Home Again

By the time we got into the family reunions and so much to-dos and endless phone dead zones, it got impossible to keep track of all that was going on during our trip. Not even the rushed adventure to the beach lasted for more than 24 hours as we were shooed away at 8AM due to the approaching Hurricane. But we got a LOT of shells, a good flesh roasting by the sun and plenty of pictures to remember everything!



The trip home was strenuous and lasted 24 hours despite that it should have only taken 17 at most. A few wrong turns had us taking back roads through the mountains at some points and my anxiety was sky high! The hurricane's storm followed us all the way to the edge of Tennessee finally pittering out as we entered Kentucky. The car was constantly in a state of overheating, because we cant have anything easy. Mom ended up with a face full of scalding antifreeze that still wasn't fully recovered months later, and I almost fell asleep behind the wheel once we entered Missouri and had to deal with the endless straight freeways.

Our last overheating happened exactly one mile from the house, but we Made It.

Road to NC

Through the mountain tunnel

The road to North Carolina

Tunnels are kinda stressful, but not nearly as bad as driving through the mountains during a rainstorm. We're grateful the rains pittered out before too long so the roads weren't too treacherous.

I ended up getting a cool short video of he drive through the tunnel as well, but it was too large to share.

Once we arrived in Taylorsville I ended up sleeping almost the entire day Monday, the lost night before Dollywood really caught up with me. Mom left to explore the town with her friend Lisa and hopefully had a grand ole time. After I finally woke up Lisa and her husband Rick, took us out to eat at  place called Cagney's Kitchen. Their onion rings weren't my favorite, but their popcorn shrimp and fries were to die for~

Left to Right: Lisa, Rick, Mom

Then, after dinner we cruised through the town and stopped at the local Food Lion where I found the Holy Grail! Cheerwine.

Shelf full of Cheerwine

It was so relaxing and fun being in Taylorsville, but alas it was only stop one on the NC Memory Tour. So morning of Tuesday the 4th, we hit the road again with Mount Airy in our sights!

Dollywood and Car Troubles

Just want to reiterate how our luck has been going so far: seemingly, not too good! But if we had been able to get a hotel room the night before we visited Dollywood, things would have been a lot worse. The irony wasn't lost on us.

To reiterate from the last post:

Thanks to the night at the gas station, we were directed to a local park. That park just so happened to be the hub station for all the Fun Time Trolleys in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. So instead of fighting traffic to find parking at Dollywood – which according to a friend of ours, has to be paid for as well – we spent a total of $2 and got to the park right as it opened!

Then the luck started kicking in again. It was both Sunday and Labor Day weekend, so a lot of shops didn't open until later in the day. Several rides were broken down, including the train, and a few places on the map didn't even exist anymore. They, uh…really need to update that. Pretty buildings, though!

Grist mill at Dollywood

There were lots of birds, too! We saw ducks everywhere, as well as an enclosure with at least eight Bald Eagles just chilling inside. Mom and I even got to hear them sounding off, which sounded like screaming. I also got a couple Gym Badges, a cookie cutter shaped like a ball jar, and lots of pressed pennies.

Nintendo prize carnival game

There was a toss-a-ball-in-a-cup type of carnival game that was offering Pokémon and Mario plushies, and we ended up blowing some of my change there; note that I'm absolutely awful at carnival games. I just really wanted to get something there for me, or as a souvenir for Kayla (aka Mod Weird). It was really bustling at that booth, though, so we only really tried once to begin with. We wandered around until mom spotted the glass shop and, of course, we were physically obligated to go inside.

Glow in the dark glass jellyfish

Found some beautiful jellyfish that ended up being GLOW IN THE DARK! How cool is that?! They were kinda really out of our price range, though. Then we got to watch a family make a DIY blown glass ornament. Pretty neat!…buuuut also quite out of our price range...

So, what wasn't too expensive for us poor folks?

A BIG HONKIN' TURKEY LEG!

A big ole' BBQ turkey leg!

It was almost too much for me – the single leg was as big as my face!

Then I talked mom into riding the lost river before we left. Unfortunately, it turned out that unlike in Silver Dollar City, Branson, the water levels were quite high. We got soaked!!

By the time we were leaving, everything was open, the train was tooting along, and several shows were going on. But since we couldn't stay the whole day, we didn't get to watch any of them. Had to get to the next stop on the adventure!

Still, it was a pretty fun day! That is, until we tried to leave, and discovered exactly WHY we were told it would take 4 hours to get to the park.

Miles of start-stop traffic.

The trolley enters the park through a back entrance that isn't available to the general public, so the ride was swift both directions. Maneuvering out of the park parking lot in our own car, on the other hand, sure wasn't.

That's when the car overheated. In the middle of traffic. In the rain. 88˚F temperatures. I literally had to get out of the car in the middle of the unmoving traffic, in my nightgown (which I changed into since I was soaked), to ensure people would LET US THROUGH so we could get off the road and let the car cool down.

This kept up all the way to Gatlinburg, which is when we finally found a gas station and could stop long enough to cool the car. After popping the cap to the main coolant tank, we found out that it wasn't drawing from the back flow, and thus was empty. Joyous! Half a gallon of coolant into the tank had us back on he road, still 3 hours away from our first stop in North Carolina.

Cumberland Caverns

Cumberland Caverns was the goal for day two and, despite some drama, it was pretty cool!

Sign for Cumberland Caverns

We arrived in time to hop on the noon day tour which we were both thankful for as it put us in a small group of only six people and the guide.

The temperature outside was bouncing around the mid-to-high 80s, and the walk to the cave entrance was silent, long, and humid thanks to the earlier downpour. I was sweating bullets before we'd even started.

Approaching the entrance was heavenly.

Entrance to Cumberland Caverns

The cave stays at a cool, crisp 55 degrees year-round, and was just the thing we needed on such a hot day. Even if my glasses kept fogging up.

It is a live cave and still growing, but there are very few water features, so it's often deathly silent when no one is speaking (or in my case, panting). Probably a good thing, considering the rains.There were still a few water features in the first room. Including a pool that looked to be maybe a foot deep but was actually almost nine, and a waterfall (more like a quick leak in the roof in appearances) that had been pouring every day nonstop since the cave was discovered.

The magnesium magnified, nine-foot pool lit in blue

Rock formation over a small pool

The Hall of the Mountain King was the true test of physical prowess, but I did it! I forgot the exact number but a literal ton of stairs in varying degrees of steepness and slipperiness had to be crossed through the massive 'hall' and then back again. I didn't really see much through this part as I was so busy looking at my feet to keep moving I missed out on looking at the actual cave itself.

On the way back out of the cave we were warned by the latest tour guide entering that it had started raining yet again, so mom and I whipped out a pair of disposable rain ponchos I'd packed for the trip. The rest of the group managed to snag some of the "seen-better-days" umbrellas the tourists are allowed to use to get to the cave and back when it rains.

I was high on the hog with swagger that my forethought had paid off when we exited the cave. The change in both temperature and humidity caused my glasses to fog to the point of blindness and with the rain threatening to soak them, I pulled them off and tucked them into my shirt pocket.

At least, I thought I had...

Mom stopped under the roof where the tours started wanting to take photos before we took off the ponchos but when I reached for my glasses I felt sudden dread. Nothing was there. Apparently when I thought I had tucked them into my pocket they had missed and fallen to the ground just outside the cave.

Me, blind as a bat, managed to get back to the car and dig out my prescription sunglasses to help search with mom and two tour guides to find them. Finally one of he tour guides, Peyton, found them. Said he'd been at just the right angle to see light glint off of them despite the rain. So my near panic attack and ruination of the trip before it even hardly started was prevented.

We spent the next few hours chilling in the gift shop, finding souvenirs and talking with the clerks and guides in the building.

Me digging out polished rocks as a souvenir for Kayla(Mod Weird)

It was during this time we found out about Twin Falls and since we were still ahead of schedule at the time it was a no-brainer. As soon as we arrived at Twin Falls, though, my phone signal went out and it didn't return until we were leaving the Rock Island Market & Cafe for Dollywood.

The Adventure: Day 2

So apparently, Tree City is used a lot to refer to the McMinnville area. Mom said her Arbor day pamphlets had mentioned that it was due to having so many nurseries, but it wasn't until we actually SAW the multitudes of tree nurseries on our drive to the Caverns that it really hit home.

Shellsford Baptist behind rows of young trees

Due to McMinnville's geographic location, scattered downpours are commonplace, which means there's lots of water for little trees to grow! It also means we were very wet tourists. Still, the area sure was beautiful. Even if it was a massive dead zone for phone signal.

The cave was really cool too! (I'll make a separate post for it) Had a bit of drama there when I lost my glasses, but we made it out intact. Mom says we'll try to stop by again on the return journey.

Since the Cavern stop didn't take as long as we thought it would, we decided to check out a local state park before heading to Pigeon Forge. By suggestion of a woman in our tour group, and the gift shop clerk we set course for Twin Falls.

Mom looking out over Rock Island Twin Falls

The view was stunning.

We wandered around the trail for a little while, getting pictures and watching some people try and kayak in the river rapids. Considering the surplus of signage in the area saying to stay out of the water due to fast currents, we were notably concerned at seeing so many people ON the river. But hey, what do we tourists know?

The number of times the six Kayakers kept getting flipped over just paddling back and forth on the same rapid was still unnerving, though. As we were leaving, we caught a pair of them packing up and asked what they'd been doing. They called it Park and Play. I called it anxiety.

On the way back to the beaten path we had to stop for gas. The station we found, Rock Island Market & Cafe, was a combination gas station with old fashioned pumps/sit-down restaurant/bait & tackle shop. So of COURSE we had to eat there. First restaurant on the trip. Ohhh it was so tasty.

My chicken fried steak, onion rings, slaw and cornbread

Mom's pulled pork, slaw, fries, and a roll

It actually felt like a pretty great day. (Torrential downpours and lost glasses not withstanding).

It wasn't until we made the final exit off the interstate towards Pigeon Forge that misfortune struck again. Where were we gonna stay?

Every single hotel was booked solid, just as it was when we checked a week ago online. We ended up slumming it in the Walmart parking lot for almost two hours until I heard the cops arrive and start knocking on windows a few parking aisles away. I woke mom and she, in her half-asleep panic, bolted from the lot.

We ended up finding a gas station and a conveniently-placed parking spot around 3am to crash for the night.

Now, running on an assorted 4-5 hours of car sleep, we by sheer luck found ourselves in the exact park that doubles as the Fun Time Trolley station. We advance!

Fun Time Trolley pamphlet

Fingers crossed for another great, wild day!