Our Tennessee Trip.

Beau had the week of the 4th off this year.  It was nice because the 4th fell on Saturday which gave us time to go on an adventure before heading to the beach.

Because everybody knows that on the 4th, you need to be at the beach.

So, he planned everything.  He came home one day and said, "We are going to Tennessee for vacation."

Tennessee... home of Jack Daniel's whiskey... the "Volunteer State"... home to Dollywood...

I immediately began singing, "You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey.  You're as sweet as strawberry wine. You're as warm as a glass of brandy, And I stay stoned on your love all the time."


Part of me was weary though, Tennessee... with kids... and DOLLYWOOD?

They don't even know who Dolly is.

Y'all, I underestimated Beau.

It was fabulous!

The weather was perfect.  Being at 1,000 feet, this flatlands girl was in Heaven with little to no humidity.


We stayed at The Resort at Governor's Crossing.

The girls enjoyed having an indoor waterpark and an outdoor pool.  We stayed at the pool every night until it closed.  I also allowed the girls to hop in the hot tub for a few seconds to snap a picture.  Gross but they look so cute.

On the GPS, I happened to see a place called The Roaming Gnome.  When it came time for dinner, I googled and saw that it was a pub (awesome) AND it was right across the street from our hotel (double awesome).

We went over and had a delicious meal.  The atmosphere was pretty cool too.  There were gnomes everywhere.  Even the CEILING tiles.

Day two was spent at Dollywood.

It was super fun.  The girls loved it and Bug rode her first roller coaster.

We will definitely be going back.

We had lunch in the park (the lines were terribly long but the chicken fajitas were awesome).  For dinner we went to Smoky Mountain Brewery.  I had the Thunder Road burger.  It was topped with melty blue cheese, bacon & this sweet and spicy Thunder Road sauce that was amazing.  Given the name of the restaurant is Smoky Mountain Brewery, it is also a microbrewery.  I had the Mountain Light and it was tasty.  Beau enjoyed all the beers he tried too.

After dinner we rode over to The Island.  Have no fear, there are a million things to do here.  There are also a million people here.

Paula Deen just opened her restaurant at The Island.  I was hoping we would get to eat one meal there but it never worked out.

Why we went to The Island?

We needed to sample Tennesse moonshine and grab a few jars.

The next day, we went to Splash Country.  It was so fun!  I think that it was everyone's favorite day.

If you take a trip to Tennessee and plan on visiting Dollywood, do not skip Water Country.

Day four was our day to spend in Gatlinburg.  Our first stop?

I don't know who was more excited... Beau or the girls?  They recently watched Forrest Gump for the first time and loved it.

The food was great!  We ate it so fast, I forgot to take a picture.

The only disappointment was that they did not serve Dr. Pepper.  #1 that is our favorite drink.  #2 Forrest Gump drinks 15 Dr. Peppers in the movie before meeting JFK.  We were shocked they didn't have it.

As we were waiting for our food, this pulled up beside our window.  It was like Jack was calling out my name on a Wednesday at 1pm.  I declined a date with him that early in the day.  Maybe later, Jack.  Maybe later.

After shopping and taking multiple wine, whiskey & moonshine samples, we were exhausted.

It was a great trip but we were tired.

So instead of going out to dinner, we ordered in pizza, watched Big Brother and went to the pool until it closed.

We had a wonderful time and we cannot wait to go back!