Travel to Knoxville, stopping at Baxter's Botanical Gardens. The gardens are only open to the public during April as part of the Dogwood Arts Festival in Knoxville.
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| Baxter's Azalea Garden |
We visited the White Garden, the Maze, the Bluebird Garden, the Lotus Pond, the Dogwood Rambol, the Gazebo, the Azalea Garden, the Iris Garden, the Asian Garden, the Ellipse Garden, the Fuji Garden, the Balustiade Garden, the Hannah Garden, and the Birds of Baxter's Garden.
We spent about 30 to 45 minutes here.
We then traveled to Pigeon Forge and checked in at Margaritaville's The Island Inn.
We walked around the Island and stopped at Mellowmushroom for dinner.
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| Mellow Mushroom at the Island, Pigeon Forge, TN |
We ordered a Hawaiian Pizza with a drink and spent $30.57.
Day 2 Wednesday, April 27
Ate scrambled eggs, 2 slices of bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits with strawberry jelly, and cranberry juice for breakfast at the hotel.
We rode to the Trolley Center at 186 Old Mill Ave, beside Patriot Park, where we purchased day tickets to take the trolley to Dollywood. The cost for all day was $3 each.
We bought senior tickets at Dollywood, which cost $166.10 for the day.
Throughout the park, we saw flowers designed in the form of characters. We saw Busy, Busy Bees, Ring-tailed Rascals(Raccoons), Family Times (bear family), Round as a Peacock, Turtle, Frogs, butterflies, a Coat of many colors, Colorful umbrellas, Duck Days, The Dolly Wood Tree, Fines Farm, Doctor I. B. Painless Dentist, and Topsy Turvy.
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| Wildwood Grove at Dollywood |
We rode the Dollywood Express Train Ride and the Village Carousel.
We bought cinnamon bread with Coke at Dollywood Grist Mill and spent $15
We ate supper at Huck Finn with green beans, catfish, creamed potatoes, and shrimp.
We stopped at the Margaritaville Store, where we bought 2 t-shirts.
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| Coat of Many Colors Flowers |
Today, we ate breakfast at the hotel: Muffins, sausage, & potatoes.
We rode to Old Mill Park, where we saw pigeons, geese, and mallard ducks.
We rode to Parrot Mountain and paid $53.11 for tickets, where we saw and fed many exotic birds.
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| Parrot Mountain |
Some of the birds we saw were the red-billed Tucan, Swanson Tucan, Keel-Billed Tucan, Kookaburra, Scarlett McCaw, Catalina McCow, African Pied Crow, Von Der Dickens Hornbill, Green-wing McCaw, Sun Conure, Mustache Parakeet, Golden Conure, just to name a few.
We ate lunch at Firehouse Subs, ordering a small Steak and Cheese sandwich and a Medium Italian sub sandwich. $21.75
We rode back to the Trolley Center at 186 Old Mill Avenue to buy tickets for the trolley ride to the Gatlinburg Trolley Center.
At the Gatlinburg Trolley Center, we rode the trolley to Gatlinburg. We had a very entertaining driver, which made the ride enjoyable.
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| Ankeesta and Black Bear |
We bought tickets for Ankeesta, where we rode the skylift up the mountain for $58.08. We bought lemonade and walked around, then took the Treetop Skywalk, which had a beautiful view.
We rode the skylift back down the mountain and walked around Gatlinburg, stopping at Bubba Gumps for supper. There, we ordered a Forest Seafood Feast, which we split between us. It included shrimp, fish, fries, and coleslaw.
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| Forrest Seafood Feast at Bubba Gumps |
We returned the trolley to Gatlinburg Trolley Center and Pigeon Forge Trolley Center.
At the Old Mill, we purchased Relish and self-rising Cornmeal. $12.91
Day 4, Friday, April 29
We ate breakfast in the hotel: bacon, eggs, biscuits, jelly, fried potatoes, and cranberry juice.
We traveled home, stopping in Athens for Gas.
