To the Mountains We Go

We packed the car Thursday night and were ready to head out as soon as school was out on Friday. Headed where? The mountains... to Gatlinburg. We made it up late Friday night, hopped in the bed and woke up Saturday morning ready to go. 

We went to Dollywood on Saturday. I cannot count the times our family has been here... so many that my sweet Mema buys us season passes. We are tight with ole Dolly. This was Fulton's first time and we had to try everything that he was tall enough to do. First up, the old cars. 

After that we headed to ride the train, but wouldn't you know the train wasn't running. Fulton was crushed. I wanted to speak to Dolly about this matter. You can't have the train not working when you have been talking about it all morning with a two year old that has a special place in his heart for choo-choos. The carousel was nearby, so we tried to distract with that. 

They had a cute little kiddie area that was perfect for Fulton's size. We did everything they had to offer. We don't necessarily ask him if he wants to ride, we just gently place him on and let him go. He will pretty much try anything. Matt was sort of jealous he couldn't ride the ducks too.

These three and myself did a lot of waiting on Matt while he road the roller coasters. Back in my younger cooler days I would ride them with Matt, but I am just a boring old gal now. That means he rides solo. He doesn't mind. 

We ate a big lunch and threw some pennies in the water. We tried to get some famous cinnamon bread, but our secret got out and everyone else was in line for it too. 

This little guy had a ball. He never missed a beat. Didn't even stop for a nap. We tried... we went to a show after lunch and thought he may rest a little. Nope.... he was clapping along with the music and after about 20 minutes, he was done. Ready to move on to something else. 

This little playground provided for some good entertainment as well. 

No comment. 

We sat on this bench, listened to a little music, decided to get a chocolate chip cookie and call it a day. We headed home, made some potato soup, and watched some football. 

Sunday morning I conned the family into going to the outlets for a bit. It was a worthwhile trip for everyone... well, maybe not everyone, but Mom and I enjoyed it. We spotted this hot air balloon as we were leaving and tracked it down. 

We stopped by another money pit ride place and let this guy pick a few things he wanted to do. The swings were by far his favorite. He had his mouth wide open, tongue hanging out, and giggling the whole time. 

We ate a quick lunch and headed to downtown Gatlinburg to walk around a bit. 

We rode concrete horses, threw more pennies in the fountain, watched them make taffy, mommy ate a chocolate covered doughnut, and did some great people watching. We ended with dinner at the famous Alamo, dad's favorite. It's a little more on the fine dining side than we have experienced in the last two year when Fulton is in tow, but it was delicious. 

Monday morning we got up and relaxed and played a bit before it was time to head back home. KK and Pops stayed another day and would you believe after we left they saw 8 bears. It must have been all that beef jerkey mom was carrying in her pockets.