We had a really nice day today, packing up to leave later on this morning to go north for a little trip away. Two things of note: it was hazy all day, extremely so. The reason was due to Canadian fires, the same haze and smoke that made New York look like a Martian city earlier on this year. Still ongoing apparently. It wasn't like London fog or anything, but it did make visibility pretty limited when looking out at the landscapes. The other thing is: we rescued a turtle. Just wanted to put that out there. We stopped the car and saved a turtle crossing the road. Why was he crossing the road? Ask the chicken.
Our first stop today was Oconaluftee Islands Park, which is a mouthful to say. Each time we pass through Cherokee, we see the river and this nice little area with picnics and people having fun in the Oconaluftee River. So this time, Mom packed us a nice picnic to enjoy. We crossed the bridge and found just the right picnic table. Mom got this picnic table covering that worked perfectly and we had drinks, sandwiches, chips, watermelon, and even some McDonald's French fries from the local McDonald's there. Anyway, it was a perfect picnic!
After that, we got some mediocre Boba tea from a food truck there in the parking lot, and drove north through the Great Smoky Mountains. The visibility was really limited to the horizon, so those vast panoramas weren't quite as vast. BUT! BUT! BUT! We saw a bear! It's been ages since I've seen an actual bear along this road - I remember seeing one a long, long, long time ago. But yeah, we saw a bear crossing the road - we were the only car to see it - it went up into the forest. This was pretty high up in the mountains just before that first significant viewpoint. I was a pretty happy camper!
We arrived at the hotel after that, and I raced out to get some tickets for events later on this week, but when we got back, the three of us returned to Dollywood again for the Great Smoky Mountains Summer Celebration. And boy, was it summer. Employees at the hotel were telling us we arrived in the midst of a heat wave, and we knew that ahead of time.
Here's Maddie hitching a ride at the tram stop. We were much later arriving, so no one was there! The hitchhiker joke goes back to our last visit when she saw someone with their thumb up at the tram stop.
Here's Mom in the shade at the stop. We knew about the sun, but we also know about the rain chances this week too - we're prepared. So yeah, it was hot when we arrived.
But it was later, and the sun was starting to dip, as were the temperatures. Additionally, our plan was to do as many indoor things as possible this trip, which meant more shows. Shows like this one here.
We saw "Harmonies of the Heart" first thing, a production that features some of Dolly's nieces and friends performing classic Dolly songs on stage. After that, we grabbed a quick snack, taking advantage of the Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration food pass items. Maddie got the loaded chicken nachos and we sat down for a moment enjoying the food and the atmosphere there.
Then it was off to another indoor production, HeartSong. This is a movie, and we've seen it before, but the air conditioning was great in there, the theater dark and just perfect on a hot summer day.
They have these little waterfalls and leaves and trees all around - just like you were in a Tennessee forest. It's nice in there, and the movie had a few surprises too that made it "4D"! A kid does a cannonball into a creek on screen, and if you're in the front three rows - as we were! - you're going to get splashed! Also later it rains, and everyone feels a bit of that rainfall above.
There are summer decorations all around, things we haven't seen before as we've seen the three other seasons here. The umbrellas are gone overhead, now replaced by colorful kites.
And there's a pretty interesting collection of large hoses that shoot out mists of water, and some big splashes occasionally when you're not looking!
This is just the refreshing you need in a park - there were several places where mist drifted down to cool off early park attendees. It was nice!
We were in the vicinity of the train stop, and we knew this was something the three of us could do together, so that was our next destination. We hopped onboard for a nice train ride through the Smokies, or through Dollywood at least. We were surprised this time by the amount of cinders that landed on us, but fortunately none were still burning or anything. Still, it was a nice ride. The temperature was cooler as the sun was going down and this was the last train ride of the day.
Always up for a train ride! These last shots were taken by Maddie on board the train. Unfortunately, that "all clear" forecast was not to be on the rain. We were thinking tonight was our best bet to see the drone show, but an approaching storm cancelled the thing I was looking forward to the most. However, there were other surprises along the way that made up for it - today was a very good day. We took a few pictures in the valley as we looked around at shops and the scenery there.
And in the fabled rocking chair union center, the rocking chairs were replaced by summer deck chairs, which were actually pretty comfortable for relaxing in as the sun set.
On Maddie's grocery list was one final ride that we rode at dark this time - the Smoky Mountain River Rampage. The lines were minimal. Maddie and I boarded for a rough trip down the river, and it was indeed a wet one for me. My left shoe is now a sponge. The lady next to me and I got hit with a deluge of water that just drenched us totally!
Mom didn't go on that river ride, and that was probably the best idea for anyone who'd rather stay dry. But she was hankering an ice cream, so we all went to the ice cream shop to close out the day. Maddie got her mint chocolate ice cream, and mom got a gluten-free cone with butter pecan in it, while I've been doing the Smoky Mountain Fudge a lot lately. We got a table next to the window there and just relaxed with an ice cream there before leaving. It was great.
As we left, it was time for the fireworks! We got a great fireworks show just before and during the tram ride back!
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