My visions of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee were very, very different from reality.
In my mind: Country roads, small town with cozy mom and pop restaurants;
antique stores, fishing on a creek, the sounds of a bluegrass music in the air…
Reality: The Las Vegas strip during rush hour! Waltzing through traffic was not easy!
With almost three hundred - YES! 300! - restaurants between Gatlinburg, Seiverville, and Pigeon Forge - we passed every single restaurant chain out there in the modern world! There are all kinds of entertainment venues - dinner shows, musicians, amusement parks, mountain roller coasters, ferris wheels, waterparks, The Hatfield and McCoy Show, Titanic Museum, not to mention Dollywood. And of course you need a zillion hotels and RV parks to house these people! Endless and overwhelming to say the least! If you don't mind making your way through the hundreds of stoplights and traffic, there is probably a good time to be had in this area. For us - it's a big fat NO.
Our stay at King's Holly Haven RV Park correlates to the busyness and congestion of this city.
Although the campground is clean and offers a pool, and other amenities - being sandwiched in and feeling like you live in a fishbowl - a little uncomfortable. Fellow campers are usually amazing, interesting and friendly people -but it's all a bit too close for us. We actually couldn't wait to get out of here (I used the word "hate" at one point - although this is not a terrible place by no means) … and the getting out of here part was not an easy task! Charlie did an absolutely amazing job maneuvering out of the tiny site and lack of space from all the cars and trucks parked along the road. What an absolute shit show and I told Charlie in no uncertain terms that he deserved a fuckin' medal! Obviously, it was a very frustrating situation for both of us. Whew! Glad that is behind us!
The day prior, we had had a lovely day visiting Dollywood. It is a very nice park and we spent a considerable amount of time there. The weather was great! We would actually have spent more time - if there was any place to get a meal! What Dollywood isn't up front about is almost all their restaurants were closed, as well as a good portion of concession stands, to even get an ice cream or snack. What was opened had ridiculously long lines and 2-4 hours waits. We had been looking forward to eating at one of their famous southern cooking restaurants… I had been dreaming of fried chicken! Luckily, I never go anywhere without drinks or some snacks so that helped to carry us through. It was disappointing however I was able to look up a close by, highly recommended bar-b-que restaurant - just a mile down the road from the RV park. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Boss Hogg's!
We left Pigeon Forge on Thursday, 10/14 and arrived about 200 miles west to central Tennessee; the town of Manchester. We are staying for 3 spacious, quiet, beautiful nights at Cedar Point Campground on Lake Normandy. It's a very small camping area; the view is amazing from our windows; we sat this morning enjoying our coffee just staring out at the water and taking in the peacefulness. We are actually pretty far in the woods, so we don't plan any excursions from the park. It is raining a little this afternoon, but tomorrow looks promising and we're hoping to get in a little fishing. I also brought my sketch pad and am going to attempt a landscape and try to channel Bob Ross.
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