hour tour… so we were HUNGRY!

The birthday boy had picked ribs for his birthday dinner so we checked with Kyle the Valet for a great local rib place. Kyle the Valet said “you gotta go to Mike’s Smokehouse.” So off we went to Mike’s Smokehouse.

Now Mike’s may not look like much on the outside but dang, can he cook!!! The ribs were fantastic – the bbq tacos were delish and the beef brisket you could cut with your fork!

And we had a cupcake to sing happy birthday to the newest Brown in the double-digit club 🎶🧁🎶🧁

The boys shared the cupcake and we decided to go see just how good Cupcake Kitchen was. No disappointment here – It tasted as good as it lookedEveryone but mom picked two – one for today and one for tomorrow. The looked almost too lovely to eat…Almost too good to eat …

Back to the hotel for some swimming (and some icy hot), and then we can call it a day!

This was truly one of the coolest things I’ve done with my boys – Definitely a day to remember ♥️ (thank you to my friends who prayed for my mama-love to be stronger than my claustrophobia 😘)

*sidenote: the other boy is truly loving his spring break too 🤣😂🤣 He may never want to come home

Tomorrow we are exploring Chattanooga some and then headed to music city – Nashville🎶

It has been a long day but Dolly didn’t disappoint! We spent 10 hours riding almost every ride (except the “baby ones” and one that was closed because a boy fainted during the ride 😳), seeing great shows and LOVING the Dolly Museum and tour bus! The park is similar to Carowinds with a sprinkling of rhinestones and a whole lotta Dolly!

We started off a little behind – we didn’t get there until 10:15 (sorry Daddy). Our first interaction was with parking… first, Sheriline the parking attendant (seriously that was her name) wanted to chit-chat with every car that came in…

And then when I showed her the barcode for my pre-paid parking pass, you would have thought I started speaking Russian. Finally, I just showed her the email that said “parking pass barcode” – apparently you don’t need the barcode itself just the word barcode is enough. 😂🤣

So we’re in the park, and we hop on the tram to head to the entrance. There’s a different crowd at Dollywood… remember that line in Steel Magnolias when Truvy (Dolly) says “Louie brought his new girlfriend home and the nicest thing I can say about her is all her tattoos are spelled correctly.” Well, yea… At least I didn’t see any tattoos misspelled 🤣

We did see a whole lotta hover-rounds, which just made Mike’s day 🤣🤣🤣

We rode and rode and rode some more…

We even found a few zombies 🧟‍♂️ and our own hillbilly band🥁

We stopped to eat (and let my equilibrium try to settle) and found the biggest corn dogs we’d ever seen!

Apparently they were delicious 😋

And then… it was time for the Dolly Parton Museum, Chasing Rainbows 🦋♥️. I don’t think the boys really knew any Dolly music until today. However, they both ended up getting Jolene stuck in their head so they sang and hummed it the rest of the day 🎶🎶🎶. (you’re singing it now, aren’t you? You’re welcome!)

The museum was awesome! It showed her small cabin growing up, and her Coat of Many Colors

It was filled with Dolly’s signature style and all her awards. Leo was the best when he said “look how little her waist is, and how big her, well… you know.” 😊

Even if you don’t like amusement parks, if you’re a Dolly fan, the museum is worth coming to Dollywood 🦋

Bellies full and heads & heart full of Dolly-culture, Mike went to check out the Southern Gospel Museum and we were back to the rides…

We met back at the Showstreet Palace Theater and spent about an hour with a drum group from South Africa – think BlueMan Group where the audience is given drums and plays along as part of performance – it was so fun! Our hands were sore afterwards!

Then we needed ice cream to power through the last few rides, including 2 with water where I rocked my orange poncho and stayed completely dry 😁 Michael and Leo… not so much 🤪

I did not do a good job accounting for dinner at such a late hour and rather than get a pizza delivered at 10pm, how about crackers, chips and salsa by the pool? Michael said this was the most Redneck dinner he’d ever had 🤣😂🤣

It’s definitely not Disney, but because of negative reasons. It’s just a much slower pace but just as friendly. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with Dolly!

Tomorrow we head to Chattanooga to celebrate somebody’s 10th (2-whole hands) birthday by doing a little cave exploring. Oh my! Only for my boys 🤪🤦🏻‍♀️

Meanwhile, back in NC, Sampson is thoroughly enjoying his vacation as well 🤣

Pigeon Forge is literally Myrtle Beach in the Mountains…

Neon lights? …Check.

Horrible traffic due to “cruising”? …Check.

Putt-putt courses after Putt-putt course? …Check.

Go-carts? …Check.

Ferris wheel? …Check.

Yep, Myrtle Beach in the mountains 🤗

We arrived in Pigeon Forge around 7:30 and in an effort to avoid the high traffic cruising, I found the curviest and narrowest road in Tennessee. Mike was excited when we got back on a road with yellow lines 🤣😂🤣 Whatever, we skipped a whole lotta traffic!

So we checked into our hotel (Holiday Inn Express – free breakfast and points per stay? Of course) Then we headed out to eat. TripAdvisor recommended a local diner, called Mel’s Diner, so off we went.

Mel’s Diner was awesome! Huge cheeseburgers, a cheesesteak that Michael said was good as the ones we got in Philly, delicious french fries… and milkshakes!!! Oh. My. Word.

We got back to the hotel to enjoy the indoor pool and jacuzzi for a couple of hours, and let the boys burn off some energy with swimming:

Charades:

and

rock the pool, which became who can stand water being splashed in their face the longest:

Now we’re showered and in bed ready to gear up for tomorrow. DOLLYWOOD! Gates open at 10am, and we’ll be right there when they turn the key (Daddy would be proud)

Spring break (and the pollen) have arrived and we are off on another step in our quest to see all 50 states! This time we are headed to Tennessee and Alabama (states #14 and #15).

Sampson is having his own doggie Spring Break at Rompin’ Ranch

Straight from school with books, and movies loaded onto iPads. Even have an Easter book to read together during the drive.

First stop, Pigeon Forge and Dollywood! Oh Dolly! ♥️ (I have loved Dolly since I was a little girl and first heard Coat of Many Colors and Jolene!) We’ve heard that Dolly sometimes makes personal appearances – Fingers crossed 🤞 🤞🤞

So we are off on another Brown Family Adventure! WooHoo! Here we come Dolly!!!