Dolly’s intervention continued, a miracle occurred – compared to everyone else we were tiny – fab! But more of that later... We wake up to find our motel is on the dual carriageway in Pigeon Forge which is Dolly’s birthplace and which is now a homage to the wonderful woman that she is. A deluxe breakfast is included in our motel rate – so we repair to the breakfast room via housekeeping up the ramp to a small windowless room heaving with huge people eating doughnuts and biscuits and gravy – gross. The “gravy” looks like white wallpaper paste. We saw it being made by pouring white powder into water and then popping it in the microwave – we declined the offer of us trying this traditional southern breakfast as we retched our way out. On a plus side, the doughnuts are Krispy Cremes as sold in Harrods!
Our first pilgrimage was to Dollywood. We must have been the first people ever to walk there – there are no pavements here! We could have got the dolly trolley bus but decided to walk. It was an inauspicious start – we went to the wrong entrance (so we actually arrived via Dolly’s very moist back passage which made us giggle – again!) – the whole place looked small and poky and very worn out. We later discovered that it was meant to be like that – a re-creation of her Smoky mountain home – and in reality it was much bigger than at first glance. It’s a theme park with a shopping opportunity on every corner – we had a great time, we laughed, we did daft things, we rode mad rides (but as you would expect only Ant did the really scary ones, including the massively scary Tenessee Tornado, which was a corkscrew big dipper and he went upside down twice!! ) we ate funnel cake, turnip greens, pinto beans. We even tried to shop but apart from a Dolly poncho for Gill and a Dollywood hoodie for Ant, pickings were thin – unlike the people. We have never seen such a collection of grossly overweight people in any one place before – it was a real “close your mouth dear” day as our jaws were constantly dropping to the floor.
We saw two shows in the theatres including a number of Dolly’s relatives on banjos and guitars. One of our favourites was the coat of many colours - as in the famous song – it was really cute, but Gill felt that Dolly’s mum could have done better on the buttonhole stitching. We went for a (real) steam train ride through the mountains and got wet not just from the rain, but also the scary log ride and the white water rafting! Suddenly we realised we had been there for nine hours and had had a ball - and all this without alcoholic assistance – both guns and alcohol are prohibited in the park. Is enjoying this a sign old age?
Our first pilgrimage was to Dollywood. We must have been the first people ever to walk there – there are no pavements here! We could have got the dolly trolley bus but decided to walk. It was an inauspicious start – we went to the wrong entrance (so we actually arrived via Dolly’s very moist back passage which made us giggle – again!) – the whole place looked small and poky and very worn out. We later discovered that it was meant to be like that – a re-creation of her Smoky mountain home – and in reality it was much bigger than at first glance. It’s a theme park with a shopping opportunity on every corner – we had a great time, we laughed, we did daft things, we rode mad rides (but as you would expect only Ant did the really scary ones, including the massively scary Tenessee Tornado, which was a corkscrew big dipper and he went upside down twice!! ) we ate funnel cake, turnip greens, pinto beans. We even tried to shop but apart from a Dolly poncho for Gill and a Dollywood hoodie for Ant, pickings were thin – unlike the people. We have never seen such a collection of grossly overweight people in any one place before – it was a real “close your mouth dear” day as our jaws were constantly dropping to the floor.
We saw two shows in the theatres including a number of Dolly’s relatives on banjos and guitars. One of our favourites was the coat of many colours - as in the famous song – it was really cute, but Gill felt that Dolly’s mum could have done better on the buttonhole stitching. We went for a (real) steam train ride through the mountains and got wet not just from the rain, but also the scary log ride and the white water rafting! Suddenly we realised we had been there for nine hours and had had a ball - and all this without alcoholic assistance – both guns and alcohol are prohibited in the park. Is enjoying this a sign old age?
