More fun shows in Pigeon Forge

Although we probably won't get to see all the shows that are available to us this summer, we are picking the ones that appeal to us. One of the five shows at the Majestic Theater that we enjoyed was the Hit Parade.

The singers and dancers were talented and energetic. One really neat part of the show was the emcee who stood in a booth along the wall and told interesting stories about the original singers and songs.

The group sang songs by Chuck Berry,

The Everly Brothers,

The Archies,

Neil Diamond,

The Mamas & the Papas,

and many more. It was very upbeat and entertaining.

They performed a fantastic salute to the military with the singers dressed in authentic uniforms. They marched and sang and left the audience on their feet applauding. I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

We have one more show to see at the Majestic and have tickets for Thursday.

The Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show was advertised throughout the city and in all the travel brochures, so we decided to go and see what it was all about. The food was delicious and plentiful. There were no doggie bags, but we had enough left overs for at least another meal or two. Before the show started the feud started on the screens in front of the room. They went back and forth with the Hatfield's slamming the McCoys,

and the McCoys picking on the Hatfields.

They also had trivia questions to figure out.

The show was action packed and hilarious at times. Once again the singers and dancers were tremendous.

The heads of the families out did themselves with comedy.

Fortunately after many fights and a musical contest the feud was over. The parents, who had always loved each other, got married, and the families ended up getting along.

We enjoyed the food and show very much.

Another theater in town called Memories describes itself as "the longest running show in the Smokies, featuring some of the best tribute artists in the world." Throughout the year different singers rotate in and out of the theater. The night we went we enjoyed the music of Conway Twitty,

Dolly Parton,

Jason Aldean,

Marilyn Monroe,

and Elvis.

At the end they sang several songs together.

Once again we were impressed with the quality and talent of the performers.

At the same theater where the Smoky Mountain Opry is shown in the evening, the Blackwoods Morning Show takes place several mornings a week.

The singers related many stories of their experiences in the past with many popular stars. They sang  a variety of songs even ones from the time of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

In addition to oldies they performed gospel music.

While the singers changed costumes, we were entertained by a comic couple whose skits left us in stitches.

We enjoyed more music by these talented singers.

And then laughed at the ventriloquists and their puppets.

The finale was a military tribute in grand style.

The audience consisted of older folks like us who appreciated the music from the "good old days."


Our most recent musical adventure was by Billy Joe Royal and Ronnie McDowell, part of the 2014 concert series at Country Tonight theater. Billy Joe Royal, famous for his song from the 60's "Down in the Boondocks," definitely showed his age. His singing was adequate, but we could tell he was out of practice.

Ronnie McDowell spoke of his past singing with Elvis and others. He's famous for the song he wrote after Elvis' death called "The King is Gone."

His one son played the drums and another sang a song. His eight year old grandson also took a turn on the drums. He introduced his songs with stories and background information which made it interesting. At the end of the night he brought up a back-up singer and the three of them sang a few songs.

The audience was mostly old folks taking a trip down memory lane.......

At this point we have two weeks left to work at Dollywood. Since the park is now closed on Wednesday and Thursday, we are working only Tuesday and Saturday. The crowds have diminished with the kids going back to school. We're starting to formulate plans for the trip home. The summer has flown by!

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

We have ventured to the national park on several occasions. It is located south of Gatlinburg, and fortunately there is a bypass that lets us miss the traffic of that tourist town. The Great Smokies encompasses about 521,000 acres compared to Yellowstone's 2.2 million acres. It seems like the majority of the park is trees - many, many, many trees!

On one trip we walked 2.5 miles to Laurel Falls, one of the most popular hikes in the park. There is a gradual ascent of 300 feet to the falls. The trail is paved, and the day we went it was very busy. It was a challenge to get a picture with no one in front of us.

The view on the way was, of course, trees!

The 80 foot falls is divided by a cement path. This is the top part.

This view looks down to the bottom part.

Some people climbed down to the bottom to look up, but we decided not to. We spoke to some folks after they climbed back up, and they said they could not see the whole falls from the bottom. We were glad that we wimped out and didn't miss too much.

On another occasion we took a trip to Clingman's Dome which is about 23 miles from Gatlinburg. In addition to being the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6,643 feet, it is also the highest point in Tennessee and third highest spot east of the Mississippi. The seven mile drive to the parking area includes scenic pullouts with views of ridges and valleys and lots and lots of trees.

The half mile hike to the dome is quite steep, and we took several breaks along the way.

This is a view of Clingmans Dome from the top of the trail. There I am resting again!

After we circled to the top we were rewarded with a 360 degree view of the smokies. The clouds rolled in and out. There were descriptive pictures with the mountains pinpointed in the distance.

It was well worth the effort  to see this beautiful spot.

The Appalachian Trail crosses Clingmans Dome marking the highest point along the trail from Georgia to Maine. We saw some "real" hikers who were on this journey and were quite impressed with their stamina.

One more popular spot is the Cades Cove Loop, an 11 mile loop on the eastern side of the park. There are 17 stops along the way with homes, churches, historical area, and visitor center. The area was settled in the early to mid 1800's and the buildings were all built at that time. Several homes were open for viewing. The churches included cemeteries in the back yard.

Inside the furnishings were very basic.

We stopped at many of the homes and churches but spent most of the time at the cable mill area including the visitor center. It was built to fit into the era.

There was a very interesting barn where farmers sheltered livestock and farm equipment in the winter.

Another barn was an unusual shape.

At the Grist Mill workers were grinding corn and selling corn meal.

There was a corn crib

and the farmhouse.

The view of the Smoky Mountains was a little different from this area of the park.

Although it is hard to imagine life back in the 1800's in eastern Tennessee, the trip through Cades Cove gave us a good idea of what it was like.

At this point we are on the downhill part of our summer adventure. Since Monday, August 4, Dollywood closes at 7 pm instead of 10 pm. After next week it will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday. We only have four more weeks of work. They say that things slow down on the rides once the kids go back to school.  There are many more attractions that we want to see in the area and hope to do on our days off.