Summer Vacation, Dollywood, Great Smokey Mountain National Park

Leave For Kodak, TN

We were able to depart a half day earlier for our trip than originally planned on Wednesday, roughly 5 hours earlier, which was greatly appreciated by all. Because I worked on Juneteenth the week before I parlayed that into an additional half day off, so instead of arriving around 10:30 at night we arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon. We made excellent time down and it helps to be fueled before we leave to reduce any stops (we can make it down on 3/4 tank of gas). Of course, our first stop was the Smokey Mountain Knife Shop in Sevierville. Here I purchased Ted his first ever Case knife, which is a tradition for us that every Rust male gets a Case knife before becoming a teenager. Ben purchased a butterfly knife (practice type with a blunt blade). SMKW closes at 6:00 PM so it was nice getting to shop on day one rather than on Sunday and listen to the boys panic about wanting to get there and we were able to pick up our bear mace and get that out of the way. After shopping we went to Cracker Barrel in Sevierville where we ate a delicious dinner. I tried their campfire pot roast and that inspired me to make a hobo dinner at camp Sunday. Next door to CB was a Kroger’s, so we stopped there and knocked out our grocery shopping. Instead of ground beef we purchased kielbasa and aluminum foil.

After Kroger’s we went to Bass Pro Shops for a quick visit. This was a great store with a second floor of inventory, this might be the largest BPS I’ve visited. Although I wasn’t in the market for one, I purchased a Weber 14 inch grill here because, well it looked cool. I’d planned on using the grill at the cabin Sunday or at the camp but now that I had my own I didn’t need to worry about cleaning one out because I’d have my own. I was glad to see others in camp Sunday had the same grill so I felt I was onto something. After BPS we got into our hotel in Kodak with plenty of time to unpack and get to bed at a decent time. Of course I didn’t sleep well, as is always the case for me when I go somewhere new.

Dollywood

We awoke the next morning and had breakfast at the hotel, then took Veteran’s Parkway to Dollywood, skipping all of the main thoroughfare traffic. At Dollywood we met Leslie’s parents and carried our more important electronics (and bear spray) and placed it in their hotel room for safekeeping. We then got our passes and took the first trolley out of there and into the park. The first thing we did when visiting was hit up a roller coaster. Evidently from 10-11 anyone with a Time Saver (you get five a day if you stay at a resort) will receive a free line jump. This is probably the best part of the resort. The Time Saver isn’t like what you get at Disney, there are no complicated reservation systems or lines that are as long as the regular lines. They actually do save quite a bit of time. From here we rode a few more rides, then ate a tasty lunch where the boys devoured their corn dogs (the food at Dollywood is the best I’ve had at any amusement park, very much including Disney). From there we rode a wet ride, which proved to be our undoing, as we needed to stop and dry off. We did this by finding some nice hot rocks and sitting on them until our socks and shorts dried out. We rode a few more rides and then saw Leslie’s cousin performing in his country show. That’s fun, knowing somebody on stage. I am always impressed with people who do that as their livelihood. I couldn’t imagine what that world looks like but I do know they work very hard. After the show and eating dinner at my favorite place there, Granny Ogle’s where I had my favorite dish, we went back to the resort for some pool time. I was able to take a soak in the hot tub also which made my knees, shins, and ankles feel amazing. I guess I am getting what my mom had, arthritis in my joints, that causes them to lock up at the end of active days. I probably need to think through how I can manage that as I age.

The next day was more of the same, great food and more rides and more walking, and some shopping. I purchased a custom belt with my initials on it which was really cool. The one notable development was Ted seems now to love roller coasters. I was able to ride one with him, the Tennessee Tornado, and we had fun. I think over the two days I only rode three rides though, most of my time was hanging out with Ben while the others went on the coasters. He got a case of the hibby jibbies and wanted to stay off coasters, which is fine, but he didn’t want to stop riding. He just turned 48 inches and all of this is new to him. I did enjoy spending time with him even if it meant watching instead. After the heat got to us and a thunderstorm rolled in we decided to hit up the resort and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Ember and Elm, the restaurant at the resort.

Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Cosby, TN

We woke up early the next morning and departed for our next stop. I’d originally planned to go straight to hiking, eat lunch at the campground, and then grill out at the next hotel. Yes, this would be our third hotel in four nights. Instead we grabbed a quick breakfast, checked into our hotel, which was more of a motel, and then left. Luckily the nice people at the hotel let us check in early and put all of our stuff in the hotel room so we didn’t have to worry about our electronics getting taken. Our next stop was the campground and we noticed that there was plenty of parking, so getting a spot probably wasn’t necessary.

Our hike ended up wearing all of us very much out. Although it was only 5 miles, it was up a mountain, and we were very tired when we finished. We also saw a large pile of scat that we didn’t see before, so we were very glad we had our bear repellent with us. We ate a bunch of snacks at the turn around point, which was a great spot called Henwallow Falls. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and jumped into the pool. A storm rolled in so I didn’t run our new charcoal grill like I wanted to, so instead I cooked dinner in the kitchen. The food kind of sucked though, I totally forgot seasoning. I ended up crashing pretty hard from being so tired and slept like a rock. The next day we woke up and drove along the Foothills Parkway and took some great pics of the Eastern Smokies. I am looking forward to coming back down here again.