The Smokies, Part 2

Cameron would have loved this store!

 



Eventually we headed into Gatlinburg.   It was July 3 and it was hopping!

 

We just did a quick walk through in the morning because we had a dinner date back in Pigeon Forge.

 

At the Dixie Stampede.  It was so much fun.  The horses, the stunts, the comedy and the best chicken I've ever eaten!  With our fingers no less.  A bit messy, but oh so good.



Then, that evening it was back to Gatlinburg for the country's first Fourth of July parade.....at midnight.  Yes, that little munchkin was up until midnight, watched an hour and a half parade and then waited an hour for the trolley to go back down to Pigeon Forge.  And we lived to tell about it!

this was probably around 11:45 or so

 

 Don't they look sleepy?

Callie's favorite, Captain America

It was a fun parade.  They did something I've never seen before.  Instead of the parade participants throwing candy at the crowd during the parade, people in the crowd throw out pennies and change and beaded necklaces before it starts.  It was great!  All of the sudden there is money flying into the streets and all the little kids start scrambling for it.  No candy and no kids running out in the street in front of fire trucks!  And since it's at night, no hot sun beating down on you.

The next morning we forced ourselves out of bed and headed a little further East, to Johnson City, TN.  This is where both my parents were born and raised and where just about all of my extended family lives.  We had new cousins to meet and "old" ones to visit. 

In order to visit some again, I'll need a tranquilizer if I am going up that mountain driveway again! LOL

 Thanks to Aunt Susan for hosting us and bringing everyone together!!  I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of my uncles!  They are quiet types who like to slip in and out and I didn't even think about it until it was too late.  I have wonderful memories of my uncles and summers spent at my Grandparents houses.  It was fun to remember and show the girls around a bit.  Although always a bit bitter sweet.  I miss those times and those grandparents who made them possible.  I know they weren't perfect people, but they sure were perfect to me!

 

Thanks again Grandmother and Granddaddy for a great summer trip!!