Dollywood

After a good night sleep we started our day at Dollywood at about 11AM. Not sure if we got lucky and beat the pre-4th of July crowds or what, but it’s not packed with people. 



After a couple roller coasters we decided to have a sit-down lunch. It turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip so far. Kristi had the fried pork with mashed potatoes and greens. Jim had shrimp and grits with Andouille sausage. We had to try the fried cauliflower too. We think this might hold us for the rest of the day … well, we’ll need ice cream of course. 







After lunch we walked through some museums that are new to the park and we got to walk through a retired tour bus. 





We saw a couple shows including a dog trick show. We’re pretty sure they were on America’s Got Talent. It was great!

Although subtle, it was nice to see Dolly’s nod to inclusivity. Love first. 



We rode a couple coasters that knocked our socks off … or maybe we are just 50+ years old. The Lightning Rod was incredible.

Dolly has an amazing railroad that takes a short ride up the mountain. The locomotive running today was coal fired and began its working life in Skagway, Alaska. It was a cool ride, for a train geek anyway. 








We got some ice cream!



It was almost 7:00PM and the crowds thinned out even more … a lot more!  We decided to try to get in the rest of the coasters … there was literally no wait. We went on the last six by 8:30PM. 





After knocking out all the coasters we were beat, and we really felt we got our money’s worth. We headed out, made a Walmart resupply stop, and headed back to our hotel. 

Oh!  Just before heading out we had to grab Dollywood’s famous cinnamon bread … more like a loaf of cinnamon rolls. 



Thanks for a good day Dolly!

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