Pigeon Forge, Part 1

Rachelle got a stellar deal for a couple of nights in Piegon Forge, Tennessee. We had to sit through a timeshare presentation but they gave us a hotel stay...

A hotel with a stream behind it!

... plus tickets to the Smokey Mountain's premiere attraction, Dollywood!

Dollywood is sort of a rustic-themed Disneyland.  (In fact, Disney clearly copied it for their California Adventure.)  So there were lots of cute photo ops.

This was Lucky's version of holding his arms up.

This is as close as they came to smiling for this shot.

One of the big hits, naturally, was the carousel.

That horse in front is called Dolly, and apparently Dolly Parton rides it when she's in the park.  The more you know...

 

My view from on the ride

We went on a few more extreme rides, as well, mostly the kind that got us soaked.  And there was a small roller coaster that we tried out, as well.

This was my view of the girls in front.  All smiles...

... until the actual thing started going.

Bru was fine on every ride -- she loved them all.  Hannah was obviously a bit more overwhelmed, but she at least put on a brave face.  Malachi pretty much hated the fast rides... you can sorta see him huddling into me in the above picture.

When it came time for the Ferris Wheel, Lucky volunteered to sit it out.

This was our view from the top.  You can sorta see the big coaster peeking out from the trees.

This was my view from our seat.

Dollywood is known for its shows, and we saw a few of the ones geared towards younger kids.  Malachi is off camera, fast asleep.

When he woke up, he was in a much better mood.  He and Bru loved the twirling teacups.

This was the best show we saw, a 50's style singing group where the lead "nerd" was determined to embarrass a girl sitting in the audience.

We did not see this group, though I was sufficiently confused by the poster.

There were lots of great places for posed photos.

At one point Rachelle wrangled a bunch of funny faces from all three.