Tennessee Vacation

My family likes to try to go on vacation about once a year. We were planning on going to Disneyland, however, we decided to go to Dollywood in Tennessee to go somewhere new. On this vacation my sister, mother, aunt, two cousins, and grandmother all went to Dollywood in June 2018.

What to pack:

• Shorts & tee shirts
• Dresses
• Cowgirl hats to keep the sun off of your face
• Sunscreen
• Backpack/ some sort of pack to carry your things around
• Camera or cell phone
• Water bottle!! (We bought one at the park, and we could get refills for $1. This included any Coke products)
• Nice outfit for going out
• Swim suit to go to the swim park in Dollywood
• Flannels for the aesthetic 

The following is what we did on each day:

June 23rd Saturday

• We stayed the night at a hotel in Medford since our flight was the next morning at 5:20 am

June 24th Sunday

• This was our first day in Tennessee. We stayed in the Dollywood log cabins and they were fabulous. They had a hot tub and it was a very cozy log cabin. We stayed in the cabin called "A Piece of Heaven."
• We went to the Ole Smoky Moonshine store, they had great smelling candles and I purchased some fall tee shirts.
• My family had reservations at Paula Deen's Restaurant. The food was absolutely amazing! The fried chicken and biscuits were the best food I have ever had. They served fried green tomatoes with a sauce that was to die for. The sweet tea was extremely sweet, but SO worth it. After drinking so much sweet tea though, I felt like I needed some water because it had so much sugar. 

 

 

Paula Dean Restaurant - Cheddar biscuits 

Paula Dean Restaurant - Deep fried tomatoes

Paula Dean Restaurant

June 25th Monday

• Monday was our first day at Dollywood. We got special passes since we stayed in the cabin, and we were able to get great parking with the package we got for the vacation. 
• Dollywood had lots of props around the theme park, and it was great for fun photo opportunities (which I think is very important).
• There was a Blast to the Past play, and I absolutely loved it. It was a bit of  musical, and the way they presented the show kept it super exciting.
• For lunch I had a burger, fries and a chocolate milk shake at the park. The food was delicious.

June 26th Tuesday

• We went to the Titanic Museum this morning, and the museum was very fun. Before we went into the museum, we got assigned a "boarding pass" and a person who was actually on the Titanic. Once you get to the end of the museum, they have pictures of all of the people who was on the Titanic and you find your person and figure out if you lived or died on the Titanic. It was very educational, and looking at all of the parts of the Titanic really took me back in time.
• For lunch we went to the Island of Pigeon Forge, and we went to Margarita Ville. It was delicious, I got a great coconut drink. They had lots of cute stores to go shopping in.
• For dinner we went to a Dollywood dinner show, the Smoky Mountain Adventures Dinner. The dinner show was packed with so much to watch, and the food was great. Servers brought food to you the entire time during the show, and were constantly serving us. The show that we watched this night reminded me a lot of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and I loved it.
• We went back to Dollywood the rest of the night and just went on rides.

                     

June 27th Wednesday

• We started off the day at the Dollywood water park and went on a lot of the rides.
• At Dollywood, I got two delicious cupcakes! I got watermelon and peanut butter flavored cupcakes, and they were super sweet. 
• My sister and I went around and tried a lot of food, and looked at a lot of the exhibits. I hate roller coasters, so I didn't go on many rides. I was very fine with just shopping and exploring! They also had a lot of shows during the day that made up for going on very few rides. 
• After the park, we went for a drive and looked around Tennessee.
• We went to Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine and I bought a shirt and some candles. They had people working who were dressed super cute, so I took pictures with them because why not.
• My sister, grandma and youngest cousin spent the night in the cabin playing Clue for the rest of the night and it was very relaxing.

June 28th Thursday

• We went to an aquarium and saw lots of sea life and even a real life mermaid! We spent the entire day at the aquarium.
• For dinner we went to a pre-show of the Dolly Stampede. This one was super fun to watch. My oldest cousin even was in the show, and he is a bit of an introvert. That was a lot of fun to watch and we laughed so hard. It was a great experience for him, I think. He even won the first place award!
• The dinner show was great and a musical. It also reminded me of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. My poor sister got sick from heat exhaustion, and my mother missed the show to help with my sister. However, the employees were super nice, and gave mom two tickets for the last show of the night. My sister went back to the cabin, so I stayed with mom and rewatched the show. The show was so great that it was worth seeing it twice!
• We went shopping downtown for the rest of the night.

 

June 29th Friday 

• We packed up, and were at the airport by 1:30 to head home!