Our Tennessee vacation—the finale

And to wrap it up…

                When thinking back on the past 8 vacation blog entries, I realized that in the grind of the what-we-did’s we missed some of the how we did it’s and some of the things we saw along the way that stuck the funny bone.  This last vacation blog to wrap it all up seemed appropriate. 

While we were in the planning stages of the trip, we began researching places to stay first.  No, we would not stay where we did again even if we had not purchased the vacation package.  I wasn’t real thrilled with it.  It was fine, but not the best for the money as we thought it was via our internet search.  We discovered that we were there very much off peak and that once there all places had vacancies and were running specials.  If we still wanted to stay in a cabin, cabin rental places were everywhere and all had big signs up … SPECIAL!  Motels, hotels, and resorts also had signs up with SPECIAL RATES! signs.  You really have your pick. 

We’re happier with what we have now.  It will definitely end up being our best choice.  We aren’t held to any particular week.  We don’t even have to go a week at a time.  We have the choice to go a day or two or three or whatever.  We don’t have to go to the same location.  If we decide on another destination, worldwide, it’s available to us.  If we stay outside of our group of resorts, we have the availability of booking at others the world over for under $200 a week at the very most.  And, we can share and gift our time.  If we can’t use our points or our 12 weeks a year, they don’t go wasted when you can share.  If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll hook you up.  Just called for one friend and they offered them 3 days and 3 nights to come tour, listen to the plan and enjoy the area.  And yes.  If you have a time share, you can trade it in somehow.  I don’t have a clue how that goes, but another couple there when we were did do that.

The last time we made a trip to Disney, we pre-booked our dinner show and special events.  We really enjoyed that because there was no worry about not being able to see what we wanted to see.  And we knew that by booking dinner shows, our special nights out were handled.

We decided to check things out and see if we could book here too.  Not knowing the area, we were a little at a loss knowing what to choose.  We knew we wanted the Dixie Stampede tickets but weren’t sure which others.  I spent some time researching and we ended up choosing four total.  I chose the murder mystery not on recommendations, but because we’d always wanted to go to one and never had.  Then I looked for comedy shows.  I found a deal on the Hatfield and McCoy web page.  Two shows for $60.   Most gave a discount if you booked online. 

We wanted to have handicap seating so instead of booking online we called.  We learned to always ask about discounts.  We had several available to us….AAA, AARP, Entertainment book, and military.  Every place had at least one.  When we mentioned the online discount, we found out the others were better.  So, my recommendation is to find where you want to go and call.  Talk to the ticket office directly and see what you can come up with. 

Unless you are bound to peak vacation times, I definitely recommend off peak visits.  Unless you have to have something booked before you go (as in going peak time) I recommend just going, arriving earlier in the day and exploring your options in person.  And as far as eating?  Well I definitely recommend eating.  Lol

There is a full menu of fall-back options.  You have about every chain restaurant between the three towns and then some.  I always try to seek out the local opinion when finding a place to eat.  Touristy places can be good, but if that’s where we’re going to go I still want the local flavors.  I want even our eating experiences to be memorable.  Ask.  Don’t sit and assume you’re picking something special.  Get the opinions of the people who actually live in the area.  Where go the locals, there go I.

                In this area, for a little something to bring home for a memory, I definitely recommend traveling the artist loop.  I feel that not only are we helping people one on one, but you can talk more and get to know the locals a little.  People are most interesting creatures.

                I couldn’t choose a best anything, but I will say the least favorite of our meals and our entertainment was the murder mystery.  I’m not sorry we went.  Not in the least.  I just feel the value was probably the lowest as was the entertainment in comparison.

                Now, Mama Sage cannot drive anywhere without finding something to make her laugh.  Let me just post a couple pictures that grabbed my funny bone. 

                A bumper sticker on the pickup in front of us at the toll booth.

                Taped to a trucker’s load.

 

                A pretty good invention.

             A sign. 

What did we miss that will be on our must-do list next trip?  Fanny Farkles.  It is pretty much arcade-ish, but they also have those foot long corn dogs.  We did lots of fun good meals and have a few more to try next trip, but we will probably who can resist a good ol’ corndog every once in a while?

I wanted to go to the Moonshine place just because.  No we aren’t drinkers, but it just seemed like it would be a lot of fun.  Maybe not.  Might be a total tourist trap.  I’ll let you know.  Lol

And we will definitely explore more local artists and crafters.  Especially the wood crafters.  We will search more local flare restaurants and we’ll look for sometimes missed, off the beaten trail everything.  We will also look for sometimes missed entertainment.  Don’t know when our next trip will be, but it will happen.

Our next trip might also be just to relax.  In that case, premade meal to take are on the menu, frozen in a cooler of just frozen foods.  The trip is only 8 hours down so properly packed, it will work.  I’ll find out if our accommodations have a crockpot and if not will take one.  Crockpot meals are the bomb. 

I will also concentrate on drinking more water.  We did drink quite a bit, but when I thought it over, probably not enough. 

And, I’ll take TWO fans, just because!  Lol  No.  Shouldn’t need to.  But if I was ever to stay in a cabin anywhere that wasn’t a part of our vacation package, I’d take at LEAST two!  Lol  The broken air was the lowpoint of this vacation.

And there you have it.  Our trip in 9 short blogs.  Oh.  They weren’t short?  Sorry ‘bout that. If you’re a regular reader, you know how I sort of get tap crazy when I’m at the keyboard.  Love ya!

I’m hoping that doing the vacation blogs Is my start back to regular blogging.  It has felt SO GOOD to be back in the swing!  I’ll post a link on my facebook page whenever I do blog.  Many of my followers are friends there or check in there.  If you’re a blogger member, I invite you to subscribe.

And on to the day….laundry day….ugh!

~~Mama Sage