Debate Team Trip: Tennessee (Saturday)

We woke up this morning in our hotel 8 in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. The Internet access here is absolutely amazing....first of all I don't have to sit outside to use it. The speed is great as well. I will have no problem downloading pictures tonight after going to Dollywood.

A little history first....

Pigeon Forge:
A. Located in Sevier County, Tennessee
B. It is only five miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
C. It is a tourist resort

Dolly Parton:
A. She was born on January 19, 1945 in Sevierville, Tennessee.
B. She was the 4th of 12 children
C. She started performing as a child through local radio and television.
D. She moved to Nashville after graduating from high school.
E. Her first album was "Hello, I'm Dolly"
F. She married Carl Thomas Dean in 1966.
G. Dolly has had a career in country music, pop music, television, movies, as a song writer,
and much more.
H. She is the co-owner of The Dollywood Company, which operates the theme park
Dollywood, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, and Dollywood's Splash County.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dolly_parton

Dollywood:
A. Owned by Dolly Parton and The Herschend Family Entertainment Corportation
B. Has thrill rides, traditional crafts and music of the Smoky Mountain regions.
C. Has the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame
D. The park was originally named "Rebel Railroad" and was opened in 1961. The park
featured a steam train, general store, blacksmith shop, and a saloon.
E. 1966 - the park was renamed "Goldrush Junction"
F. 1970 - Cleveland Brown's football team purchased the park.
G. 1976 - Jack and Pete Herschend purchased the park and renamed it "Goldrush"
H. 1977 - Renamed the park "Silver Dollar City Tennessee"
I. 1986 - Dolly Parton became a c0-owner and the park was named "Dollywood"
J. Dollywood is ranked as the 24th most popular theme park in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dollywood

Great Smoky Mountains:
A. Mountain range along the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
B. Subrange of the Appalachian Mountains
C. best known for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
D. Smoky Mountains National Park was established in 1934. It is the most-visited national
park in the United States.
E. Highest point of the mountains is Clingmans Dome
F. Home of the densest black bear population in the Eastern United States
G. "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that hangs over the range.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/smoky_mountains

Ok enough of the history.....time to to share some pictures of my day at Dollywood.

Dollywood is broken into ten themed areas: Showstreet, Rivertown Junction, Craftsmen's Valley, The Village, The Country Fair, Timber Canyon, Jukebox Junction, Dreamland Forest, Adventures in Imagination, and Wilderness Pass.

1950's section of the park. Ms. Edwards, Mr. Conant and I saw a show about with music from the 1950s and 1960s in this section of the park.

If you look closely you can see me sitting between these two potted people....There were several of these creative people located at the start of the park.



One of the many different roller coasters found in the park.....We didn't go on them....the kids said they were a blast though.


One of the water rides....the idea behind this ride is to sit in a boat and squirt as many people as possible......Of course other people are getting you wet as well. A nice ride for a hot day.


A real coal train that has been in the park since it first opened. The original train was called Klondike Katie (110-ton coal-fired steam engine). It was built in 1943.

The park was a great place to spend the day....There was something there for everyone. Unfortunately because of my height the only ride that I could go on was the train...for the rest I was too short :(

They need to make a park for little bears.