What a week! This is going to be one LONG webpage!

Wednesday: We didn't get one the road until almost 8.
We stopped right before getting on to I-65 and got gas and snacks.
Then we drove to the otherside of Loiusville, KY and spent the night at a rest area.
It was hot inside the camper. I opened some windows, but none on the side the the trucks would be driving by. The lot was full so we had to just pull along the back side of the rest area. It was a nice rest area though. I guess it is a welcome center too.

Thursday:
The only thing I wrote down for today was that we saw Elvis in Lake City, TN. We stopped to get gas and take the kids to the rest room. Walked in the door and there he was. This impersonator really looked like him too! It's no wonder people kept thinking he was still alive. We arrived in Pigeon Forge around 2pm and got into our campsite. Uncle Bill, Aunt Odie and Steve pulled in right behind us to pick up Marcy. They left and we decided to drive around. First we stopped by the Dixie Stampede to check on tickets. Oh My Heavens! For tickets for all 4 of us....Better sit down first...go ahead, I'll wait.....$136! Now pick your chin up off the floor. Needless to say, I left without tickets. We then stopped by the Fiddler's Feast. It's a dinner and a show place as well. It was about $80 for tickets. Our tickets were for the following night. After we got those tickets, we decided to find a place to eat. We stopped at the Great American Steak and Buffet Company. It was pretty good. Still pricey, but that is because of where we are. After we ate, we went back to the camper.

Friday - Dinosaur Walk Museum, Veterans Memorial Museum, Gem Mine:
Grace fell out of bed at 5am. And to make matters as bad, she woke up at 7am and would not go back to sleep! So much for sleeping in on vacation! I went ahead and got up and fixed pancakes. William got up around 7:30 and I got Vince up at 8:15. If I'm up, he might as well be up too!
We were going to stop at the places that were on the same side of the road as we were on, but they weren't open yet. So we started off at the Dinosaur Walk Museum. That was pretty interesting. It has hard to get a good picture in there, but I think I managed to get a few. William wasn't as interested in this as I thought he would be. Don't get me wrong, he enjoyed it, but I think he would have been more interested if he was older and could read the signs. He wanted to watch the movies they had playing, but we would have been in there all day! lol! Grace was barely interested in this one. She just isn't into Dinosaurs. lol! I think we all know her well enough to know that she is a girly tom boy. She wants Princess stuff, but like getting dirty better than William does. lol! The kids did get souveniers here. Grace got a blue apatosaurus. William got two things. Grace threw a fit. He got a set of dinosaurs that the arms/legs/head are magnetic and stick to the body. You can interchange the body parts between the 2 dinos. And he got a dino egg that had a 3D dino puzzle inside. When you put the puzzle together, it made a toy.
Our next stop was the Veteran's Memorial Museum. The kids were SO not interested in this museum. They were little turds. Grace got paddled at least once and William did too. Grace was the worse of the two. They have the death masks of President Abe Lincoln, U. S. Grant and a few others. They had a Jeep in there that was used on D-Day. It was a really neat museum. The pictures in there...made me shudder. They had a picture of a wagon of bodies that had died at Hitler's death camps. I was mesmerized and sickened all at the same time. Another thing that stuck with me was the size of the uniforms that had been donated. They waist sizes were so small! I mean really, these weren't made to fit men, they were for late teens!
Next stop, Pigeon Forge Gem Mine. Grace has been saying for DAYS that she wants to look for jewels! And she finally got to. This was neat....well sort of. It didn't look like a mine at all so that was disappointing for me. I would have liked for it to be more authentic looking, but oh well. What you do here is pay for a bucket. The bucket has sand an gemstones in it. You put 2-3 scoops of sand in the 'filter' and then put it in the water to sift out the sand. You pick out your gemstones and put them in a baggie. When you are done, you take your baggie to the asayer and she tells you what you have. Our asayer looked like she bought fake nails from wal-mart and forgot to cut them off. I bet they were 2-3 inches long! We got some amethyst, ruby, emerals and some other stuff. We shared a $25 bucket. Vince and Grace had a baggie and then William and I had a baggie. Oh, William found some Fools' Gold!
Next we went next door to the 3 Bears something. On our way there, we were stopped by a lady who asked if we were going to see any of the shows or maybe Dollywood. Told her we would like to see the Dixie Stampede, but weren't going to pay the price. She said she could get us in for free and that we could have Grace sit on our lap so we didn't have to pay for her a ticket. All we had to do...sit and listen to a timeshare speal. Ugh. They wanted a $20 deposit to make sure we showed up. So we signed up to listen to the speal. Then we went in to the 3 Bears Giftshop. They had 5 bears in the back that you could feed. This exhibit was HORRIBLE! They were caged with no dirt to play in. We paid to feed them. How do you feed them you might ask...by dropping pieces of apple and bread down to them. Ugh. After that we went back to the camper for lunch. I had a headache so we all laid down and took a nap. I woke up at 3:50. We were to be at the Fiddler's Feast at 4:45pm to get in for the 'free' show.
The Free show was a lady dressed like Minni Pearl. She later came around and made balloon animals for the kids. I was so impressed with this place. they brought the kids' food out to them first, so the parents could get it cut up for them. Then they PRAYED over the food! WOW! I got chills because it was so quiet in there while the guy said the prayer. The adults did a buffet line to get their food. And the food was AWESOME! The show was great. Grace was a pistol in there. She didn't want to stay for the show. Wonder how she'll be for the Dixie Stampede?! When the show was over, we went back to the camper. I went directly to bed (8pm). I think I felt Vince get in bed around 11pm.

Saturday - June 3 Timeshare/Dixie Stampede:
I woke up around 8:10am. My head still hurt, my back was stiff and my neck hurt. Great.
We all got dressed and ready and headed to the timeshare @ 9:10. They fed us a continental-like breakfast. The timeshare is called Westgate Resorts. it's really nice, but nothing we can afford, plus we like to go to different places. The lady who showed us around was great. Grace wanted to hold her hand and walk with her. We were there until 10:30. Then we came back to the camper. All the tylenol 've been taking hasn't touched my headache. I had drank a whole bunch of caffeine on Wednesday at work and on the drive to KY to stay awake. So Vince talked me into getting a Dr. Pepper. It's helping.
I made a few calls to check on some of the attractions we want to see. Tried dialing in, but couldn't get a dial tone. Ripley's Aquarium is the most expensive. It will cost us $50 to get in there. Obergatlinburg will cost us about $27 and the Alpine Slide is $6/ride. We can put 2 of us on the bobsled. The last 2 places we want to see in Pigeon Forge are the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride and the Rainforest Discovery Zoo. We wound up having to choose between 3 of them and didn't go to the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride.
We went to the Dixie Stampede at 2pm and got on the list for the 6pm show. Then we went back to the campground and went swimming. The water was COLD! We got the kids' floaties out. William pulled a real doozie. He told me that he had the floatie under his arms when he jumped in (the deep end), but he managed to slide out of it! I turned around and seem his head and hands barely poking out of the floatie. I went running to his rescue. Ugh.
We got out of the pool a little before 4 and got ready for the show. We got there at 4:45 and got our tickets and went on in. We sat down for the 'free' show. It was a band called Wild Oats. They were good. The banjo player either was or is part of Dolly's band. They played for about 30 minutes and then we moved into the main show area.
The show was great; as was the food...although I didn't care for the whole rotisserie chicken. Eating chicken or anything else off a bone is not something I care to do. William was served the same exact stuff we were. No child sizes s o that was a plus. Grace sat on Vince's lap, so we wouldn't have to pay for her. They still served them 2 of everything except for the chicken. The Dixie Stampede was definitely an awesome show, but I don't think I would pay the $136 (minus Grace's plate) to see it. William and I got a scare. lol! We sat on the front row. There was a table just a few feet in front of us. They were doing the part about the buffalo that ran free and we were watching the buffalo when all of a sudden we heard a war cry. William and I just about jumped out of our skin! An actor dressed as an Indian had jumped up on that table and make the war cry. I laughed so hard. And then William looks at me and said, "Mommy, that freaked me out!" LOL!! I think William and I enjoyed it the most. I told him he had better hoop and hollar and stomp and clap because this was the ONLY restaurant that he could do that in! Grace was all upset. When our side won, they would give out red carnations. They only threw out 3 after each win. Well Grace wanted a flower. So after the show and a meltdown, I asked one of the waiters if it would be possible to get her a flower. He took us down to one of the horse riders and she went and got Grace a red carnation. That made her night. We still have her flower too! It hasn't wilted yet! I will be pressing it so we can put it in our scrapbook. After the show we went back to the camper and watched TV for a little bit and went to bed.
There was one part of the show then the 'clown', I think his name was skippy. lol! Came out and did a magic trick. He picked picked a person out of the crowd. We all know that she was part of the show. Anayhoo, the did the 'hide the girl in the barrel' trick. You know like hide the ball under the cup. Only the barrels were on the back of horse drawn wagons. That was interesting.
He also came out after the Ostrich races. William just couldn't figure out how the guy did this. He was wearing a costume that had made him look like he was riding an ostrich, but clearly his leg were the ostrich legs. I never did get William to understand that the ostrich legs were the guys legs and what William thought were his legs were a part of the costume. Oh well.

Sunday - June 4 - Grace fell out of bed..again/ Gatlinburg/Clingman's Cove:
Grace fell out of bed...again! I mentioned that she fell out of bed our first night in Pigeon Forge as well. So she came to our bed at 7 and Vince went to her bed! lol! William was up by 9am. He turned on the tv and that woke me up. Grace was up not long after. I made blueberry pancakes. When they were ready, I got Vince up. Then we headed to Gatlinburg. I'll tell you what...I'm not dragging a camper through THAT town! Those streets are narrow, filled with pedestrians and people who can't drive! Ugh!
Our first stop was Ripley's Aquarium.It cost us $3.75 to park there! They get you anyway they can! I think that was the city though and not the aquarium. The aquarium was ok. So not worth $50, well maybe. I got to pet a horseshoe crab. Vince got to pet a stingray. He said they felt slimy. The horseshoe crab felt like a wet rock. We left there and walked to Subway for lunch. Then we headed to Obergatlinburg. I cost us $4 to park a couple of blocks from it, but that was for ALL DAY. It was only $17 for 2 roundtrip tickets. The kids were free. We got to the top, bought our tickets for the alpine slide, got in the line and a storm blew in. They closed all the rides. We got inside just as it started to rain. And boy did it come down. It rained for probably 20-30 minutes or more. By the time the rain stopped, the temperature had gone from the lower 80's to 54 degrees! BRRR! We were in shorts and sleeveless shirts! We waited the rain out inside, but the only things to do were watch the ice skaters, play arcade games, shop or eat. So we ate again. After the rain stopped, we went back out, but they had no idea how long it would be before the alpine slide would be open so we let the kids use the tickets to ride a couple of kiddie rides and we left. It was REALLY cold out there!
We left there and headed to Clingeman's Dome. Vince went to get gas at the last gas station before heading out of Gatlinburg. We didn't buy gas there. They wanted $3.09/gallon. Almost 30 cents more than it was in Pigeon Forge. Clingeman's Dome is in the Smokey Mountain National Park. When we reached our destination, we got out, but didn't stay out long. We were just too cold. So we headed back to Pigeon Forge. It took us 32 minutes to get back down the mountain. When we were at the top, I told William, "Look! I see North Carolina!" And unbeknownst to me, I really had! We seen 2 signs on the drive back down. One of them said North Carolina, so many more miles. The other said TN/NC state line. After we made it back to Pigeon Forge, we got diesel in the truck and chips. Then we headed to the camper and fixed hamburgers, grillers, corn and s'mores. We rode our bikes. William ran into the back of mine and wiped out. Luckily, I didn't wipe out. He had on his elbow and knee pads as well as his helmet. And he was in jeans. I was in shorts. After we ate, we went for a walk. Then headed inside where I wrote this journal entry. Good Night (10:43pm)

Monday - June 5 - Rainforest Discovery Zoo/Gift Shop/The Old Mill/Swimming/Packing:
Today we went to the Rainforest Discovery Zoo. It was pretty neat. I got to pet an American Alligator and a python! The kids wouldn't have anything to do with that! After we left there, we went to the Dixie Stampede Gift Shop. Spent $96 in there AND I forgot to take my 15% off coupon in!!! ARGH! We stopped and bought keychains fo rmom, Missy and Kristi. Then we went back to the camper for lunch. Then we went and walked around the Old Mill area. There was an awesome painter in there. Spencer someone. http://www.jesuspaintings.com/. We went back to the campground and swam. It was COLD!!! Then we fixed hamburgers and grillers. After supper, we started getting things packed up.

Tuesday - Day 6 - June 6 - on the road again:
I had set the alarm for 7 and finally got up around 7:30. We were packed up and pulled out by 9am. On the way out, we seen a Coleman Outlet and stopped and bought our friends an insta-clip screenhouse similar to ours.
We stopped at a gas station at I-40. They had 18 pumps and turned all of them on EXCEPT the one we were on. They made me come in and pay up front. "because they couldn't see that pump". Funny, I watched 4 different views on a TV screen right in front of the woman's face. These 4 views of just our truck flashed on there 4-5 times in less than 30 seconds. Needless to say, IF we go back down there, we will NOT stop at that gas station! If I had been thinking, I would have just left. I was SO ticked off!
After that fiasco, we headed to Algood, TN to pick up Marcy at her sister's. We parked at their Wal-Mart and went in to pick up a few things. Bill (Vince's uncle) met us at the camper and took us to their house. We stayed about an hour and a half. We ate lunch there too. That saved us about $20 and who knows how much time. Then we were back on the road. Nashville, TN was a treat. We missed the exit to bypass the city. I don't think we could have made the exit anyway. It was under constructions. Traffice was 'lovely', but we made it through. We pulled into the campground around 7pm our time. They are an hour behind us. TN was on our time. We didn't get to bed until almost midnight. We grilled hamburgers and smoked sausage for supper and made enough for lunch the next day.

Wednesday - Day One in KY - June 7 - Elk & Bison Prairie/Nature Center/Patti's 1880 Settlement:
Grace fell out of bed AGAIN!. She crawled in bed with mamaw. William got up at 8am. We had poptarts for breakfast. Vince had leftover pancakes. Then we headed to the visitor's center to get us a funcard (10 admissions into their attractions) and a token to get into the Elk & Bison Prairie. Let me tell you, the Elk & Bison Prairie was AWESOME! We went around the 3.5 mile loop twice. The second time, the bison were on the move. They SWARMED the truck! We couldn't move because they were literally all around us. It was SO COOL! We took a bunch of pictures and about 12 minutes of video. When we left there, we went back to the visitor's center because Grace needed to use the restroom. The guy at the information desk told us that there are 48 bison and 52 elk at the Elk & Bison Prairie and 61 bison at the Bison Range which is across from The Homeplace. Those numbers include the babies. I had Vince buy me a little bison that makes sound. Marcy bought the kids little souveniers when we were there getting the token and funcard. The kids played at the playground for a couple of minutes. Grace managed to rip part of her toenail away from her toe, but luckily, not all the way off. I cleaned it off with a wet papertowel and then wrapped it up. Then we headed to the camper for lunch. By the time we got there, she had forgot about it and it never did bother her again.
After lunch, we went to the nature center. Red Wolf pups look like regular puppies. I did not know that. They are actually quite cute. They didn't have any there, but they had a picture of them. They had a 6 year old male and a 13 year old female. They were hoping for puppies this year, but figure the female is too old. Guess they need to find a younger one! lol!
We decided to drive around a little after leaving there. There is an Iron Furnace, I think that is what it was called (will have to look at our pictures), that we stopped and looked at. It was interesting. I didn't take the time to read all of the signs about it, but took pictures of all the signs so I could read them later. I love having a digital camera! I talked Vince into stopping at a cemetary. They have a ton of cemetaries in the land between the lakes. I thought the tombstones would be old since the property was acquired by emenient domain back in the 60's, but there were some that looked brand new...most looked brand new.
We finally decided to drive up to Grand River, KY to eat at Patti's. There is an 1880 Settlement that she created, but we didn't take the time to see it. The food was really good, but for the 5 of us....$80! OUCH! We bought dessert and brought it home with us.

Thursday - June 8 - The HomePlace/Bison Range/Beach:
Today we got up around 9am. Vince, William and Mamaw took showers while Grace and I fixed pancakes. After we ate, Grace and I went and took a shower. Then we headed to The Homeplace. It is an 1850's Settlement. They call it a living history farm. We walked through the museum part first. They had clothes that the kids could dress up in. So I dressed them up and took a couple of pictures. Obviously, I will change them to either sepia tone or black and white when I post them so they look authentic. We watched a guy trimming a horse's hooves. The horse's name was Jack. Jack's 1/2 brother, Bob, was in the stable and Tick was in the fenced in area. We also seen chickens, sheep, ducks and pigs. The ladies were in the house knitting pot holders and making cornhusk dolls. There was also a guy tending to the garden.
The Bison Range was right across the road so we looked over there too. There was a lone bison that was HUGE! I vaguely remember the guy at the visitor center mentioning him. The herd ran him off for some reason. I took some pictures, but they really don't show how big he is. Then we went just out of LBL and filled the truck up and headed back to the camper for a late lunch. We had chips while we were sitting across from the Bison Range watching the huge bull.
Grace had been whining about going swimming so we walked over to the beach. One word... GROSS! Grace didn't mind it so much, but only got in to her thighs. William was in up to his waist when he determined that the water was just to nasty. This beach is on Energy Lake. Maybe Lake Barkley or Kentucky Lake would be better. Grace whined the while walk back. We fixed dinner at 6:30 and ate at the picnic table.
We decided to go for another drive with the hopes that the kids would go to sleep. We drove up to Grand River again. Grace fell asleep, but woke up while we were in the grocery store. We needed something for Saturday night dinner. We seen all sorts of deer on the drive up there. We had a few jump out in front of us on the drive back. Here is 11:05pm and we are just now in bed....again!

Friday - June 9 - KY - Laundry/Planetarium/Elk & Bison Prairie:
We were all up by 9am. Today we had toast with apple butter. YUM! The kids ate cereal. We sat outside for a while and the kids watched tv. CBS shows the Nick jr cartoons on Saturday. Then we all drove down to the activity center. Marcy, me and Grace did laundry while Vince and William went to the Planetarium to watch 'Starts to Starfish' show. William really liked it. Vince didn't care for the insinuation that we all evolved from amoeba. We all know the truth. The plan is to take a nap this afternoon and then go to see the elk & bison again tonight. The guy at the information desk said there is a HUGE elk in there...the hard part is finding them!
Vince and William came back to the activity center around 12:15. They took Grace back to the camper and had lunch and then laid down for a nap. I took the truck back down to the activity center so we didn't have to carry the huge bucket o' laundry back. Marcy and I didn't finish with the laundry until 4 pm our time. So much for a nap. When she and I got back, I put some wood on the fire, when it burnt down a little, we fixed burgers. There were so many gnats flying around that we ate inside. After supper, we went back to the Elk & Bison Prairie. We drove around the 3.5 mile loop three times! We spent about an hour in there. We seen a lot of Elk this time. 2 were huge. We seen the bison too. They didn't swarm us like they did the last time. They still came near the truck, but they weren't crossing the road. They were in a different part of the prairie too. It was still pretty neat, but didn't compare to the first 'encounter' we had with them.
When we left the prairied, we went into Cadiz to find some more hose. We are just about out of water and don't have enough to get us to the water spout. The kids talked Marcy into buying them more toys at the Dollar Store. Sheesh! Grace got a Bratz baby and William got a couple of trucks. When we finally got back to the camper (10ish), we went directly to bed!

Saturday - Day 4 - June 10 - KY - The Last Day/Fort Donelson Battlefield/Paris Landing/Packing up:
We didn't get up today until 9:40am! I couldn't believe the kids slept that long! Vince & William went and took a shower. Marcy did too. While they were gone, Grace watched Cayou while I made chocolate chip pancakes. After we were done eating, I went and took a nice long, hot shower by MYSELF! I love my family, but it was nice to be alone even if only for a shower and it felt good! Now I think we are going to look at Kentucky Lake and Fort Donelson Battlefield. When we left, we drove down to Fort Donelson first. We walked through the museum first and then watched a little 15 minute video. The video was good. Even William was interested in it. It was HOT out! Marcy heard on the radio that it was 92 degrees, but felt like 113. I believe it too...it was so hot even my undies were wet! Ick! I think I was the one most interested in the tour. It was a self-guided tour. We drove to the points of interest and then got out and looked at them. I was a little shocked at the fort. The walls were just mounds of dirt that they had piled over fallen trees, but 140 years later, they are still there! After we seen the ones thta were right together, we went to McDonald's. I forgot to mention that Fort Donelson is in Dover, TN. Anyway, after we left McDonald's (Mamaw's treat) we went to Paris Landing State Park so I could see Kentucky Lake. We let the kids dangle their feet in the lake. I was surprised to see that there was no beach right there. We didn't stay long. Grace was on the very edge with her hiney barely on the ledge. Then we headed back to the camper. Vince took William to ride his bike on the basketball court. Grace & Mamaw are playing with paper dolls in the screen house. And I've been in the camper making beds and arranging things for the drive home tomorrow. We'll be fixing dinner soon. Then we will put the rug and screen house up and other things. We want to pull out by 9am.
10:15pm - We officially ran out of water. Vince took William to the showerhouse. I just managed to get Grace a bath.

Sunday - Day 5 - June 11 - the Drive Home:
We got up around 7:30. I managed to dork up the alarm clock. I thought it was after 8. lol! Vince finished packing the stuff outside. I put the stuff that was inside where it wouldn't fall. We ate and headed out. We made 3 stops before getting home. Ugh. So it took us about 5 hours. We got home around 2pm. Graham came up and got Marcy and her things. I brought a few things inside (like the towels that didn't get washed yesterday) and then we laid down for a nap. I got up at 4:30 and took a shower. Mom came up for a few minutes and then we ate and went to church. It was our night to have the kids downstairs.

Here are some pictures of this camping trip.

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