Stampede!

 

A pretty full day today - we were at Dollywood this morning again.  It was a rough night, as Mom wasn't feeling that well lately, but we took it easy this morning and just hung out in a smaller area of the park doing a few things together.  We were over at the Rockin' Roadway first thing, and that's where we saw someone doing a bit of elaborate chalk art, which was pretty fun.  After that we were walking over towards the beekeeper topiary and moving up the hill somewhat.  We were looking in the church there, and doing a bit of looking around at the shops.  Maddie and I rode over Daredevil Falls a few time, riding upon the mighty Sawmill Jane, our log of choice for two consecutive runs.  No one was in line, so we were able to get that one in twice.  After touring the church and even peeking in at a reproduction of an early Tennessee classroom, we hopped on Blazing Fury, which was a first for us.  It was a fun dark ride, all indoors with animatronic figures and some dips at the end.  It's technically a roller coaster of sorts, although probably the mildest one in the park.  Still lots of fun!  And then we journeyed back down the hill for some barbecue.  Mom and I saw some baked potato with barbecue in them, and got that order while Maddie had a barbecue plate.  We saw by the mill there, watching people and the train too, as we had our meal there.

Maddie noticed marking in the pavement in the Dollywood parking lot that looked just like a porg!

The umbrellas are still there, and look great!

Our view from the restaurant of the train as it passes by.

Joey the Porg at the church in a pew.

Joey poses for the Flower and Food Festival.

Joey on a road racer car, ready to move!

Joey at Dreamland Drive-In

Joey visits the remnants of a previous chalk art, nearly washed away by the rain.

Okay, this is a goose.

These geese are at our hotel.  They're ready to eat whatever is thrown over the side by hotel customers.

They're quite aggressive!

Maddie brought her polaroid camera along.

Our view of the geese from above.

Ah, a closer portrait of that Porg in the concrete.

The schoolroom at Dollywood.

Posing at the church in Dollywood.

A nicer picture together on the pew.  

Another topiary of a peacock, over by the church.

Duck!  

Maddie and Mom check out the barbecue menu.

Beekeeper topiary - pretty cool!

NOT THE BEES!

That's a big bee.

My dog stepped on a bee.

The topiary from a further ways off.

Turtle topiaries.

The greenery and decorations here are fantastic!

He's looking right at us.

We saw a lot of new topiaries today.

Fortunately, this frog is here to keep the giant fly population down.

This was a super pleasant place to just take in the scenery.  

The famous Smoky Mountain black bears.

So many topiaries!  This one was pretty awesome.

Maddie cruises into the garage in her roadster.  She likes these old cars.

Maddie takes her car for a spin as she jams to old tunes on the radio.

We stopped by to talk with this woman a few times today as she created chalk art, like Bert!

Goose!

We went back to the hotel around 2pm or so, and while Mom was getting some rest, we started out with feeding the geese and ducks, as you see above, by hurling pieces of bread from our balcony.  The free breakfast we had this morning from the hotel - the continental breakfast - features free rolls, bread slices and more.  So we smuggled back some contraband back to the hotel room, in order to toss it over the side to the birds below.  It was indeed foul play.

Maddie and I went back to the Super Fun Park, which is literally right next door to us, so we could walk there.  We were here back in September, so Maddie and I knew the track well and were ready to race!

The Porgs are ready to race!

Moments before attacking the track!

Maddie did really well, and found a lot of success when she was - completely by chance - in car number 27 over and over again.  It was a fast car.  We both did a lot of passing and had all kinds of stories of racing glory to talk about afterwards.  Maddie was zooming in and out, grabbing the inside to get the edge on some of these other guys that were left in her dust.  It's a multi-level track, winding upwards and around to a pretty good height and then crashing down like a log flume towards the end.  It's fun, and yes, I'll go ahead and say it:  super fun.  Maddie had all kinds of stories to tell, and there's this great joy a dad has when watching your daughter zip by other racers.

We got back and we were ready for our big event of the day, a dinner show called Stampede.  This is a part of the Dollywood experience, a show we've been wanting to see for quite some time.  Picture Medieval Times but with a more western feel to it.  Which is odd in some ways because they had this whole "North vs. South" vibe going on, which may have worked earlier, but in this whole politically charged environment, it's probably best to leave the Civil War to history.  Regardless, we got there early to see the horses in their stalls, and then listen to bad jokes from some animatronic cowboys who were entertaining us.  Maddie and I had a game of checkers going in the lobby as we waited for a bit to go into the arena and see the show.

This horse looked rip-roarin' and ready to go!

It had to be said:  this is Annie's fanny.

Maddie and Mom before the big show.  We're in a waiting area in the lobby, upper level.

Two animatronic jokesters, their dog and a magical piano.

There were some great jokes in there, especially the one about the "steaks being too high."

     We all lined up and we went inside the arena next, all ready to see the show.  There were some early complications as the waitress there told us Mom would have to wait longer to get gluten-free and we were reprimanded for not making that clear when we first made reservations, which we in fact did ask for gluten-free and there was a moment or two of worry there - okay longer - about when we'd be eating or even if.  First impressions are a big deal!  Anyway, it all worked out.  Mom wasn't worried.

     The show itself was great, with all kinds of equestrian talent:  trick riders, fire, herding buffalo and long-horned steer, magical acts, conestoga wagons, people on horseback doing square dancing, a big hoe-down by the campfire, and that North vs. South competition.  I'm not sure how we wound up on the side of the North, but there we were.  And the North was crushed so early in the competition that there was no coming back. Even when the end came along and the last game wound up being worth five of the other games combined, we still lost pretty handily.  It wasn't even close!  But it was fun to watch, with redneck horseshoes (toilet seats), pig racing, fireman bucket carries, small horses racing around with riders on their back, and even the servers got in on the racing.  It was a fun night!

Talented riders entertained us while we ate!  Hard to take pictures with hands busy eating!

Fire!  Yes, the horses jumped through a hoop of fire.

The native Indian portion of the production was beautiful, with buffalo and aerialists and wonderful nighttime lighting.

Ah, the long-horned steers need a-herdin'!

Them's some long horns!

The wagons were circled, and soon there's be a hoedown!

Trick roping, whips, and even fire breathing too!

Aerealists entertained, riding in on horseback and then twirling away.

Our seats were right beneath these two aerialists.

There was a lot to see in tonight's performance.

Our two hosts were a lot of fun tonight, guiding things along, and of course adding ridiculous jokes along the way.

We closed out with a red, white, and blue patriotic finale to combine North and South for a fantastic finish.

Dolly's voice could be heard singing throughout the show, including this American spectacle at the end.

Electric Horsemen carrying the flags high!

It was a pretty full show, with lots to see!

Here are some of Maddie's pictures - starting with the horse stalls.

We waited up top here in the lobby for the show to start.

Joey and a friend came along to catch the show.

Maddie took this great shot of the arena.

The lighting and atmosphere was fantastic.

Our intrepid host for the show, singing on horseback of course!

The hoop of fire!

Give me a home, where the buffalo roam...

A moonlight dance 

A great cattle drive!

Wagons heading west, and then south, and north...

Ah, the western square dancing.  On horseback!

More quarter horse square dancing.

Let the games begin!

The All-American finale!

This was that part of the night where we stopped to pose right in the middle of a great big cattle drive with longhorn steers and dust.

'MERICA!

And here we are back at our hotel.  This is the view from our room.  Maddie took this from the balcony, and it really is a nice little place.  It's quiet, and there's this campground across the river there.  The geese and ducks keep us company, and we are about two blocks away from the Stampede show, and right next door to the Super Fun Park on the other side of the hotel.  It only takes about ten minutes to get to Dollywood, so the location is super convenient.  Mom slept better tonight, and so did all of us.  The breakfast is nice, and we had a pretty good day today.  Tonight we watched a few old movies, including a SpongeBob movie and the latter part of "Ratatouille" on the cable channel here.  We said our prayers, we read from our book, and then we were quickly off to sleep.