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!