All in Vacations
On our Dollywood trip, one of the quick service places we had lunch at was Red’s Drive in. We arrived around 11 am after spending some time in that area riding some rides that morning. There was not a single wait or even really a crowd when we arrived.
Now comes the last day of our cruise back in April 2022. It is hard to really even classify this as a day since we were literally off the cruise ship before 7 am. But I still wanted to share a bit about how that day went.
When we went to Dollywood earlier this summer, we stayed in Sevierville, TN in a beautiful cabin. I did some research into some restaurants in the Sevierville area for us to grab dinner at after our days at Dollywood. We really didn’t want to deal with the crowds in Pigeon Forge proper every night if we could avoid it. One of the places I read about was a placed called Aubrey’s Restaurant. So that was a place we kept in our back pocket for when we needed it.
Our our fourth day of our cruise, we had a day at sea. This meant we would not be docking at any port. Instead there was a day full of activities throughout the ship for us to explore and do.
We found parking at Dollywood during our May/June trip a breeze. However, a Facebook group I am in had a lot of people thinking differently. Apparently it is much worse than last year. But seeing this is our first trip, it was all we knew.
Back in June, we visited the American Girl store in Franklin, TN to celebrate both Melody and my niece’s birthdays. Their birthdays are one year apart but two dates apart (May 25 vs May 27). So this was their birthday present from my mother in law. I recently wrote a post all about our hotel experience of this trip. Now I want to share the party part.
Our third day on our cruise was our Princess Cay day. This is a private area owned by Carnival. I am unsure if another cruise company also uses this area. I say area vs. island because it is at the southern end of Eleuthera, Bahamas. So it is not just an entire island to yourself. From what I have read and heard, prior to COVID, there were actually excursions to explore the rest of the island. But I did not hear about that during our cruise. But we were still excited to take part in this port and have a nice beach day!
Our last day at Dollywood was predicted to be a rainy one. But it was literally the last day of our trip, so we decided to give it a go.
Our second day of our Carnival Cruise in April was a day at Nassau. We have been to Nassau many times, and we really had no desire to go this time. With the COVID restrictions, it just didn’t seem like it would be much fun. So we decided to spend the day on the boat and hopefully enjoying a mostly empty one at that.
During our Dollywood trip, we had a break day from the parks and decided to spend time enjoying the cabin. My dad had noticed signs for a place called Forbidden Caverns not far from where our cabin was. He thought it would be neat to take Melody there. So we drove about 15 minutes from our cabin to get there.
Back in June, we got to take part in the American Girl Hotel Experience at TownePlace Suites in Franklin, TN. It was in celebration of both Melody’s and our niece’s birthday, Caroline. Their birthdays are one year apart but two dates apart (May 25 vs May 27). So this was their birthday present from our mother in law. We also celebrated at the American Girl store, but I will speak to that later. Today I want to share all about our hotel experience.
Back in April, mom and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We had not been on a cruise together since before I was pregnant with Melody. So it was fun getting to experience it again. The cruise began on a Monday out of Port Canaveral. We had a suite which I plan to talk all about in the future. But by having a suite, we were able to board early as well as go to our room early. You can read all about us getting on the boat here.
In late May/early June, we went to Dollywood for the first time on a family vacation with my parents. Our first day was on a Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day. We were hoping the crowds would be lighter this week vs. a week later in the summer.
Mom and I went on a cruise back in April. I wanted to share a little bit about our experience getting on the boat. I don’t have many pictures since it was a fairly quick process, but I did take a few.
We went to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area for our family vacation with my parents this year. Brad has never been to the area, and I haven’t been in over 15-20 years. We thought it was also be a fun change of pace. We did throw in some Dollywood, but we tried to not make the entire trip about the theme park. Instead of staying in a hotel, we opted to find a cabin. I didn’t know much about the area when it comes to looking for a cabin. I have friends on Facebook who have visited often, so I used one of the websites they recommend, Fireside Chalets. We had somewhat specific requests. We wanted a 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom cabin. My brother was considering going, but wasn’t 100% committed. So we wanted the extra bathroom in case, and he was willing to sleep in the loft area if he decided to go.
Back in April, my mom and I took a cruise to the Bahamas. It has been about 7 years since I have taken a cruise. This is mainly due to being pregnant with Melody, then not wanting to leave Melody. Well with COVID, prices have dramatically decreased for cruises. With Melody in elementary school, I felt this was a great time to go again. With that I had to pack my things!
We decided to do something different for spring break and stay close and cheap. We have been discussing doing a trip to Tupelo, MS and including a stop at Oxford one of the days during our trip. Well Brad has a lot of hotel points from his traveling, and there happened to be a baseball game the weekend that started Spring Break. So that was our plan!
So normally when we go to Nashville, we always stop at the American Girls store and The Cheesecake Factory. Well our trip back in January, we did go to AG, but we skipped TCF. We just got one here in Huntsville, so we decided to try something different. It was also a Friday night, so we figured it might be busy too. Near AG was a restaurant called Party Fowl. It didn’t look busy, so we decided to give it a try.
Almost every visit we have made to Opryland, Solario Cantina has been closed. Usually we go in the middle of the week, but with school, we now have to go on the weekends or during breaks. During our visit to Opryland in January, we finally had the chance to try it!
While on our trip to Opryland in January, we had dinner at Jack Daniels. This is only the second time I have eaten here even with all of our trips there. On prior trips, it was hit or miss on whether it was open or not.
