Aug 26, 2011 - Back at Dollywood

We’ve been back at Dollywood since the 12th of August. Rick started right back to work on the 14th, the last night of Dollywood Nights and worked from Noon and until they closed at 10 that night. Long day!!! I started back to work on the 15th. We are both still working at the same venues: I’m at the Grandstand Café and he’s in Village/Country Fair Concessions. As I work in a fast food restaurant, we often don’t get the number of sales that we need to stay open so I don’t usually get the number of hours that Rick gets but at least one of us...

Jul 13, 2011 - More on Dollywood and S'Mores

Dollywood, oh Dollywood, Day 2. So, after very quick showers, we were OFF to Dollywood for Day 2. Today’s plan was to see some more of the shows and go on the rides that we didn’t go on yesterday. First up, we walked around a bit and ended up at the Sweet Shoppe. We watched them make some peanut brittle, then they handed out samples, which the family said were good (I don’t care for peanut brittle). After that, we went to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, I didn’t really know too many people that were discussed other than the...

Jun 20, 2011 - Final Wrap - up of our Dollywood Adventure - Part 1

Our last journal entry was the middle of May. We worked over the Memorial Day weekend. The park was packed on Sunday, May 29 – over 20,000 guests. We weren’t supposed to work on Monday (we were going to pack up the car for our Tuesday return to Georgia) but the park management revised the expected attendance and we were both asked to work for a few hours. Fortunately, since leaving the RV in Pigeon Forge until the fall, it wasn’t hard to pack and still leave on Tuesday morning. And so ends our first tour at Dollywood. We really enjoyed...

Jun 11, 2011 - Old Mill Square, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Today was the last day of the rally and so we bid farewell to our friends that were leaving today. We will stay here at River Plantation Park and so some sightseeing until the 13th. We decided we wanted to stay in the area a little longer and, luckily, they gave us some coupons for half price camping in our rally packets. We went over today and made reservations at Creekside RV Park in Pigeon Forge where we'll stay until the 17th. After we got our camping arrangements made, we headed over to Pigeon Forge and checked out the Old Mill...

Jun 5, 2011 - SOITC Dutch Oven Potluck

We arrived yesterday in Pigeon Forge at the River Plantation RV Resort where we are having the SOITC Rally. This afternoon Betty and Don Johnson got people together for a Dutch Oven Potluck. There were only about four or five of us that brought our ovens so I was really glad I doubled my recipe for Hamburger Stroganoff. Others that came brought dishes to share so no one went home hungry and a good time was had by all!

May 5, 2011 - The Tornadoes Missed Us

4/24 Early, like at 5:30 am, Walt and Brenda and Betsy and I drove back to Blue Ridge for Easter services. We had not told Rick’s Mom exactly when we would arrive so she was surprised to meet us at the front door of the church. We had our meals and bedded down at Mom’s and left again to come back to Pigeon Forge just after lunch on Monday. We were too tired to cook when we got home so we went to the Blue Moose and had wings and a chicken wrap. 4/26 Betsy and I went to the Titanic exhibit. It was very interesting. Since it was not...

May 3, 2011 - Pigeon Forge, TN

Today we arrived in Pigeon Forge before noon. Since it was raining, we decided to skip Dollywood and attend a couple of shows. The afternoon show was "The Miracle". It was the story beginning with God creating the earth and ending with Jesus ascending into heaven. The dramatics were awesome! We both loved it. The nighttime show was "Smith Family Show" which was comedy and music. This show was also very enjoyable. Since tomorrow will be a long driving day, Lane went to bed shortly after we got home. I guess he must think he needs extra...

Apr 22, 2011 - Pigeon Forge, TN

Went through North and South Carolina on our way to Pigeon Forge. We're staying at Riverbend Campground which is close in to Pigeon Forge. We chose not to stay on the river this time as last time we were here there were all kinds of bugs down by the water. As it turns out, there was a wall that collapsed at the sewage plant in Pigeon Forge which unfortunately killed two men. There's sewage that escaped into the stream so although it doesn't smell, you can't fish in it. Nobody's doing the usual rafting down the river either, even though the...

Apr 19, 2011 - Fun Time in Gatlinburg

DollyWood – 4/11 thru 4-19 4/11 – Today was a day off from work….so what did we do? We went to Mr. Gatti’s AYCE (all-you-can-eat) Italian buffet…and then to Tanger’s Outlet Mall where Walt and I dutifully led the ladies thru the maze of shops. Of course, we didn’t need to go into the shops, we just led them. Our job actually was to keep the shaded benches occupied and simply watch the rest of the world go by... And they said that old men can’t be trained! 4/13-4/17 – work, work, work. But we went to No Way Jose’s Cantina for supper on...

Apr 19, 2011 - Great Smokey Mountain National Park

So while JC is waiting for me to get ready for a bike ride today, he throws his fishing line back in the creek behind us and just look at what he pulls out. Another big mouth bass, helmet on and all. LOL. Yummmm. Our last day in this area was a wonderful bike ride through a beautiful portion of the Smokey Mountain National Park. We passed through the remains of an early settlement from the late 1800's called Cades Cove. Fabulous scenery. Tomorrow we head toward Asheville, NC. We will be staying in a campground a little east in a town called...

Apr 18, 2011 - Dollywood

Much to our surprise, we discovered that Dollywood was only about 10 miles from the River Plantation RV Park. I think I confused Dollywood with Branson, Mo. Well, we are here so we just had to check it out. As most amusement parks these days, it is not a cheap date. A one day General Adult Admission to age 59 is $57.00. JC is 60 so his ticket was $53.65. I found that if I bought the tickets on-line, there was a service charge. What is that all about? Usually, if you buy on-line you save a few bucks. So we bought when we got there. Also,...

Apr 13, 2011 - More from Pigeon Forge

April 3 to April 13, 2011 On Monday April 4 we had quite a storm here in Pigeon Forge. Our campground borders Walden Creek and during the storm Walden Creek crept out of its banks and spread out over part of the campground. Fortunately, it did not reach our campsite nor the Austin’s but it did cover up the campsite behind the Austin’s causing those people having to move their trailers (2 sites) to higher ground at about 2 am. You can see by the before and after picture exactly how much water there was. The following day, Tuesday the 5th...