We left for our anniversary trip on a Thursday morning. It took us until about 4 o'clock to make it to Pigeon Forge. Zack found a 1 bedroom cabin for us to rent at a reasonable price. so after checking out things to do at the welcome center, we headed over to the cabin rental office to get our code for our little home away from home.
Zack and I decided that it would be fun to go to Dollywood while we were in Pigeon Forge, and we were able to get play another day tickets through the rental company of the "resort" that our cabin was located in. This is basically a 2 day pass to Dollywood for the price of 1 day. So, it was a much better deal for us.
Once we had gotten those tickets purchased, we decided to head out for some dinner and to look around town. We asked a few people about places to go to eat and we ended up at a restaurant called the old mill. This was a southern style restaurant with the food served in a family style manner. Every meal was a 3 course meal. They started you out with corn fritters, salad, and corn chowder. Then they brought out your meal. I ordered the fried chicken and Zack had meat loaf. These each came with yeast rolls, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The meal was finished with a dessert. Zack and I both chose the peach cobbler. Zack and I were very full by the time that we left the restaurant and flet like we had gotten a lot of food for the money...we even had left overs to take back to the cabin to eat for breakfast the next day.
After dinner, we walked around and looked in some of the shops that were on the strip. That didn't take too long since Zack is not a huge shopper, although he was great about letting me browse through the stores...we were both pretty tired and were ready to head back to the cabin. We decided to try out the hot tub and to watch a little TV before going to sleep to try to rest up fo the next day.
Friday, Zack and I decided to head out to Dollywood for a full day of fun. I had Zack dose up on some Dramamine before we hit the park. I am a huge fan of roller coasters and Zack has a tendency to motion sickness....we have found that Zack's motion sickness + roller coasters = no fun...So, we are careful to make sure that Zack has taken something for his motion sickness before we head out the door. We had a great time riding all of the rides. There were a few spiny, twirly things that Zack made me ride by myself, but for the most part we got to ride all of the rides together.
We had lunch in the park. We found some BBQ that smelled and looked great. The BBQ was pretty good, but the baked beans were likely the WORST baked beans that I have EVER had. I really did not think that it was possible to mess up baked beans, but apparently I was wrong. Zack and I were trying to find ways to improve the RIDICULOUSLY bland flavor of the beans...adding salt and pepper or prepared BBQ sauce...but nothing seemed to work.
After lunch we rode a couple more rides and then decided to hit a couple of the shows. We went to Shakonahe and the 50's drive in shows. I really enjoyed them...they are not really Zack's thing, but he managed to survive tolerably well. I think that he might have just been thankful to sit down for a little while in the air conditioning.
of course we had to wait till the end of the day when we were hot and sweaty to get our picture taken.
We left Dollywood around 8 and headed out for some dinner. We stumbled across a Mexican restaurant called No Way Jose. We decided to share an order of fajitas for 1, which was plenty for both of us.
After dinner, we headed back to the cabin and I beat Zack in a game of pool...well, I should clarify that he was winning until he scratched on the 8 ball...
Saturday morning, we headed back out to Dollywood, dressed to ride the water rides. We started out day with adventure mountain which I had not been able to do the day before because I had on open toed shoes. It is basically a ropes coarse where you are harnessed in and on tracks. We were able to go through several different courses and really enjoyed ourselves. After the adventure mountain, we decided to hit the water rides. We did all of these in rapid succession. I was SOAKED after the first one so it seemed reasonable to just keep going. We had a great time rising the water rides and it was nice to cool off with it as hot as it was. After we had ridden all of the water rides, we headed back to a few of the roller coasters that we had ridden the day before.
This ride was probably the water ride that I got the most soaked on ...and one of the funnest.
poor Zack the things he has to do for his wife!We grabbed some lunch from one of the giant skillets located throughout Dollywood. We ended up getting fried Bologna sandwiches. they looked really good, but I have to tell you...not really a fan. I wish that we had gone to one of the skillets with fajitas or cheese steak...oh well, live and learn. we rode a couple more rides after lunch and then headed to a show before leaving the park. Zack and I were both WORN out by about 6 and ready to head back to the cabin for showers and out for dinner.
There was a sign at the gate to the resort where our cabin was located that said "smile your on camera". So, every time we drove through the gate, Zack and I would plaster these incredibly fake smiles onto our faces. It was hard for me to not start laughing...Zack's ridiculous smiles were the best. 
After dinner, Zack and I headed back to the cabin. We talked for a while and then fell asleep.
Sunday morning, we got packed and ready to go. We had to do a little cleaning in the cabin before we could leave....dishes, etc. Once we finished all of that, we checked out and headed to the Applebarn for breakfast. Zack had been craving a good breakfast since we had gotten to Pigeon Forge and we had tried to find a pancake place that was open for dinner a couple night, but had not luck. So, Zack was really excited to go to the Applebarn for some breakfast. They bring out apple fritters and apple julep for you as a starter. Zack and I both ordered an entree. I had applewood smoked pork tenderloin. It was really good. Zack opted for some french toast.
After lunch and a quite browse in the Applebarn gift shop, we headed to Wonderworks for a day of playing on the exhibits. Zack and I rally enjoyed going through the museum. Zack had never been to anything like it. So, he really enjoyed it.
They had several green screen games. This is me trying to plat basketball.
This actually was a little painful!
I am so thankful that Zack and I got the opportunity to spend some time together reconnecting outside of the stresses and demands of our everyday lives. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful and godly man and I have enjoyed spending the last 6 years getting to know him better. He is an amazing and loving husband and I love him dearly!
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