Thursday, July 4, 2019
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Vacation 2019: Home
We decided another breakfast out was in order. We picked Bennett's Pit Bar-B-Que. Sounds like an odd choice for breakfast (and Camden wanted Mama's again), but they had a buffet with normal breakfast options (waffles, eggs, meats, grits, biscuits, fruit/salad bar, muffins, etc), plus warm tortillas, pulled pork and smoked sausage. Again, sounds odd, but I will remember my pulled pork, egg, and home fries breakfast burrito with various BBQ sauces for a long time. This is another one that I would return to for breakfast and dinner.
After breakfast, we hit the road and headed home. We talked about stopping for the night in Louisville or Cincinnati since we had another day of vacation to use, but ended up only stopping in Cincinnati for some of Camden's favorite empanadas (the girl is obsessed!), then made it home Thursday night. We made plans to take a friend to the Lebanon pool on Friday and spent our final vacation day enjoying the Indiana sun.
After breakfast, we hit the road and headed home. We talked about stopping for the night in Louisville or Cincinnati since we had another day of vacation to use, but ended up only stopping in Cincinnati for some of Camden's favorite empanadas (the girl is obsessed!), then made it home Thursday night. We made plans to take a friend to the Lebanon pool on Friday and spent our final vacation day enjoying the Indiana sun.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Vacation 2019: Mama's, WonderWorks, and the Big Top
We wanted at least one day to have our meal out be breakfast. That is, apparently, a huge "thing" in Gatlinburg so there are lots of pancake houses and breakfast options. Some of my Ohio cousins who vacation often in the area recommended Mama's Farmhouse. It is a traditional Southern breakfast...and it's all you can eat.
Our meal looked like this: award-winning biscuits and gravy, cheese grits, hashbrown casserole, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, waffles, sausage, bacon, chicken tenders, chocolate gravy (basically warm chocolate pudding you put on your biscuits or waffle), cinnamon pinwheels, and homemade strawberry and peach preserves. It was still served family style with a small portion of everything brought to our table. We simply asked for the items we wanted more of (Camden = bacon!).
In the side yard of the restaurant, there is a small kids play area. Camden and a young boy played for a bit before we left.
Then we were off to WonderWorks for the day. One of the best kid/science focused museums we've been too. Her teacher, Mr. Sayler, had just been with his family in the fall and told us that we should check it out.
The premise is some secret lab exploded and it landed upside down here. We had to go inside, get inverted (in the wildest, mind-boggling tunnel), and then be able to do the activities in the lab.
She completed a scavenger hunt as we made our way through the interactive exhibits, learning some of the random facts in each of the themed rooms. They also had several rides to enjoy - her favorite being the 360 bicycle. She was too short to really help peddle, but got a "holy guacamole" ride.
In the space room, there was an amazing glow-in-the-dark ropes course, but the line was terribly long and she doesn't like them well enough to wait.
They gyroscope was a blast too. Trying to simulate what weightlessness feels like in space.
Camden chickened out on the bed of nails, but Kevin showed her it didn't hurt (although he reports it actually did a little and his calves had pockmarks in them for a while).
Bubbles are always fun!
We also got a game of laser tag included and $8 worth of tokens in the game room because she completed the scavenger hunt.
To round out our day, we stopped back at the Big Top Arcade where our go-kart passes were to do their third race and spend our $20 of arcade passes. We waited to use these until today, because the games were all 1/2 price on Wednesday so our money went farther.
Monday, July 1, 2019
Vacation 2019: Karts, Dinner Feud, and Snow!
We had a light rain expected in the afternoon, so we hit our outdoor activity in the morning. We elected to do go-karts that had a combo pass that included time in the arcade. Kevin and Camden did 2 races on different tracks before the rain drops started falling.
We had to be at our dinner show - Hatfield & McCoy's Dinner Feud by 1pm. We did a lunch show (because the early dinner one was sold out) and ended up saving $10 per adult ticket which I hadn't realized was the case until I bought them. Yeehaw!
We were seated and our serving came immediately to get our drink orders and to bring us creamy vegetable soup. After a slightly chilly, rainy entrance, it was so delicious.
After we finished our soup, our main course arrived - fried chicken, BBQ pulled pork, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, cole slaw, and rolls.
It was all you could eat, but she brought just about the right amount of food. We actually had 3 pieces of leftover chicken (which I put in a few napkins and took back to the cabin for lunch the next day - oh yes I did!). Kevin also bought the pictures we had taken as we entered, along with 2 flags, and a DVD of today's show.
We were on the McCoy side and Camden proudly waved our flag when it was time to hoot and holler.
The show opened with a small band playing some music then they invited kids 12 and under up to the stage to dance to one song. This was such fun...also a smart move to get people to buy the DVD! She is in the green shirt on the right...keeping up with all the moves.
Before they cleared the floor and began the action, we got our dessert. Each of us had selected banana pudding. But since it was all-you-can-eat, we figured we should each try the chocolate pudding too! Both were good and we finished them off while the show got underway. It was as corny as we expected, but also tons of fun because of it.
The set changed several times and even opened up into a swimming hole.
While we waited the few minutes for the DVD to be cut, we went outside, watching some goats and chickens play.
Wonderworks (a hands-on museum) was right next door and since it was only 4:30, we thought we could fit it in. We were waiting in line when another mom leaned over as she was leaving and said that Camden would not be able to do some things in the museum without closed toe shoes. We decided to head back to the cabin and get them. But on the way out, we discussed the continued drizzle and that maybe we would forgo our plans for Dollywood tomorrow and just do something else tonight and return for a full day at Wonderworks. It was the new plan!
We had not planned to go to Pigeon Forge Snow, but had stopped earlier in the day for a restroom break (gotta do what you gotta do) and Camden requested it as an activity. Since it was on the way back to the cabin, that is what we did.
You can see the conveyer belt to the left that takes the riders back to the top. She whoo-hoo'd down the hill each of the 10 or so times she went in the hour of ride-time we bought.
After this fun, we headed back to the cabin for some swim time, porch time, leftovers for dinner, and just general relaxing.
We had to be at our dinner show - Hatfield & McCoy's Dinner Feud by 1pm. We did a lunch show (because the early dinner one was sold out) and ended up saving $10 per adult ticket which I hadn't realized was the case until I bought them. Yeehaw!
We were seated and our serving came immediately to get our drink orders and to bring us creamy vegetable soup. After a slightly chilly, rainy entrance, it was so delicious.
It was all you could eat, but she brought just about the right amount of food. We actually had 3 pieces of leftover chicken (which I put in a few napkins and took back to the cabin for lunch the next day - oh yes I did!). Kevin also bought the pictures we had taken as we entered, along with 2 flags, and a DVD of today's show.
We were on the McCoy side and Camden proudly waved our flag when it was time to hoot and holler.
The show opened with a small band playing some music then they invited kids 12 and under up to the stage to dance to one song. This was such fun...also a smart move to get people to buy the DVD! She is in the green shirt on the right...keeping up with all the moves.
Before they cleared the floor and began the action, we got our dessert. Each of us had selected banana pudding. But since it was all-you-can-eat, we figured we should each try the chocolate pudding too! Both were good and we finished them off while the show got underway. It was as corny as we expected, but also tons of fun because of it.
Wonderworks (a hands-on museum) was right next door and since it was only 4:30, we thought we could fit it in. We were waiting in line when another mom leaned over as she was leaving and said that Camden would not be able to do some things in the museum without closed toe shoes. We decided to head back to the cabin and get them. But on the way out, we discussed the continued drizzle and that maybe we would forgo our plans for Dollywood tomorrow and just do something else tonight and return for a full day at Wonderworks. It was the new plan!
We had not planned to go to Pigeon Forge Snow, but had stopped earlier in the day for a restroom break (gotta do what you gotta do) and Camden requested it as an activity. Since it was on the way back to the cabin, that is what we did.
You can see the conveyer belt to the left that takes the riders back to the top. She whoo-hoo'd down the hill each of the 10 or so times she went in the hour of ride-time we bought.
After this fun, we headed back to the cabin for some swim time, porch time, leftovers for dinner, and just general relaxing.
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