Two More Weeks at Pigeon Forge

As our first trip back on the road, we just wrapped up two more weeks in the Pigeon Forge area...we really do love everything there!  Unfortunately Aaron spent our first week getting over a cold, and then it rained for several days in a row, so we didn't get to do as many things as we had hoped (since all the things we want to do in Pigeon Forge are outside!).  So this just means we'll have to swing back through again in the spring :-).

We changed things up this trip and stayed in Sevierville instead of down in Pigeon Forge.  After all the nickel and diming of the place we stayed last time, this new campground was only slightly more expensive than the Passport America location we found before, and the thought of not having to drive the RV through the chaos of the Parkway area appealed to us.  We stayed at Ripplin Waters RV Park and got a site right on the river.  So, the pros: the sites here were slightly more spacious, the campground had nice facilities (bathhouse, laundry, playground, pool, and predictably staffed office/camp store), we had a river view, the management was great (no nickel and diming! also a thank you note after we left), and we did achieve the goal of not driving into the madness of Pigeon Forge with the RV.  The cons: it was far away from everything, and it just changed management and the rates are going WAY up compared to what we paid.  Now, obviously being far away from everything goes hand in hand with not driving through everything...but it bothered us more than we expected.  When we were 10 minutes from most things we wanted to do, we thought nothing of just hopping over somewhere for 30-60 minutes.  But at 30 minutes to Dollywood and an hour or so to the closest point on the Great Smoky Mountains...unless we were looking at a minimum of a half day somewhere we just couldn't get motivated to go.  So, I give a big thumbs up to the campground in terms of pleasantness of stay, but we probably won't be back because we really missed being in the middle of everything.

Our campsite at the back of the campground

A view of Pigeon River and the Smoky Mountains from the
back of the campground

The one unique thing we did this time was go see the Dolly Parton statue in downtown Sevierville - not much to it, but it was something I'd been wanting to see.

Dolly Parton statue in front of the courthouse in Sevierville

So the rest of the photos will be of Dollywood!  They were setting up for the Great Pumpkin Luminights festival when we arrived, and it started the last weekend we were there.  My parents came to explore the area with us on that Friday.  I was most impressed that they both did the Dropline and my mom rode a real roller coaster with us!  

Axe in the stump? (vs. sword in the stone)

Cool pumpkin/squash tree

They had a display of large pumpkins - this was the largest

Moonshine tasting with my dad at 
Ole Smoky Moonshine at the Island

With my parents outside the Pirates Voyage dinner show

With my parents at the main pumpkin tree at Dollywood

One of my favorite light displays at the festival - the strings 
change color as the display plays music

It was a fun and relaxing two weeks, and now we're going to head down south for the winter.  We'll be stopping at a couple new spots on the way down, stay tuned!