Blogs from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, United States, North America

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The heat is just too much, the high was 95 here today, but the feel like temperature was over 100, the truck registered at 110. I love being outdoors, it is so calming, but not with temperatures like this, I run hot anyway. I would love to live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the summers and spend the rest of the year in Florida. Maybe one day I will be able to make that a reality. Weather Averages Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI Brandon, FL May 60/40 May 90/66 June 69/49 June 92/72 July 76/57 July 92/74 Well with that said it was too hot to go hiking today. We spent most of the day at the trailer. We did venture out for a little fun. We went to 2 stores called Goats on ... read more
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We drove to Pigeon Forge today, set up, made lunch, and headed out for a busy afternoon that did not put us back to the trailer until midnight. We started out with an hour drive to Clingman’s Dome which we have been trying to visit for 17 years, all the way back to our first visit to the area in 2005 when Daisy was just a tiny toddler. Unfortunately, the trail is only open April through November, making it difficult for us to visit since we typically are up this way during Spring Break. The short half mile hike was extremely taxing. The paved path had an extremely steep incline, we had to stop to rest often, but everyone did. They even had a ranger walking around checking on the hikers. We didn’t mind since this ... read more
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48 hours. That’s all it took, 48 hrs, before I had been asked “do you know my relatives in Wales?” informed “your credit card doesn't work”, Reply “No because I need to put the PIN in not you!” and told off for walking on the verge alongside the queue of cars at the State Park entrance. The last one is great having just returned from Mexico where all the world and his wife, as well as children / dogs/ acrobats/ jugglers/ sellers/ legless men collecting money etc roam about in between the traffic without any apparent trauma occurring. OK maybe the legless man might have had some at the beginning of the day, who knows. On the other hand, we had driven along smooth roads, stopped in a camp site that had an easy access entrance ... read more
Up through the Sierra Madre
Across the bridges
Overnight at the natural hot springs

North America » United States » Tennessee » Pigeon Forge April 27th 2017

I saw two main sites today: the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, TN, and the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge. As a connoisseur of presidential lore, the Andrew Johnson site was a must-see for me in this neck of the woods; I was aware of its existence for a while, since I regularly stop at these places on my travels (check out my trip from last July and August if ye doubt my veracity). I was not, however, aware of the existence of the Titanic Museum until about 2 weeks ago. I had a long conversation with my friend Jim about his travels around the South, and when I told him I would be up here for a few days, he told me not to miss out on this museum. I did some online ... read more
Andrew Johnson's tailor shop is located entirely inside the visitor center
The parlor at Andrew Johnson's home
View down the balcony of the Andrew Johnson home

North America » United States » Tennessee » Pigeon Forge September 23rd 2016

Pigeon Forge is definitely a tourist destination and you could spend a lot of money taking in all the attractions. We did not do Dollywood as Bonnie does like to do the rides so it wouldn't have been worth the price just to see it. The opportunities for all types of activities are numerous and varied. We visited some of the unique shops but did not find anything to spend our money on. We went to Joe's Crab Shack and I had a delicious bucket of crab. I spent a day driving through the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. I drove part way up highway 441 called the Newfound Gap Road and stopped at several pullouts for amazing views of the mountains and down into the valleys. I then drove to the most visited part of ... read more
Great Smokey Mountains road
Driving in the Smokey Mountains
Great Smokey Mountains scenery

North America » United States » Tennessee » Pigeon Forge August 11th 2016

Geo: 35.7886, -83.5559With 520 miles to cover today and an hour to lose with a time change, we got up early and were out at 7:10 AM and 79 degrees with the car pointed east. We jumped back on I-64 and joined all the truckers who were monopolizing the road. No exaggeration, there were at least twice as many 18-wheelers as cars, probably 3-1. And so our journey was managed largely by the speed of these trucks and how much real estate they would allow us to have for ourselves. At one point, construction lowered the speed limit to 45 mph and that would have been fine, for the cars, but because of the trucks, we moved along at about 5 mph for many miles. On days like these, I start wishing that cargo would move ... read more
Ohio River crossing
Ohio River crossing
Ohio River crossing

North America » United States » Tennessee » Pigeon Forge December 21st 2015

Geo: 35.7886, -83.5559Before she hooked up with the life of fantasy and leisure that I offered her, the Princess was actually quite the hard worker, particularly in her teens, often holding down multiple jobs at the same time. Granted, these job blitzes were usually intended to fund booze-fueled escapades in sunnier southern climates but there was no denying the effort. One of these employment experiences involved some sort of sprinkling of 11 herbs and spices at a Kentucky Fried Chicken location. This was also the only job she was ever unceremoniously fired from- she's a little unclear as to the exact reasons but apparently it involved some sort of evil combination of attendance (lack of), disreputable boyfriends, and herbs (of the non-KFC variety). So when she found out we were going to visit the original KFC ... read more
Dollywood Nest
Tallest Kentucky Fried Chicken Sign
First Kentucky Fried Chicken Location


The early morning view across the Sound was beautiful but we had no time to linger and enjoy with precious close to 600 miles to cover. The journey took 10 1/2 hours and saw the scenery change from coastal through rural to heavily populated and then finally across the border into Tennessee over the Smokey Mountains. I don't like to generalize but sometimes it's just too tempting! The Americans are decisive drivers - they decide on which lane they like the look of and stick to it. End of. Unless they are texting whilst driving in which case they seem to waver between the nearest two. Anyway, we made it to Pigeon Forge, in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains, tired but in one piece. Pigeon Forge is like the 192 in Orlando has been picked ... read more

North America » United States » Tennessee » Pigeon Forge September 14th 2014

Editor's note: This trip was over a year ago. As mentioned in a blog published earlier this year (2015), I felt out of sorts after losing our cat on a trip to WV and thought I took pictures and got started on writing, just didn't have the heart in it. Finally, feeling a bit better, I decided I needed to catch up and get some of these out. We really do enjoy our camping trips with Dave and Bonnie and wished we all lived closer and could do these more often. Our trip in August (2014) took us to VA and we had hoped to see good friends Dave and Bonnie Lodge. Alas, they were off on a motorcycle trip to The Tail of the Dragon in NC. It's a fascinating ride on twisting mountain roads ... read more
Trolley System in Pigeon Forge
Old Mill area of Pigeon Forge
Face Jugs at pottery shop

North America » United States » Tennessee » Pigeon Forge August 28th 2013

Friday morning we left Nashville bound for Pigeon Forge and Dollywood, the major destination of our trip. We made our camp at Pine Mountain RV park and set out to get an overview of Pigeon Forge. We decided Pigeon Forge was like Branson on steroids! Shop, restaurants and amusement parks everywhere, including all the Ripleys attractions and go cart tracks you can imagine. We are in the south- Nascar rules! We ate dinner at a good local restuarant, JT Hannah's, sharing bbq ribs and chicken and liked it so well, ate there the next night too! After dinner the first night, we visited a couple of arts and crafts stores and called it an early night so we could get up bright and early for our day at Dollywood. We did mange to get in a ... read more
Beautiful Landscaping at Dollywood
Cynde at Dollywood!
Dolly's Attic at Dollywood




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