Tennessee - 2023

Tennessee - 2023

This trip was planned as a road trip due to my recent experience with airlines. I laid out a trip to the Smoky Mountains to meet with family, etc. Each stop along the way includes stuff we wanted to see/do. It included a timeshare exchange and an exchange purchase through Wyndham. In addition, I added hotel stays along the way to make the daily drives 8 hours or less.

So, the plan was to drive to New Orleans/Luling the first day and visit some friends from my time living there. Then to drive to Memphis, TN to satisfy Marilou's Elvis fantasy. From there we next drove to Sevierville where we had a family type reunion for the first week, then I moved to pigeon forge for some national park endeavors. For the return trip we first went to see the "ARK OF THE COVENANT" in northern Kentucky with a stay that night in Lexington. From Lexington we drove back to Memphis and did a city tour and Mississippi cruise the next morning before heading back to Luling, LA. Took Lucy to Mass, then lunch before heading home to Corpus Christi.

Driving days

Friday, Saturday May 12-13^th:

Our first day was a drive from Corpus Christi to Luling, La. At Lafayette we took the southern route via highway 90 in order to avoid the Baton Rouge bottlenecks. Unfortunately, we ran into construction right outside Lafayette and the traffic was stopped totally. After about an hour, they finally re-routed us off the highway and we needed to find our way back to it several miles down the way and several entrance ramps were also under the construction. We got to Luling about an hour later than expected. We still met Lucy for dinner at Thompson Seafood and Bar LLC. We got a half dozen oysters on the half shell for appetizer, Lucy got a ton of onion rings. I ended up eating most of the oysters as well as finishing my blackened redfish.
The next to last oyster I ate had a very small pearl that was tough on my teeth. I gave it to Marilou and she let it drop to the floor. We searched and couldn't find it, mostly because of the speckled color of the floor.

We had to return to the restaurant for Marilou to fetch the I-pad she had left there.

The next morning we checked out and had breakfast with Lucy at a nearby breakfast place where Marilou got her taste of beignets, but as sticks. After that we visited Joe and Barbara Hattala before heading off to Memphis. We spent the night at the Travelodge Wyndham Memphis airport because it was convenient to get to and get from to visit Graceland. It wasn't the cleanest or best maintained place we have stayed at but the price was right. We are scheduled to stay there on our return trip also.

Sunday May 14^th:

We had a 11:00 Entry ticket for the Elvis "Mansion" so we visited St. Augustine Catholic Church for their 8:00am Mass. The Mass was a little different with their black heritage influence. It was a very interesting Mass and since it was Mother's Day, the mothers were all given a gift bag.

St. Augustine Catholic Church

Following the service, we went to do our Graceland tour. We were a little early for our scheduled tour, but they put us on the next house tour. The term "Mansion" may be an overstatement for the residence. We were able to view a lot of Elvis' personal things in the house.

Graceland House Tour

Leaving the house, we then viewed the estate which included tours of additional buildings, horse stables, etc. Finally we saw the final resting place for Elvis and his family that had been moved to the estate.

Graceland House Tour - Outside

Once back at the main entrance we viewed the various museums there. These included his cars and trikes. Finally, we saw the various suits he wore to the concerts.

Graceland Museum Tours

In some of the museums there were displays where you could include yourself in a video. Most of them didn't work, but see this one:
SERENADE

Leaving there we drove to the Wingate by Wyndham Memphis East because it was on the way to Sevierville and that was going to be a long trip.

Monday May 15^th:

So, we arrived at the "Club Wyndham and as I was checking in, Smoky Mountains" around 5 o'clock and as I was checking in Jefferey Prier had noticed Marilou waiting in the car and was talking to her. As I returned from checking in I didn't recognize him at first since he looked a lot like the first agent I was checking in with. When he came up closer, I recognized him. He stated he was meeting the rest of the family at the "Comedy Barn". We decided to not try to join them there since we still needed to settle in and recover from the long drive.

Tuesday May 16^th:

We previously planned to meet at John's vrbo lakeside cottage stay for a cookout. I stopped at "Tony Gore's Smoky Mountain BBQ" for some ribs and other fixings to bring. We got to Tony's ahead of their actual opening time, but the ribs were done and we got other fixings to bring. Their quality lived up to their reputation.

Between all of us we definitely over planned the meal: BBQ, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. We spent the day looking at the "Dam Lake" views. Jefferey did some flying of his drone to capture views of the lake. Later he verified the "alligator/branch" that was "swimming/floating" in the lake.
In spite of his certification, I don't think he predicted the downpour that happened later in the afternoon or the rainbow it produced.

Family Cookout at John's VRBO

Wednesday May 17^th:

So today I had scheduled an update meeting with Wyndham that I knew would take all morning in spite of the 15 minutes they promised when I scheduled it. Somehow, they convinced me to upgrade my points level by buying more points so as to activate my PIC points for RCI properties that I've been paying for but not able to utilize. Anyways my pay for the time was to be a $100 meals card, but instead I was able to convert it to Anakeesta entrance tickets at 25$ each and I bought three more at that price for the rest of our group. The Anakeesta plan was for me to leave Marilou with John's Debby to dog watch and the rest of us would do the adventure.

Following that meeting, Marilou and I planned out our next day Dollywood visit. Debby had scheduled a Dinner Show for Hatfield and McCoys feud at 5:00 o'clock, so we were needing to plan the events we wanted to see. In order to make sure we got them all in and still be able to leave earlier than originally expected to be there, we mapped out our visits to the shows we desired and indicated what time to be at each.

Thursday May 18^th:
Dollywood is open from 10am to 7pm, so we got to the gate right a 10 and were able to get a good seat for the "Kingdom Heirs Show." This is a Dollywood Quartet that sang old time gospel songs. It was pretty good.
The theme for the spring is "Flowers and Food Festival." So they had enormous flower displays set up throughout the park, As you walked to the various show, you encountered the flower displays.
From the gospel show we were able to get to the "Heartsong Theatre" in time for the 11:30 showing. This was a good movie featuring Dolly Parton reminiscing about Tennessee.
We then took a ride on the Dollywood Express. When we got off we bought chilly dogs and drinks for lunch before making our way to the "Wings of America Birds of Prey presentation", where handlers brought out several rescue birds to show us. In the afternoon, it was starting to get more crowded in the venues, so we had to sneak a spot in the back.
Next we headed for the "Forever Country show." They did a pretty good performance.
Following that show we started making our way back to the exit, but when we saw the "Wild Roots Country Band" setting up at the Showstreet Gazebo, we took in their 3:30 performance. We then quickly headed to the exit to take the tram to our parking spot. It wasn't as jammed as an exit, I guess because we were a little early on leaving.

Dollywood

Having had gotten out of there quicker than we expected we were able to arrive at the venue earlier than the rest of the gang. So, we hung out for awhile, looking at the livestock and structures around the place. Patrick's Debby had arranged the tickets and when the rest of the gang arrived, we entered and were went to our seats on the McCoy's side of the venue, away from those nasty Hatfields. We were served a voluminous chicken dinner prior to the show.

After having time for eating the meal, we were presented with a story of how the taking of a pig instead of the intended capture of a bride led to a lengthy feud between the clans.

Hatfield and McCoy Feud

Since it was still early we met back at Pat and Debbie's hotel,The Inn at Christmas Place, to see Santa visit the kids.

Christmas Place

Friday May 19^th:
I had originally planned to do the Skyway tour, but Sue had a friend who recommended the Anakeesta ride. Anakeesta uses a chair lift to bring you to the top of the mountain. Since I was able to get discount tickets from Wyndham for that trip, we decided to do Anakeesta trip. She had heard rumors of shortage of parking so we planned to get there early which meant that I would need to go earlier and pick up John while dropping off Marilou. We got there right at 9 am according to the time stamp on my ticket. We had no problem finding parking, but the lot was full when we left later in the day.

We took the Chondola up then walked the way up to the AnaVista Tower. Along the way were several artistic presentations of flowers. When we got to the AnaVista tower and proceeded to climb up for the mountain views. After spending some time up there, we headed back down for some refreshments before starting back down.

Anakeesta

For the return trip back down, some of us took the TreeTop Skywalk. From stop to stop most of the views were of the skywalk from point to point with occasional views of the mountains. It was a nice return walk. There were occasional informational postings about the smoky's.

Anakeesta Tree Top Skywalk

Saturday May 20^th:
Not sure what we did during the day except drive around to check out the town. We did manage to find the Bullfish Grill for an early dinner. The menu wasn't that impressive and the was ok.

That evening we met John and Debby at the Memories Theatre for an Elvis and Friends show. They were running a little late for our agreed upon meet time, but got there just before the show started.

The first friend was an impression of Garth Brooks which was pretty good. Next was performers who mimicked Patsy Kline, then Loretta Lynn. Finally, the same dude who did Garth did Elvis Presley. His performance was better than the one we saw in Memphis and he was giving out scarfs at the end. Marilou was bashful at first, but finally She went to get a scarf.

Memories

Sunday May 21^st:
So today we had a lot to accomplish. My originally scheduled week in Sevierville was only six days so I had to book another day before the Pigeon Forge stay. We checked out in time to make the 10:30 Mass at the Holy Cross Catholic Church. We got there a little early, so I could take some pictures. As people started arriving it became clear that it was a primarily black parish. That was cool because the singing was more participative and energetic. The priest and the service were very inclusive and enjoyable.

Holy Cross Catholic Church

We had some time before we could check-in at the Mountain Air Inn also in Sevierville so we did a quick drive to the Smoky Mountain National Forest. I originally was planning on several hikes in the park, but Marilou seemed a little slower than lately, so I revised to drives with pull-offs etc. When we stopped at the welcome center, it was packed, so I decided to just do a driving view without stops for short hikes this day. We did the Clingman's Dome route.

This route didn't have a lot of viewpoints, but took you through some scenic drives where the trees encompassed you on the road.

I'm not sure if it was the route or our luck, but we encountered the namesake of the area with the smoky looking fog covering the area. We were able to capture several views of the fog/mist moving in to where we were.

Smoky Mountains

SEE VIDEO

Marilou was getting show withdrawal symptoms, so that evening we attended the "Country Tonite Show" in Pigeon Forge. The show had range of music from old country favorites and gospel, to modern hits and patriotic songs. There were several singers and dancers. The dancers' outfits were amazing and they did a lot of costume changes as did the singer also. The little girl, Sophia Wickwire, was very professional. While we were waiting for show time, we did some souvenir shopping and I purchased a DVD of tonight's performance. We had to wait after the show while they printed them, but I didn't have to try to take any pictures during the show. When I got the DVD, I had the MC, Aaron Walker, sign the jacket of the DVD.

Country Tonite

Monday May 22^nd:
Today we went to John's VRBO again in order to do a tour of the Bush's Beans factory at Dandridge which we thought was just down the road, but it was a little longer of a road trip than we expected. When we reached the place, you could see the bean storage and plant from the parking lot of the visitor center. The visitor center showed interesting facts about the Bush's family history and how they proceeded to become a large canned goods supplier. It also has some interesting facts about the "Duke" ad campaign that continues to today.

Bush's Beans Factory/Visitor Center

One display that I especially liked described the various types of beans that we eat. After the tour we visited the cafeteria for lunch and dessert.

Bush's Beans Factory All the Beans

Tuesday May 23^rd:
So today we/I decided to do the Codes Coves Loop in the Smoky Mountains National Park. John had said he saw a few bears when they did the loop. It's a bit longer drive than our first venture into the park. As we entered the Loop, we soon ran into stopped traffic. We eventually got to a point where we could pull over and see what the excitement was all about. Turned out there was a bear in the distance that had climbed a tree. I guess they were watching it for quite some time through their telescopes and binoculars. I was able to see it through my telephoto lens when he was climbing back down and I got a few good pictures.

The route had large expanses of grasslands at its side. Whenever there were bears or turkeys in the fields the traffic came to a stop. We pulled over whenever there was an opportunity and we would watch the animals and take photos. At one point where the traffic was completely stopped and a ranger walked along the road to alert the drivers that there was an owl up ahead. We were able to see it and photograph it.

Smoky Mountains - Cades Cove Loop

While were eating some of our leftovers and getting ready for the Comedy Barn show we were visited by a cardinal who kept looking in our window and seemed to be asking for some of our food.

I also got a call from Wyndham saying I missed a meeting and I needed to attend a make-up meeting the next day or they would charge me an additional $150/day for the 3 days stay that I had purchased for this trip.

Cardinal Knocking

I had originally been reluctant to go to the Comedy Barn due to the normally vulgar nature of comedy shows, but this one reminded me more of the old Hee Haw TV Show. They had comedians, jugglers, ventriloquists, barnyard animals, and live music.

Comedy Barn

Wedesday May 24^th:
When I went for my additional Wyndham Meeting in the morning, I was met by Erin who told me I wouldn't have to sit through the "update" presentation again. So, this meant we would have time to do the third leg of Smoky Mountain National Park, the route basically follows Hwy 441 completely through the park and into the Cherokee Indian reservation of North Carolina. See Map.

We stopped at several viewpoints, the smoke level was generally low so the views were pretty good overall. I sharpened them up a bit on my photo editor. When we got back, we ate some more leftovers and packed up so we could do an early morning checkout for a long day tomorrow.

Smoky Mountains - Park Road Hwy 441

Thursday May 25^th:
I had an ambitious plan for today. We would drive to Williamstown Kentucky to see the "Ark Encounter". This was a little extra driving for this trip, but I thought I couldn't be that close to a bucket list trip and not do it. On our way out of town we had to find the Dolly Statue that John had mentioned.

Dolly Statue Stop

We got to the ark in the early afternoon. Had some sandwiches and drinks before heading out to the ark. The path leading there was lined with stones carved to indicate the history of the world.

Path to ark

We entered the Ark Experience and the massive construction was evident. The support beams were huge. It is three stories tall and included examples of how Noah may have kept the animals separated and explanations of how the designers determined Noah's layout and was able to keep so many species captive. They have an interesting theory of how moths were stored so that they could feed reptiles. There was some emphasis on kinds versus species to determine how many animals were included. The overall dimensions of the ark is 510' L x 85'W and 51'H.
There were also examples of how the animals may have looked at his time and explanations of how many animals would have been required, including dinosaurs. They were intent on explaining the biblical timeframe of creation versus the longer timeframe evolution theories.
There were also explanations of how the children represent the many races current today. Images of the family were speculated and presented in some displays.
Overall it was a very well thought out presentation and was an awesome display.

Inside the Ark

Leaving the Ark we headed towards Memphis, stopping at a Ramada in Lexington for the night. That left a 6 hour drive to the Travelodge near the airport again. This time the room was somewhat better than the first time we stayed there. They might have read my evaluation to Booking.com earlier.

Saturday May 27^th:
We checked out the next morning but left our car there since we were picked up to do Viator's "Guided Memphis City Tour with Riverboat Cruise along Mississippi River."

The Guided Bus tour was not quite what I expected. Our pick-up dropped us off at the visitor's center, but we had difficulty getting there due to a marathon type run going on down town. We were instructed to view the displays there while they assembled the buses for the tour. They then gave out three differed colors of tickets that determined which bus we got on. Didn't explain any other meaning to the colors.

Memphis Visitor Center

We were brought down streets to see Victorian Homes, historical land marks, Sun Studios, etc. It was hard getting pictures of the places from the bus. Eventually we were dropped off at the Hotel to see their daily duck release. Apparently, they travel by elevator from 11^th floor to the swim in the fountain in the lobby. You need to visit around 11 a.m. when the ducks make their way from their Royal Duck Palace on the hotel's rooftop down the red carpet through the hotel lobby and into the Peabody Fountain. There were hordes of onlookers that gathered in the lobby when we got there. T the tune of John Philip Sousa's "King Cotton March" the ducks waddled past. Apparently at 5 p.m., the tune picks up again and the ducks hop out of the fountain and make their way back along the red carpet to their home.

Bus Tour

See Duck Video Duck March

Following the duck performance, we returned to the bus for a tour of the downtown area. The driver pointed out the location of the Rendevous BBQ and made several other recommendations of places to eat. He then set times for the red and blue tickets to return. The red had 45 minutes whereas the blue had 90 minutes to eat and return.

We visited the restaurant he recommended, The Blues City Cafe. I got the southern fried chicken tenders and Marilou got the BBQ pork fries. Our servings were huge, but we had to eat quickly and got and a to-go box for 2/3 of our servings. When we headed back to bus, the driver was surprised to see us. We were supposed to have gotten blue tickets, so we had 45 more minutes and had to find a place to continue eating. We also had more time to re-visit Beale Street views before catching the bus to do the river cruise.

Bus Tour Downtown

The river cruise included descriptions of the things we could see from the boat, including the various bridges and on-shore items. I can't repeat most of the descriptions, but can include my photos of them.

River Cruise Tour

We were dropped back off at the hotel and immediately started driving to New Orleans. I had expected to leave a little after noon instead of 5 o'clock. I had Marilou call Lucy to tell her we were going to be too late to go to her place for dinner. We arrived at the Ramada by Wyndham Luling around 11 pm.

Sunday May 28^th:
The next morning we met Lucy at her house and visited for some time before heading to mass at Holy Family Catholic Church nearby. After mass we went to lunch at "Spahr's Seafood where Catfish is king" in Des Allemands, La. Since the catfish is king, that's what I got, Marilou got the fried crab claws. We also did the onion rings appetizer. Everything was super.

When we brought Lucy back home, she loaded our cooler up with the boiled crabs, potatoes and corn we were supposed to eat the day before. Then we started the 8-hour drive back home.