May 3, 2012 - Dollywood!

Dollywood is not on the list..but when will we ever be in Pigeon Forge again?!

So, I look retarded a little bit, cause I'm chewing gum and I didn't really pay attention for the picture.  BUT... I love that Jalaire planned this so well so that I am the 'O' and Stanley has wings!

Reds Drive-In, it's a 50's theme burger joint.
We ate there, it was marginal.

Dollywood is not totally an amusement park...they also have a train that you can ride through the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains, a Bald Eagle Sanctuary, and lots of shows that you can watch in the park.

Stanley on the Coal/Steam engine going through
the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains.

The engine of the Dollywood Express

I did not zoom out enough... but this should say
Dollywood Express

coal and steam engine

The bird sanctuary houses mostly bald eagles that have been injured an cannot be released back into the wild.  They do have 2 nests in the park (both of which had eggs in them while we were there) and when the babies are old enough they release them into the wild.  They also have these on a webcam so people can watch the nests and see the babies hatching.  Pictures at the bird show:

Tiny owl!

Seriously...so cute! The owl...

Great Horned Owl

I don't remember this kids name... but he's cute!

This is a Peregrine Falcon

Eagle

Golden Eagle

This is one of their bald eagles that cannot be released back
into the wild because it was injured.

Putting on his mask

This is Tuck... He's their donation bird...
If you hold out a dollar, he comes and takes it right out of your hand
I admit...he suckered me out of 2 dollars!

The Eagle Sanctuary
These birds cannot be released back into the wild either.

Stanley with the birds

We also went to see the showing of "Heartsong" which is a short film narrated by Dolly Parton.  It talks about her life and growing up in Tennessee.  She also sings our new favorite song...'Apple Jack'.  (Jalaire sang this song the rest of the day as well as all the next morning!)  During the movie it talks about a rainy evening and it totally started 'raining' in the theater...and just when we had finally dried off from the rapids ride we went on at the first of the day.


Before we left the park we stopped by the Grist Mill and bought a loaf of their cinnamon bread and some icing.  We headed back to the hotel and decided we needed to try The Mellow Mushroom for dinner.  It's a pizza place that was right in front of our hotel.  They would have delivered but we had to put gas in the car so we went and picked it up.


We spent the evening at the hotel watching TV and eating cinnamon bread and pizza, DELICIOUS!

This is for my mom... Our hotel is located on the corner of
Christmas Tree Lane

Did I mention that Pigeon Forge LOVES slick track, mini golf, and Christmas?  They do!  These were the 3 things lining the streets (by streets I mean main street through town) and were all very popular.