‘Pigeon Forge’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Visit: Dollywood {Pigeon Forge, TN}

March 24, 2015 · Narrative

Hitting the road for Spring Break or looking for a fun new destination? How about Dollywood? An all-American theme park with something to see around every corner.

It’s safe to say that if there is an amusement park within a few hours, we have been there.

Likely multiple times.

When my sister and I were kids, I have fond memories of visiting Great Adventure with my Dad. We would leave at (what seemed like) the crack of dawn, so we could be there when the park opened.

And now as a parent myself, visiting theme parks have been a fun pasttime for us.

Especially since Nick LOVES roller coasters.

Higher. Faster. Better. Is pretty much his mantra.

Two feet on the ground is pretty much mine.

So when I was planning our Spring Break trip to Tennessee last year, I checked to see how far we would be from Dollywood, a theme park that has been around forever (well, almost, since they’re celebrating their 30th anniversary this year).

We didn’t exactly get there right when the park opened, which would have surely disappointed my Dad, but we did manage to make it there by noon. A day with beautiful blue skies and temps in the 80s, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

…

Review: The Applewood Restaurant {Pigeon Forge, Tennessee}

June 2, 2014 · Narrative

Looking for an home-spun meal of good Southern cooking? Visit The Applewood Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A delicious, filling, and reasonably priced meal that won’t disappoint.

During our wanderings in Tennessee, I kept seeing signs for the Applewood Restaurant in Pigeon Forge. Although we left the great state of Tennessee with a few “must stop food visits” uncompleted, we did manage to squeeze in a meal at the Applewood. And thank goodness for that.

Most of our breakfasts were kind of on the fly. Grabbing something quick here and there, and taking full advantage of the hotel’s free continental breakfasts. We didn’t want to waste time with getting our day started.

But we ended up saving the best for last.

The Applewood Restaurant and adjacent candy and general store was right around the corner from the hotel we stayed at in Pigeon Forge. So on the last day, we headed over there right after we checked out.

The menu is expansive, with each item sounding more delicious than the next. It’s the kind of menu that you need to close right after you make a decision, lest you change your mind.

As soon as our waiter greeted us, he brought over a basket of fresh apple muffins, apple fritters, and apple butter. On the house.

Madeline demolished all the muffins, and the basket was happily replenished. She didn’t care for the fritters, but I did and took care of those. And the apple butter? Amazeballs. So good that I hunted it down in the general store and brought home a few jars.

Having Tennessee smoked ham had been on my “must eat” list for the week, so that was a given as part of our order. Madeline went with waffles, and Nick chose French toast. We also added biscuits, since we had been on a Southern biscuit kick for most of the week. And I had an egg white veggie stuffed omelet. Trying to be virtuous enough to balance out the apple fritters and apple butter.

…

Visit: The Great Smoky Mountain Wheel {Pigeon Forge, Tennessee}

May 14, 2014 · Narrative

I didn’t used to be afraid of heights.

Years ago, when my ex-husband and I were dating (and even boyfriends before him) and we visited amusement parks, I always went on the roller coasters.

As a good girlfriend would.

And then one day, I stopped.

I can tell you exactly when the fear of heights set in. We were on a ferris wheel and got stuck on the top.

Mechanical difficulties.

Twenty minutes.

And I said never again.

Nick, on the other hand, has exactly zero fear of heights.

Higher.

Faster.

Better.

And unfortunately for me, his sister is following fast in his footsteps.

So it sometimes means that I need to suck it up in the interest of not standing in the way of my kids having fun.

Which is exactly how I found myself some 200 feet in the air (roughly twenty stories high) during our recent Spring Break vacation.

Because every day that we stayed in Sevierville, we passed by The Great Smoky Mountain Wheel.

Multiple times daily.

And it was huge. And it looked like great fun.

Except for the, you know, fear of heights thing.

…

Visit: RainForest Adventures {Sevierville, Tennessee}

May 6, 2014 · Narrative

Love animals and visiting Tennessee? RainForest Adventures is a quiet little tucked away treasure in downtown Sevierville. Let me show you around.

Our second Tennessee hotel was located on a semi-busy highway that went straight through downtown Sevierville. With every bit of real estate taken on both sides of the road, Sevierville is an odd mixture of the weird and the wonderful, dotted with every roadside attraction you can think of.

And then some.

Which made it kind of awesome.

Before we set off on our Tennessee adventure, I did massive amounts of research to pull together a list of places we wanted to check out, looking for a cross-section of things that both the kids and I would enjoy. My goal was to fill up about half our time, and leave the other half completely up to chance, wandering to whatever struck our fancy.

RainForest Adventures ended up being right down the street from our hotel, and one of the places we had planned to visit. Situated at the less busy end of the highway, it was easy to find with ample free parking.

The tours are self-guided, which are perfect for kids darting from one exhibit to the other, and it was quiet with only a few customers when we arrived. The facility is neatly laid out so you can intuitively walk from one end to the other without needing a map or having any fear of getting lost. Big enough to keep the kids intrigued, but small enough to be just right.

With over 600 animals and 130 different species, there was a lot to see, but not in an overwhelming way. There were a number of animals that we, of course, had seen before, but also many we hadn’t. There was an exhibit with capuchin monkeys that we could have seriously sat and watched for hours. They were a lively bunch, particularly one of them, who we decided was a mouthy teenager who didn’t want to listen to his dad. Because that’s pretty much how he behaved.

…

Spring Break 2014 {Tennessee}

April 22, 2014 · Narrative

Oh Spring Break, you were awesome.

(And re-entry today was no joke.)

Armed with a list of attractions and a keen eye on keeping that magical balance of seeing everything, yet being able to bask in the supreme nothingness of a true vacation, last week the kids and I set off for the great green lands of Tennessee. Something completely different for us. My first go-to for a vacation is always a cruise. Because I like the fact that everything is taken care of for you – from where you’ll go to dinner to how you’ll get to your next destination. And as the only grown-up in this traveling crew, that’s a huge help. But this year, we took a cruise off the table and set off to explore someplace we’ve never been.

Tennessee.

Choosing a destination was ridiculously hard, although my criteria was fairly simple.

A destination that was a few hours by air.

A place that none of us had been to before.

And reasonably priced air fare.

Nevada was in the running for awhile, but the airfare was out of my budget.

And the last criteria? That there be enough kid-friendly activities for us to do, with a balance of things I would like as well.

And the more I looked at Tennessee, the more we liked it. Although we planned to spend most of our time in the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg areas, we flew into Nashville, three hours West by car. One, because it saved me $450 on our airfare and two, because it gave us an opportunity to see other parts of the state as well.

We spent the first night in Nashville, and had the most awesome BBQ ever on Music Row. The next morning, we bummed around downtown Nashville, taking in the sights and some shopping before we headed to our next destination. And also in search of sweatshirts because the city was an unexpected cold of 30 degrees (with snow even, on our drive to Pigeon Forge). Once firmly ensconced in our Pigeon Forge hotel, we spent the next thirty-six hours bouncing between there and Gatlinburg.

Our last night, I was originally planning to drive back to Nashville and spend the night there, but we ended up staying in Pigeon Forge because we liked it that much more.

…