July 8: Dollywood

A day and a half of Dollywood was way more time than people our age needed to spend on our feet and ruin our stomachs. The food was good but the entertainment was fabulous. It was KidFest time at Dollywood but it's also summer so lots of kids running around with worn our looking parents.




These pictures are of a sand sculpture that was under a canopy. Really detailed in case you can't tell from my photos.








This is Dollywood's award winning southern gospel quartet, the Kingdom Heirs. They were really great and this is done in a huge theater that was completely filled up. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking southern gospel in eastern Tennessee is really big.





This train was a real working train that was retired and brought back to operate at Dollywood. It burns 5 tons of coal and 50,000 gallons of water a day. I have now heard what a "mournful whistle" sounds like. The engineer definitely had a rare talent for blowing a really cool, but lonely, sounding train whistle. It was nothing like I was used to hearing as the trains blow through town. I now know where Hank Williams got his inspiration for his song. The white smoke is the whistle blowing - the gray is that great coal smoke - great smell.

The grist mill was picturesque. It did grind corn into meal and there were bags of it you could buy inside but we didn't get any - not sure what you do with popcorn ground corn meal. And they route you past this big skillet of sausages and bratts everytime you go from one area to another. Larry could only handle it about 4 times before he broke down and ate one. Said it was real good. I went on down the path aways and got a foot long corn dog with fries.

Larry rode this ride by himself. I try not to do things that go around except the Merry Go Round and I'm not sure I could climb up on a horse anymore. The most exciting part of this ride was the possibility that you'd get your feet wet. Larry missed it but I got him in the photo. We also rode the Blazing Falls which is like the Fire In The Hole ride at Silver Dollar City - just an underground roller coaster. Also rode a motion ride called "Thunder Road" where we sat in seats that jerked around according to how the movie was going. We were in a law enforcement car (actually out on the front bumper) chasing a moonshiner thru the back roads of Tennessee. I didn't even have my eyes open most of the time. Plus, by the time I got jerked around for what seemed forever, I came out with a sore neck and a headache. That's when I decided that the shows were for me. We did ride the river raft ride so we could get wet and be cool. The Dreamland Drive-In was a 50's, 60's and 70's rock-n-roll show; and the Kinfolks Show were several of Dolly's relatives, three cousins and 2 uncles, who can really sing - must run in the family. Her Uncle Bill was the one who pushed her to try out at the local radio station. She won and sang on it regularly after that. The day after she graduated from high school, she caught the bus and headed for Nashville. As they say, the rest is history. Country Crossroads was a show of 6 young people who sang the more contemporary country songs.

Dolly Parton had a museum there with lots of her gowns and costumes. Every direction we turned was a video of her and someone singing or her being interviewed. And then we went to a movie called "Heartsong" about her growing up in the area and what it all meant to her song writing. We even got wet in that theater - watching a thunder storm on the big screen.


Dollywood is home to the largest eagle sanctuary in the nation. One of the eagles, Challenger, has been seen at national football and baseball games flying around before the game starts - during the national anthem. Eagles and other birds of prey come to Dollywood to be rehabilitated and then released if possible. Some of the birds are already human imprinted, or have been so badly wounded that release is not possible. That's when they become part of the education process. Also part of the show was a barn owl, a screech owl, a Crested Caracara, a black vulture, a red tailed hawk and shown above on the right is a golden eagle.

Between all the shows and the few rides we did get on, we felt like we really got our money's worth. I also bought a walking stick for when we decide to go hiking off into the woods. And, for all you ladies, I bought a couple pairs of ear rings (on sale) at Dolly's Closet.

Then we took the trolley home and I blogged and Larry crashed. Now I'm going to go crash. We're staying close to home tomorrow.