Holy Colee!

Dav is posting our trip in video form on youtube. Part 1 is up now.
http://t.co/lDj2HWX


Wednesday! DOLLYWOOD DAY!!!!

It started with great anticipation and excitement. I was not disappointed. We had a 2 hour drive to the park, so we started with the breakfast Jonathon said we had to try. Straight from the gas station, the deli inside was called “Big As Biscuits.” And, they were… really big ;) We pulled into Pigeon Forge and we were bombarded on every side with “As seen on TV” stores and go cart tracks. It’s like Vegas gone family, but really that’s not what today was to be about. We got to the park shortly after it opened, parked, rode the tram and … HOORAY!!!

Dollywood was everything it promised to be. All kinds of backwoods fun ;) I really liked the village with all of the craftsmen. It was fun to watch the glass blowers for a little bit, the wood and leather workers, and THEN we found the rides. I like roller coasters – but I hate the Ups. Dav made fun of me. I won’t open my eyes until the coaster starts its downward fall. However I LOVE the fall. The Mystery Mine coaster was NOT my favorite. I was on the outside of the car and the angle made the turns feel really funky. PLUS there are extra Ups. Straight Ups. The only thing that makes them worth it, is the straight downs that follow ;) Another awesome thing about the day is that the lines were nonexistent. I am pretty sure it was senior citizen day at the park. There was not a Jazzy to be found at the rental spot. Jazzy riders don’t ride roller coasters.

As we were making our second loop around the rides, Dav gave in and decided he was indeed going to ride the zip line. As much as I love roller coasters, they do not always love me. Plus, let us remember I am afraid of heights. I was more than content to hang out in the shopping emporium and do a little people watching in the front square while he went on this part of the adventure. I am told that I missed out and now Dav wants to go to Hawaii where a similar system of zip lines is set up but instead of an hour and a half, it’s a 6 hour tour. Enjoy the zip line I say – I will go snorkeling ;)
After our fabulous day of Dollywood our adventure was not complete. Our next stop was the Dixie Land Stampede! The set up is like Medieval Times, if you’re familiar with that. We, of course, chose to cheer for the South. The show was way fun! Cannon would have been in heaven. The horses, wagons, trick riders were so fun to watch. Dinner could have been terrible and I would still be raving, but it wasn’t. Dinner was tasty! And what dinner isn’t better when you get to eat it all with your hands?? The South was ahead all night, until the last competition. Be not afraid. The South WILL rise again ;)

After dinner, we went across the street, checked into the hotel, left our stuff in our rooms and of course – went to Wal-Mart. As an FYI, Google maps does NOT know how to get to the Pigeon Forge Wal-Mart – even if it says it does.. Finding the store was far more fun than wandering around. We gave up and decided to drive to Gatlinburg, just to see what was there. We almost gave up before we got to the part of town we were looking for, fortunately we kept exploring. Really the town is just a bit more tourist trap, but a little less “fun park” and a little more “Park City” esque. I would really like to make the trip in the day time at some point. The canyon seemed like it should be beautiful, except it was the middle of the dark.

My friend Jim's wife has a super cool food blog and she's doing a give away. It's a fun read and if you're looking for recipes (which I usually am) it's super useful.

Check it out


http://kjrskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-give-away.html

Tuesday morning… well, hmmm… I had one call I had to be on for work. The rest of the morning was Enterprise drama. Dav had reserved our rental car a few days before. When he called to see if they would come pick us up, they said they would need to be a little later because she was busy. Well, the new time came and passed and when Dav called them back, she said that they had had to get our car from another location and they had left a few minutes ago. Next update, it turns out the car had left about 15 minutes AFTER she originally said they had. We continue to wait. A bit later I notice a car driving around looking lost. Dav went out to the road to see, and guide him to the apartment. We then have to go into the office and go through the actual paperwork. Needless to say, we are now running about 3 hours late. As we pull out of the lot, we notice the car ALSO has an empty gas tank! It was a great start to the day.

The plan was to drive down to Pigeon Forge, go Zorbing, drive back to Kingsport to stay with Heather. Well, the 3 hour delay with a 5 hour drive and Zorb closing at 5… the math was pretty simple. We weren’t going to make it. The good news is, plans can change. We decided to move Zorbing to Thursday, which meant today all we had to do was get to Heather’s. Slight change in the driving directions, expressing gratitude for google maps for iPhone, and we were good as gold. We stopped in Shelbyville for lunch, and then we were off. It was a gorgeous day for driving. Driving, perhaps, a little faster than the signs said we should be. In Pineville, we found out just how much faster ;) The best part was that the AWESOME rental car (did I mention that it was 2 classes smaller than the one that was reserved) had an expired insurance card! Yeah, it was pretty neat. The rest of the trip was done much closer to the posted speed limits.

We arrived in Kingsport and went to Heather and Jonathon’s apartment(s). They live next door to each other, so really it’s one place with 2 doors. After getting shown around and settling in a little, we went on a trek to Wal-Mart for pillows, and you know, stuff you pick up at Wal-Mart. After which we were on to what we were promised was “The Best Cheese Burger, Ever!” The location for this burger is a hole in the wall bar called, The Finish Line. It did NOT disappoint. I am still not sure how I ate the entire thing, but it was so good, I could not bear to leave it. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Heather and Jonathon. They are a great amount of fun. There was much music, stories, and laughing. And to end the evening, I got to sleep in the most ginormous chair!! It was like the one I had considered replacing my loveseat with… it’s making me rethink my decision not to buy it. It was really most awesome and I slept like a log. (I know you were wondering :P)

Disclaimer - I don't actually take photos. There are many that exist, but they will come at a date that is still tbd.


Monday started very early. My FABULOUS airport shuttle (aka, Liz) picked me up at 5. She even showed up with breakfast, which I had totally spaced. The beauty of flying standby is that the earlier you check in, the higher you are on the list. So once I checked in I went to my gate to await my fate. The part I missed is that I needed to wait by the service desk. As they started boarding the flight I went to see what was going on. Yeah, I had totally missed them calling me up so they had taken me OFF the list. I was, however very fortunate and there were 2 seats left. So, I was on my way :)

My flights were quiet, which is exactly how we like flights. I had forgotten how easy it is to make connections when you stay on one airline the entire time. No extra security passes, no running from concourse to concourse. It was a good day of travel. I landed in Louisville on time and as expected and HOORAY! Dav!!!

The drive to Dav’s house was so pretty. Utah has all kinds of beautiful, but not this kind. So many trees, so much green. Once we got out of the city, the countryside is dotted with the classic image of horse farms and small towns. I can absolutely understand why he is so drawn to this place.

We dropped off my stuff; I got a tour of the town (which took about as long as a tour of Dingle); and we were off to dinner. Dinner was at the Richins’ home. This family is amazing. It makes my heart happy to know they have “adopted” Dav. Their little girls are beautiful and Rhonda and Ryan are awesome. Dinner was aMaZiNg and dessert is still lingering on my mind. I NEED the recipe. We had fun with the girls and their new playground until it was time to leave. On the way home we drove past the temple and I got to see more of the area.