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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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