On Friday morning, we got up early and drove to Cades Cove, which is a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and one
of the most popular destinations in the park. According to the National Park Service, it offers some
of the best opportunities for wildlife viewing, and we were hoping to catch site of a bear (no dice!). The 11-mile motor loop also houses many historic buildings as it was a well populated area of the park in the 1800s:
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| First stop - cemetery! I love these gravestones and what they tell about the community |
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| I made Kevin pull over for a picture because the smoky ridges were so pretty here |
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| Cantilevered Barn |
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| The miller loved Benji, who was full of questions for him, so he gave him some "special privileges" |
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| In addition to letting him climb into the window, the miller gave him some grain to feed the fish |
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| And walked him next door to show him this snake sleeping in the corn crib |
After Cades Cove, we decided it was time to spend a little time exploring Gatlinburg. After walking the strip, we decided to pop into the Hollywood Car Museum, which turned out to be a lot of fun:
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| Car from the Avengers movie |
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| Original Batmobile |
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| Dukes of Hazzard |
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| Beverly Hillbillies |
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| M*A*S*H |
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| Knight Rider |
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| Kitt talked to me! |
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| Back to the Future |
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| Ghostbusters |
When we finished the museum, we stumbled across an escape room on a side street which had an immediate opening. How could we resist?
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| We finished the Merlin room with 15 minutes to spare |
By the time we finished our escape, it was time to head back to Pigeon Forge for the Dixie Stampede, which is the dinner theater owned by Dolly Parton. We were told we were in for a treat:
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| Brian was nervous and Benji hopped right in to console him |
We enjoyed drinks and popcorn at the pre-show in the "saloon":
The show was really something:
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| Live Buffalo! |
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| Kevin was part of the bucket brigade and won a medal |
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| Benji and Patrick were chosen to lasso during the show, but I missed the chance to get a picture. Here they are reenacting it for us |
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