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This morning we said goodbye to Tennessee and took one more ride across the top of the Smoky Mountains, occasionally stopping a few times in the cool air to venture out and take in the panorama all around.  

The skies were very clear, unlike what we were thinking earlier.  The hurricane was going to head up this way, and we were in for what we thought was an interesting ride home, but in fact the storm went across Florida and into the Atlantic and then over to South Carolina after that, completely missing us and even North Georgia.  We had a clear trip down, and the views were spectacular as always.

Nevertheless, no doubt we were seeing some of the outer bands of this monster storm, a clear line of clouds in the sky.  We certainly had a bit of weather favor when on this short trip, as we saw perfect days of brisk fall temperatures.

The other stop on the way home was at the same Chick-Fil-A in Franklin, North Carolina.  We stopped at this one on the way up, and now on the way down too.  We got the new Autumn Spice Milkshake from there, and it was really delicious.  We stopped for a good bit there, just having a seat and eating together before getting back into the car for the final push home.

It was a fairly busy day.  Can you believe we went to both taekwondo classes tonight?  Yes, Maddie, Nana and I went over as usual like it was any other day, and Maddie was there for class, doing a bit of last-minute training for her testing on Monday.  She's doing well, and her instructors have told her as much, which she was happy to tell us afterwards.  We'll all be there for testing on Monday, just another step towards her second degree black belt.  That should come some time next year, but it's not necessarily about getting this belt super quick - it's about the journey.  

After classes, Maddie wanted to catch up on some of the shows premiering.  Of course there was "She-Hulk," and after that we watched "Rings of Power."  We all sit and watch another thing posted on social media after these shows, an ongoing thing called "Screencrush," where a host and his dog manager show hidden things or facts from Marvel, Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings that help explain background on a lot of stuff that we may not already know about those.  Anyway, that's always the first thing after all of these episodes - Maddie calls out, "Screencrush," and we hop over to that to watch for backstories and things we might have missed.

Ah, to sleep in our own beds again!  Tonight we said our prayers after such a long day, and we read from our book too, continuing to learn about the Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict.  It was a nice day, and but we're off to sleep now!
 

Believe it or not!

 

We slept in a bit this morning, but we were nevertheless excited to get out the door to make the brief journey up the hill to Ripley's Odditorium.  We were thinking of the walk uphill, and thinking it might be much for Nana, so we took advantage of the free trolley system in Gatlinburg, and caught a lift through town, getting dropped off right there at where we needed to be.

It was a fun destination!  The last time we were at this sort of place was the summer of 2019, a drop-by that Maddie remembers really well.  She's been wanting to go back, or at least visit this location ever since.  Of course, all sorts of world events and family dynamics somewhat delayed all that, but here we are.  

It was worth the wait.  We started out in the jungle area, posing with the headhunters and Robert Ripley in his explorer outfit, learning a whole lot more than we really wanted to learn about shrunken heads.  But there was a lot of fun stuff ahead, as you'll see in the tons of pictures below.  

Below are pictures taken from Maddie and myself, quite a few from a really good visit at the museum.  We took our time going through, reading, learning, laughing, and having a great time there.  It was super fun! 

The expedition starts out in the jungle, where we learned a lot more than we needed to know about shrunken heads. 

We got to design our own shrunken head - here's Maddie's creation.

In the wildlife area, we also got to design our own animal mutations... here's mine. I've named him Banjo.

Here's Maddie's.  It's a two-headed cat with stripes.

They had one of those things with the needles you press in to show shapes on the other side.

So Maddie pressed Joey the Porg in place for that one, obviously.

I did my face.  Over and over again.

Side note:  I remember the first time I saw one of these - at EPCOT Center in the 80's.

Speaking of visuals, there was a large "kaleidoscope room" there.

Joey is on the floor in this one.

Pretty interesting room!

Ah!  And the shadow room.  Where you put your self up against a wall, a flash goes off, and the shadow remains!  I first remember seeing one of these at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania a long time ago.

Ah!  Joey tries the rope bridge that hangs over the third floor.

Robert and I share a moment staring upward at something.

Joey's head can't get shrunk too much more...

Nana and Mom are a moment with the contorting mirror.

Now they're a little taller.

It wasn't too crowded there - Maddie had this play sand area to herself.  It was a visual thing where light from above would project water into the sand where she dug deeper.

Mom becomes a part of the artwork on the second floor.

Maddie and Joey get in on the act.

A piece of the Berlin Wall.

Clint Eastwood's portrait, made of shotgun shells.

Maddie has a bit of fun at the shooting gallery.

A massive castle... made of matchsticks.

Okay, a few more from the kaleidoscope room.

Joey is transfixed.

Maddie spends some time lost in the design.

Hypnotic, isn't it?

There were others here at the museum, but it was early and occasionally there were areas we had all to ourselves.

One more from the kaleidoscope.  

And one from jail.

Okay, I took these of these little figures inside a big model submarine.

Because they looked cool.

Maddie contorts her face for the mirror.  Of course, the joke is that later on you see that this was a two-way mirror, and other people are watching you do funny faces in that mirror.

Maddie and Joey relax in the big chair.

Songs from the Big Chair.  Maybe this is the one Tears for Fears sang from.

We took turns seeing how much it would take to ship ourselves to various locations.  Nana was seeing how much it would cost to ship herself to London in a crate.  Special delivery, of course.

I just thought this was interesting.

Mr. Ripley himself presses a penny for me.  Obviously, I went with the shrunken head design.

Fun fact:  Jim Lovell had a tiny Bible with him aboard Apollo 13.  Perhaps there's another reason why he made it back to earth in one piece.

Maddie salutes in her space suit.

So does Joey.

Okay, so this was mission impossible.  But that's the joke of it... I think.  We were using space gloves to perform various tasks before a timer went off.  BUT... the last one there is sort of a Kobiyashi Maru.  A little Star Trek reference there...

Maddie bravely crosses the rope bridge.

This guy was GINORMOUS!

Maddie and I practice being contortionists.

Ah, the ol' visual illusion room!  Maddie's grown in height quite a bit here!

Maddie and I now have strange heads.  The figure on the left kept his original face.

Kamala the wolf girl!

After Ripley's, we walked back down to the hotel, a short and relaxing walk that had us visiting some of our favorite places along the way.

Everything was decorated for Fall.

This is one of Mom's favorite places to walk around.  Maddie and Mom posed here at the entrance, just like they've done in the past.  There's an English shop back there where we picked up a few items, including a Crunchie Bar for Mom.  But there's plenty of neat shops to look around in.

We ate at Bubba Gump's.  Joey too.  Mom and I have been eating at this restaurant when we see one, dating back to our honeymoon where we at at the one in Lahaina.

Maddie poses in Forrest Gump's shoes.

Within "The Village" is a candy shop with the real Smoky Mountain taffy.  Joey is seen here posing in front of the taffy puller, an amazing contraption that sits in the window, beckoning visitors forward. We all just sit there, staring at this majestic thing until we have no choice but to buy taffy.

Joey in the candy shop.  We actually did buy the taffy, of course.  Mom was very specific about the taffy here, versus the other taffy products at other candy shops along the way.  This one is clearly the best.

Joey poses at the bench too.

Maddie and Joey take a break at the back part of the Village.

Joey sits atop his mighty steed.

Interesting picture of our reflection on the main road there.  We're waiting for Mom and Nana as they go in and look around at a shop.  Near the bottom of the hill are a few places we always visit, including this one retro place where Maddie picked up a Ghostbusters pop figure as a souvenir.

So we got home after a walk, and we rested for a bit there, but Maddie and I were not done yet.  We drove over to Pigeon Forge and Maddie finally got to do her go-kart racing!  Joey did too.  Anyway, we had a pass - we did this thing where we get a whole lot of tickets to various Ripley's locations for a discounted rate.  And it happens there was a Ripley's Super Fun Park that had go karts there.  So we went on over there and discovered that this is the very same track that we always saw each and every time we stayed at our hotel in Pigeon Forge.  When going to Pigeon Forge, we'd stay at this one place by the river, and right across the street was a three-story go-kart track.  And that's the one we were on today.

Maddie was a little tentative for the first ride, checking it out.  I hung back with her, and the other riders who knew that it was her first time were telling me she was doing a great job.  And she was getting more comfortable with it as she went along.  It's a big winding track upwards, and then this great big plummet at the end, a huge hill that even made me a little nervous on the first approach.  But the more she did it, the more she was petal to the metal, and by the last time, she was never letting off the gas.  We had one hour's worth of time - unlimited rides for an hour.  So we really took advantage of that.  The last one was our favorite, as we had one minute left on our hour, and we raced back to get onto the ride with one minute to spare.  Maddie passed about three others, finding the inside of the track to speed along, all the while trying to fend off her father racing in behind her.  It was a blast.

We also did the bumper boats, even though it was cold outside.  Because why not!

These had water canons on them, which meant we were extra wet.  But a few rides on the go-kart track would blow dry any moisture out of our clothing!

Joey gets ready for the go-kart ride!

Here's the track we were on, winding in and out.  Pretty fun!

Here's a shot from below.  There were other tracks, flat ones, but Maddie only wanted to do this one here.  I don't blame her.

Ah!  The big hill.  It doesn't look that big from here, but we're up there heading fast towards this u-turn curve, which made for a bit of drifting at the bottom that was fun.

It's a neat little park.  We had a great time on the track.  You can see the old hotel where we used to stay at the top right there.  And of course the track that we kept returning to.  I think we did it about seven times, and it was super fun.

We got back to the hotel, and we were certainly ready to turn in for the night.  We watched the latest episode of "Andor" though.  I hooked up the computer to the television there and we got caught up on that.  But soon enough, it was time for bed.  We had a great day today... believe it or not!