Tennessee Thanksgiving, Day 1

Back in January, we made plans with the Wills to spend Thanksgiving week together. We found an amazing cabin located near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and booked it. The countdown began! On Saturday, the vacation finally started. We left our house at 5am and arrived at the cabin around 420pm. The drive was not bad, we hit a lot of traffic around Atlanta, but overall, it was a good drive. We brought food, so we avoided making any long stops. The best thing on the drive took place in Florida around Gainesville. We saw the most amazing rainbow. It was a full rainbow that went over the highway. Oddly, there was no rain. Eventually, we did drive through a few sprinkles, but the rainbow was unexpected and lovely.

I couldn't capture the whole thing, but it was a full rainbow. At one point, it looked like we would drive right under it. And, you can see a fainter double rainbow.

Kayce had arrived before us and did some grocery shopping. We had tacos for dinner, the same as when we visited North Carolina together last year. A new tradition begins! The cabin is nice. It is has three levels and enough beds for everyone. There is an amazing mountain view and a great hottub. Kayce and I went in the hot tub (it was around 20 degrees out, but the hot tub was a toasty 102) and caught up on all of each others news. It was nice to hear the updates on my old neighborhood. I still miss it!

Sunday, we went to Dollywood. It was crowded. Really crowded. And, it was also cold. Really cold. Nothing like our experience in May. One funny thing was a candle shop that had a sign saying, "come in, it's hot inside". When we visited in May, we went in the shop because of the sign saying, "come in, it's cold inside." Many of the bigger rides couldn't operate because of the temperatures. But, when the sun went down, the lights were amazing. Really amazing. We have been to Christmas events at many parks (Six Flags, Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa, Sea World, Disney and Universal) and these were the best. They were everywhere and so well done. I think we even forgot about being cold. 

Same spot where we posed under the Spring umbrellas