Great Smoky Mountains

Yesterday morning, we checked out of our hotel in Pigeon Forge, squeezed all our stuff back into my truck, and drove into Smoky Mountains National Park. This time we visited the Cades Cove area of the park, which we hadn’t done before. I was a little disappointed by the visitor center there; unlike the other ones in the park we’ve stopped at in the past, it was mostly just a store. There were also a few old buildings in the area, and open fields. 

To exit the park, we took a one way gravel road the headed south toward North Carolina, where we turned east. The road was slow and bumpy, but we were rewarded by seeing a bear cross in front of us. As we got close to Asheville, the road widened and straightened, and eventually we were back on I-40. Eventually we turned south toward Charlotte, stopping for the night in a nearby city called Gastonia.

We looked at things to do in the Charlotte area, but there wasn’t anything that really interested us, so this morning we headed southeast toward Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We stopped at the new Buc-ee’s in Florence but it was too crowded to want to pick anything up.

We also stopped at an outlet mall outside Myrtle Beach, then drove along the beach a bit. We booked a villa at the Sheraton Broadway Villas for the night, and spent a while at the pool. 

Dollywood

Yesterday morning Susan and I drove through Gatlinburg, which is located between Pigeon Forge and Great Smoky Mountains NP. Jennifer stayed in the hotel and worked on finishing her newest book. The other times we have driven through the area we took the bypass. Gatlinburg is similar to Pigeon Forge, with lots of restaurants, hotels, shops, and tourist attractions, but smaller and narrower. 

From Gatlinburg we took the bypass back to Pigeon Forge, then continued north to Sevierville to check out the outlet mall there. For lunch we returned to the Hard Rock Cafe, which we had visited in June of 2022. In the afternoon we did some more shopping in Pigeon Forge. 

This morning, while Jenn continued finishing her book, Susan and I visited Dollywood. I have been wanting to explore this park for a while, and was disappointed Jenn couldn’t go too. The park was about to start its Fall Festival, so was decorated with Jack O’Lanterns throughout the park. 

We got there right at opening, and headed up the left side of the park. Waits for rides were real low all day, and the weather was great. I rode the Mystery Mine and Big Bear Mountain Coasters, then we watched the bird show. In the afternoon we rode the train. 

The train goes up the left side of the park to the top then heads back down the same way. It takes 20 minutes. There were some decent views of the park and the surrounding area, although in a few places I wished they had removed some trees and other places I wished they would add more to cover up backstage areas. It also went by the area where they are building there newest attraction. 

After the train we walked through a museum about Dolly Parton’s life, then headed out. Beside the train, there weren’t any other rides that Susan could ride, and I didn’t want to make her walk back up the hill to wait while I rode another coaster. The one I really wanted to try, Blazing Fury, was down for the day. Dollywood is a nice park, but you really need to like coasters and flat rides to really enjoy it. 

Texas to Tennessee

Yesterday morning we left the Dallas area and, after a stop at the Buc-ee’s in Royce City, headed east on I-30 to Arkansas. There was a lot of construction on both I-30 and I-635, which we used to get around Dallas.

In the afternoon we stopped at the William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home NHS in Hope Arkansas. This is a fairly small national park site, consisting of the house the President grew up in and an adjacent home that was converted into a visitor center. We watched a film where he and others reminisced about his childhood, then we took a tour of the house. It took about an hour to see everything, after which we continued up to Little Rock, where we got on I-40 east.

In the evening we made it to Memphis, where we stopped at the Bass Pro Pyramid. It was pretty cool inside, with a large store and a hotel, and an elevator up to the observation deck, which has a bar and a restaurant in addition to balconies that have a great view of the Mississippi River and downtown Memphis. We stayed the night nearby. 

This morning we continued on I-40 to Nashville, where we stopped to see the Parthenon in Centennial Park. Susan and I had stopped here before in 2016, but arrived too late to go inside. A recreation of the structure from ancient Athens, it was originally built for an exposition in 1897, then rebuilt as a permanent structure in the 1920’s. 

The original Parthenon contained a giant statue of Athena, and one was added to Nashville’s version in 1990. The building also contains an art museum, and lots of information on the construction of the building and the statue. In the afternoon we continued east, stopping at Buc-ee’s in Crossville and Sevierville. We arrived in Pigeon Forge this evening.

GW Bush Presidential Library

Yesterday morning, while Jenn and Susan signed and sold books, I headed into Dallas to visit the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Located on the campus of Southern Methodist University, the Bush Center wasn’t as impressive as the Nixon or Reagan Library, and it was a little more expensive, since I had to spend almost $11 for parking. 

Still, I enjoyed reviewing President Bush’s life and presidency and seeing a recreation of his Oval Office and a Texas Rose Garden. I also enjoyed a presentation about the President’s situation room. I spent a little over two hours in the museum; I skimmed several exhibits because, unlike the terms of Nixon and Reagan, the details of Bush’s terms are still pretty fresh in my memory. 

When I got back I wandered around the resort a bit more, then helped Jenn and Susan pack up at the end of the book signing.

This morning we checked out the water park at the resort. It was pretty small, with just one slide, a mid sized lazy river, and a kids area. Still it was nice for a few hours. In the afternoon we went to the Gaylord Mills and looked in some stores. 

For dinner we met some friends of Jenn at a BBQ restaurant. It was good but pretty expensive. 

Gaylord Texan

This weekend Jennifer is an attending author at a romance book convention at the Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine Texas, which is near the Dallas Fort Worth airport. 

We loaded up my truck and a trailer and left Wednesday morning. Following stops in Tallahassee for Sonny’s BBQ, at Buc-ee’s in Alabama and east of Dallas, and a night in Ruston Louisiana, we arrived yesterday afternoon.

We unloaded the trailer and while Susan checked us in and Jenn set up her booth, I dropped off the trailer. Like the Gaylord Palms in Florida, this one has a large atrium, and our room looked into it. 

This morning, while Jennifer and Susan signed and sold books, I checked out downtown Grapevine and the nearby Grapevine Mills, a large indoor mall.

In the afternoon I spent some time at the pool and exploring the resort, then met the girls for dinner at the Gaylord’s Italian restaurant. Like the Gaylord in Florida, there are several nice restaurants on site.

Halloween in August

In the middle of August, Disney put up Halloween decorations at Magic Kingdom and began holding Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Parties. I wanted to go into the park to watch the new parade, but between work, cleaning up after the last book convention, and getting ready for the next, Susan and Jenn were too busy. Plus Jenn was trying to finish her latest book. 

 

This weekend, Universal started holding their Halloween Horror Nights at the Studio park. Like last year, Bryan and some of his friends bought passes so they could go often, including last night. 

Universal constructs themed haunted houses and scare zones in unused or underused areas of the park. This year houses included ones themed to the video game and show Fallout, and the movie Five Nights at Freddy’s. They also have themed food and drink offerings, and Halloween themed shows.

Gaylord Palms

This weekend Jennifer and Susan did a romance convention at the Gaylord Palms, a big resort near WDW. We had visited it back in December for their ICE! event. The convention started Thursday night with an author mixer and finished last night. I helped set up and take down. 

Our room overlooked the large atrium in the middle of the resort. There’s a light show each night; this time it was themed to the DC Superheroes. All the Gaylords featured DC Superheroes this summer. We wanted to go to the Gaylord’s mini-water park this morning, but a thunderstorm came in right as we were heading for it.

The author signing area was held in part of the big exhibit hall on the first floor of the conference center. Yesterday afternoon, while Jenn and Susan signed and sold books, I walked around trying to get various authors to sign their copies of the anthology they did for the convention. 

I had to go back and forth from the resort a couple times a day to check on the dogs, and one trip I stopped to take photos of the work west of Magic Kingdom. Parts of the Floridian Way realignment is starting to look like a road.

WDW Transportation Party

Last week I attended the annual Transportation cast appreciation party. This year it was held at the Contemporary Resort Convention Center, and the theme was Disney villains. Cast members from buses, monorails, the skyliner, parking, and watercraft attended. Disney provided a nice lunch and a gift, plus there were some characters on hand and information about various Disney benefits and programs.

On my way home I took some photos of the construction west of Magic Kingdom. In addition to widening and realigning Floridian Way, Disney is also working on a new entrance to the Polynesian Resort.

Crews also continue to prepare the area behind Frontierland for the villain’s land expansion.

Last night Jennifer attended the Annual Passholder night at Universal Studios with a friend.

They rode some coasters, checked out the shops, and watched the light show over the lake.

End of July

While we were in England, Bryan accepted a job in Florida, and drove his car back from Oregon. Last night, all four of us week to dinner at Benihana to celebrate Jennifer’s birthday. We went to the one in the Hilton near Disney Springs. 

Jenn wanted to celebrate her birthday in Magic Kingdom, but we were blocked out due to the new nighttime parade. Instead, Susan and I joined Jenn and a couple of her friends this morning for breakfast at the Ale & Compass restaurant at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. The front of the Yacht Club was being refurbished. 

Afterwards we walked into Epcot and looked at a couple of shops. While Jenn and her friends hung out in Epcot, Susan and I visited with some of the captains I worked with at the Friendship Boats, then took a boat back to the Yacht Club. 

On the way home we stopped at Cast Connection to see if they had any good stuff for sale. 

More London

After checking into our hotel and unpacking a bit, we headed back into London to watch Hercules the Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Our seats weren’t the best, and the play is a little short, but we enjoyed it. It’s an adaptation of Disney’s Hercules, so it used all of the songs from the movie plus a few new ones.

While our hotel was reasonably priced, it wasn’t real convenient for going into London. We had to take a bus and then the underground to the theater, and then the underground and a bus to get back. Each trip took over an hour. 

Yesterday morning we slept in then took the bus and train into London again. We did some shopping and had lunch at a BrewDog. After lunch we walked to the Waterstones near Piccadilly Circus, then up to Oxford Street, and looked in more stores.

It was too early to head back to the hotel so we decided to head out to Greenwich to see the Ranger house, which was featured in the Bridgerton series. From there we took an Uber to Canary Wharf, where we bought some food, then took the Elizabeth line and a bus back to our hotel. 

This morning we checked out of our hotel and took an Uber to Heathrow Airport for our flight home. We were upgraded to Delta Comfort for our flight to Minneapolis, and first class for the flight from there to Orlando. We had a long layover between flights, but spent most of it in the Delta lounge.

More Manchester

For our second day in Manchester I had planned on riding a hop on hop off bus, but then found out they don’t run on Mondays and Tuesdays. However I also learned Manchester has free bus routes in the city center, so yesterday morning we caught one of those up to the Cathedral. 

We looked around inside the cathedral then walked down Deansgate to the Ryland Library, stopping at a Waterstones bookstore on the way. Unfortunately the library is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays too, so we continued on.

We ate a late lunch at a Brewdog, which was very good, then got back on the free bus to go back to our hotel. Manchester has a very nice city center - very little garbage and graffiti and lots of nice stores and restaurants. We hung out in our room and grabbed dinner from the lounge.

This morning we checked out of our hotel and took a train back to London Euston. We arrived in the afternoon, then took the Tube and an Uber to our hotel, a Courtyard out by Heathrow airport.