2010 ~September 25, -27 Hermitage, Dollywood, Tennessee Aquarium

Day 1: Saturday, September 25, 2010

Trip to Hermitage Tennessee and Pigeon Forges, and Chattanooga Tennessee.

We left at 6:30 A.M. Saturday morning we were on our way to visit the Hermitage in Hermitage, Tennessee. 

We traveled through Lawrenceburg on Highway 43 through Spring Hill Tennessee stopping at Rippavilla Plantation and the Mule Museum to take pictures.

Rippavilla Plantation 

Rippavilla Plantation 

We stopped in Columbia Tennessee at Mcdonald's where I ordered a cinnamon melt and a diet coke. 

After leaving Spring Hill, we entered onto interstate I-65 north toward Nashville, Tennessee. We stopped in Franklin Tennessee to get gas and we stopped at Hardies where my husband ordered a breakfast sandwich. 

We arrived at 8:30 A.M. just as the museum opened. 

The tickets to visit the home, grounds, and museum were free, but to take the wagon tour it cost $10.

Andrew Jackson and his wife 

Andrew Jackson Carriage

Upon entering the museum, we were ushered into a movie theater where the life of Andrew Jackson was shown. After the show, we entered into the hallway of the life of Andrew Jackson where I began taking pictures. We walked through not taking time to read or listen to a tape. We walked over to the Jackson Mansion stopping along the way to take pictures of the landscape and the historic markers. We walked through the gardens and the family cemetery where Andrew Jackson and his family were buried.  Jackson and his wife had a large tombstone. Andrew Jackson’s faithful slave was buried in a small grave near the family cemetery.

Standing in front of the tree

Andrew Jackson Tomb 

The Hermitage

We went to the restrooms.
My husband sat down to rest for a while  I walked to the old spring where I took several pictures. I took pictures of the wagon and the horses.
Our wagon ride was at 10:15 A.M.
The wagon ride carried us past a log cabin, which was the first home of Jackson, after he built his new home he gave the cabin to his slaves to live in.

A log Cabin was the first home of the Jackson 

The cabin was a two-story building but later was converted into a one story, because slaves could not live in a two-story building. We went further onto the grounds to visit the slave homes, spring, and see other historic markers. 

Waiting to take the wagon ride

the wagon ride

We met several people on the wagon ride, a couple from Ohio, several people from Alabama, and several Alabama fans who ragged the Ohio Couple about their ball players. 

The Hermitage was preparing for an upcoming wedding in the building next to the spring.
Several buildings have been added to the Jackson plantation that were not part of the original plantation, they are used for school training, weddings, and other functions.

We walked to the Mansion where we had to wait in line to go inside.

We were given a tour of the home along with several other people, which took about 20 to 30 minutes. 

We walked back to the gift shop where I bought several postcards, and we finished in the museum.

There was a long line of people waiting to get into the Museum and they were told that once they got inside they would have to wait in line again to tour the mansion. 

The tour took us three hours but it did not seem that long.

We left the mansion and took  I-40 toward Knoxville, Tennessee to Pigeon Forge we have a room at The Inn at Christmas our check-in time is 4 P.M.

We were warmly greeted at The Inn at Christmas, then we took our luggage to room 213.
We decided to ride around town to see the sites, and one of my husband's friends said we should eat at Huck Finn's Restaurant.
So we stopped there for dinner, where I ordered the special of all-you-can-eat white beans, hush puppies, onion, potatoes, and slaw with iced tea to drink. My husband ordered the Catfish plate and I ate a piece of the fish it was very good.  

 Huck Finns Restaurant

We rode through the town of Gatlinburg then over the mountains. We stopped alongside the road so I could take pictures of the timeless mountains.
Darkness and fog had fallen on the mountaintop it was getting hard to see where we were going,  so we headed back down the mountain.
We rode to Sevierville to Auto Zone to purchase a blinker bulb.
We rode back to The Christmas Inn for Santa's reading but it was too late it was at 9:00PM we did not get back until 10:00PM.

Inn at Christmas 

Inn at Christmas 

My husband’s back was hurting from all the driving so we went downstairs to the swimming pool where he changed into his swimsuit, I had already put mine on and had slipped my cover-up over it. 

The hot tub was full, so my husband went outside; I slipped into the hot tub and stayed there for about 10 minutes. 

I went outside where my husband was sitting watching the kids slide down the waterslide. 

I jumped into the swimming pool and swam across to the other side several times. The water was nice, it was not too cold or too hot. We went back inside, my husband slipped into the hot tub, and I got in the regular pool. 

We changed clothes in the restrooms and went back upstairs.

I download my pictures and upload them to the Internet. My husband was tired so he went to sleep. I went to bed at about 12 P.M. 

Day 2: Sunday, September 26, 2010

The next morning we dressed and went down to the first floor where they were serving breakfast. My husband ate scrambled eggs, ham, sausage, gravy, and biscuits. I ate waffles with heated syrup and orange juice.
It was raining outside so we went to Walmart to purchase a couple of raincoats or ponchos to wear at  Dollywood when it opens at 10am

My husband picked out a blue raincoat and I picked a yellow raincoat. 

yellow raincoat

blue raincoat

My husband parked the car in Dollywood's parking lot, we then rode the trolley over to Dollywood we were let out at the gift shop.
Everyone went through the gates at 9:30AM but nothing opened up until 10 AM.

We rode the simulator of one of Dollywood's creations.
Our next stop was to watch the Kingdom Heirs perform.
We had front-row seats.
One of the members of the band asked us several questions. He said where are you from?

Kingdom Heirs 

Is this your first time seeing the Show? In addition, he asks many other questions.

We raised our hands for being the first time to see the show and he asked where are you from and we replied Alabama. 

He had asked earlier who was Alabama Fans. 

This was our second time in Dollywood and we had never seen Kingdom Heirs perform. 

He said we are always there and why had you not seen our show. 

Somehow we had always missed their show.

He picked at us for a few minutes and then went on to pick at another guest. After the show, we walked around until time for the next show, which was SHA-KON-HEY, which was an outstanding show. 

 SHA-KON-HEY

I took several pictures while the show was going on. The blue smoke, the actors singing, flying, and bouncing off the walls. They were in treetops, flying over the audience and dancing on the stage. It was an awesome performance. After the show, we stopped at Apple Jacks Restaurant for lunch where I ordered a bread chilies bowl with coke.
My husband ordered a sandwich. I could not eat my entire chilies bowl so I gave it to my husband. While he finished eating, I walked over to Dolly’s family reunion show where my husband later joined me.
We walked around the park looking at the areas that we had not seen.
After we rode the train we walked to the back of the park to see the new optical course. We stopped along the way back to take pictures of the tombstones with funny sayings.

It was getting late, we were both tired from walking and wet from the drizzling rain, so we decided to call it a day.
On our way out we stopped at the Spotlight Bakery to get a  piece of Carrot Cake. 

Dollywood Coffin 

Dollywood Coffin 

We ate dinner at Long John Silvers, I ordered lobster tails with iced tea and my husband ordered a meal.
We also shared a slice of carrot cake.
Back at the Inn, I took a hot shower, dressed for the night, and then uploaded my pictures to the computer when I had finished, I crawled into my warm bed and fell asleep. 

Day 3: Monday, September 27, 2010

The next morning we slept later than usual because we were both tired from all the traveling and walking from the day before.

We ate breakfast but I did not get a waffle because the dining room was full of older people. They had brought in a couple of busses of older people for some kind of convention. 

After breakfast we went back to the room and finished watching the movie Death Becomes Her. 

We checked out of the hotel and rode to Chattanooga. We stopped at Wendy's for lunch and after lunch, we went to the River and salt-water aquarium, where we spent several hours there.
It was a home-school day at the aquarium. 

Tennessee Aquarium

Tennessee Aquarium

Tennessee Aquarium

We rode to Bridge Street Mall in Huntsville at Victoria’s Secret to make a purchase.
I had a coupon to get eight pairs of panties for $25.00 but got five for $25.

We stopped at Zaxby’s in Athens where I ordered three chicken fingers with a salad.
My husband ordered hot wings, chicken fingers, and fries. 

It was very late when we arrived home.
I uploaded a few pictures and went to bed.
Another great adventure!
What will my next adventure be?
Will I go to Orlando or the mountains?

🚗 2009 ~Sunday August 9, Fort Payne Historic Markers, Alabama Museum, Ruby Falls

We started the day by eating breakfast at Steak & Shake in Huntsville. We were on our way to Fort Payne, we stopped along the side of the road to take pictures of Historic sites and markers.

Alabama's Music Fan Club & Museum which houses memorable items once owned by Randy Owens, Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook, and Mark Herndon

Crow Town in Stevenson
One of the Five Lower Towns was established by the Chickamauga Cherokees in 1782 under the leadership of Dragging Canoe. Territorial Governor William Blount reported to the Secretary of War in 1792 that: “Crow Town lies on the north side of the Tennessee (River), half a mile from the river, up Crow Creek, 30 miles below the Suck. (It) is the lowest town in the Cherokee Nation and contained 30 huts in 1790. The Creeks and Northward tribes cross (the river) here.” 
All of the Five Lower Towns were on the extreme Cherokee frontier. Running Water was near Chattanooga and Nickajack was near Haletown, Tennessee. Long Island Town was twenty miles below the Suck, east of Bridgeport, Alabama. Lookout Mountain Town was near Trenton, Georgia.
(Continued on another side)

Crow Town in Stevenson
Crow Town encompassed an area of several miles by the early 1800s as increasing numbers of Cherokee families settled here. With the creation of Jackson County in 1819, many of the Cherokees moved to the south side of the river – some 19th-century maps placed Crow Town near the southeast end of Snodgrass Bridge which takes Highway 117 across the Tennessee River east of Stevenson. The 1782 site of Crow Town, one-half mile from the confluence of Crow Creek and the original channel of the Tennessee River, was flooded with the closing of the spillway gates at Guntersville Dam in 1939.

Trail of Tears Bridgeport
In May 1838 soldiers, under the command of U.S. Army General Winfield Scott, began rounding up Cherokee Indians in this area who had refused to move to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. About 16,000 Cherokees were placed in stockades in Tennessee and Alabama until their removal. Roughly 3,000 were sent by boat down the Tennessee River and the rest were marched overland in the fall and winter of 1838-1839. This forced removal under harsh conditions resulted in the deaths of about 4,000 Cherokees.
In late June of 1838, a party of 1,070 poorly equipped Indians was marched overland from Ross' Landing at Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Waterloo, Alabama, because of low water in the upper Tennessee River. Following the general route of present-day U.S. Highway 72, they camped at Bellefonte, where about 300 escaped between Bellefonte and Woodville. On June 26, the remainder refused to proceed. Consequently, the militia, under the command of Army Captain G.S. Drane was tasked to mobilize the group and escort them to Waterloo. Arriving in miserable condition on July 10, 1838, the Cherokee were placed on a boat to continue their journey West.
The "Trail of Tears" which resulted from the Indian Removal Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1830, is one of the darkest chapters in American history.

Alabama Welcomes You the Union 22 State

Alabama's Fan Club and Museum, Randy Owens and Teddy Wayne Gentry

Alabama's Fan Club and Museum Mark Joel Herndon & Jeffrey Alan Cook

Alabama's Fan Club and Museum 

Alabama's Fan Club and Museum 

Fort Payne City Park

In Fort Payne City Park we saw several historical markers and the individual statues of Teddy Wayne Gentry, Jeffery Alan Cook, Randy Yeuell Owen, and Mark Joel Herndon of the group Alabama.

Fort Payne's Fort
The fort, consisting of a log house and large stockade, was built in 1838 by order of General Winfield Scott, commander of military forces responsible for the removal of Cherokee Indians.
Soldiers occupying the fort were commanded by Captain John C. Payne, for whom the fort was named.
Indians in the DeKalb County area who refused to move westward voluntarily were gathered and held in the stockade pending their forceful removal to the Indian territory.

Willis Town Mission
The mission was established in 1823 by the American Board of Missions to further education and Christianity among the Cherokee Indians. The mission operated until the Indian removal in 1838. 
Gravesite of Reverend Ard Hoyt, the first superintendent, marks the location of the mission near the corner of 38th Street and Godfrey Avenue.

Sequoyah 1760-1843
Born in Tennessee, Sequoyah moved to the Wills Town (DeKalb County, Alabama) area of the Cherokee Nation in 1818.
Here, in 1821, he invented an 86-symbol alphabet providing the Cherokees with the only written Indian language in the United States.
(Sequoyah, Maker Cherokee Alphabet)

Confederate War Marker

Fort Payne's Train Museum.
The Fort Payne Depot Museum was erected in 1891. 
It is housed in a unique Richardsonian Romanesque building of locally quarried pink and white sandstone. It served as a depot for the Alabama-Great Southern Railroad for approximately 85 years. The Gussie Killian Collection contains extensive examples of Native American basketry, pottery, and artifacts housed in the north room. Our south room displays the L.A. Dobbs exhibit along with memorabilia from the Civil War, World War I and II, as well as the Vietnam War. 

Boom Town Historic District
Around 1889-1891 Fort Payne experienced a great industrial boom due to promotion by New England investors who speculated greatly on the area’s mineral deposits. During this period several highly ornate commercial and civic buildings, along with the planned park, were constructed along Gault Avenue. The Fort Payne Opera House and other buildings in the same block constructed by the Fort Payne Coal & Iron Co., together with the Sawyer Building, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Depot & Union Park retain the integrity of the boomtown era and comprise a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, the year of Fort Payne’s centennial.

Fort Payne Train Museum.

Lookout Mountain Ruby Falls

Lookout Mountain Ruby Falls

Inside Ruby Falls we saw Potato Chips

Ruby Falls

Inside Ruby Falls we saw Steak and Potatoes

Lookout Mountain Ruby Falls

Relaxing after the long trip into the cave

My trip to Ruby Falls

My trip to Ruby Falls

Our last stop was in Chattanooga at Ruby Falls in Lookout Mountain. 

We watched a movie, went down an elevator, and then were taken on a guided tour through the caverns to a thundering underground waterfall 

Cost $18.95 each 

Lookout Mountain Welcome to Ruby Falls

Lookout Mountain
The Chattanooga area was firmly controlled by the Chickamauga Indians at the time of The American Revolution. The Cherokee Indian chiefs had signed peace and land treaties with the Colonial settlers. However, a small group of rebellious Cherokees were not in accord with these treaties and continued unabated warfare with the expanding settlers. They were called the Chickamauga's and were led by Chief Dragging Canoe. They were actively supported by the British through local agents and traders. The Government of North Carolina authorized a Military Campaign against them in the summer of 1782, pledging Continental Congressional support. Colonel John Sevier organized a force of some 250 "Nolichucky Riflemen" to pursue the Chickamauga and to rescue captives. On September 20, 1782, after several minor encounters, Sevier and his men engaged the Chickamauga's in a battle high in the Palisades at the north end of Lookout Mountain. The Frontiersmen's accurate rifle fire soon overcame their foes. This was an official Revolutionary War engagement and is considered by many to be the LAST “OVER-MOUNTAIN” BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The preliminary signing of the peace treaty ending the Revolution was on November 30, 1782.

Lookout Mountain 

We rode to Fort Payne Alabama to visit the Group Alabama Museum, and Train Depot Museum, and to the city park to see the statues of Teddy Wayne Gentry, Jeffery Alan Cook, Randy Yeuell Owen, and Mark Joel Herndon of the Group Alabama.

The historic markers that I took a picture of were Fort Payne’s Fort, Battle of Wauhatchie, Boom Town, Crown Town in Stevenson, Decatur County, Fort Payne City Park, Sequoyah Marker, The Trail of Tears at Bridgeport, and Willis Town Marker.

We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel in South Pittsburg, we rode over to Chattanooga and we went down into the cave to see Ruby Falls. 

Ruby Falls is 145 feet high underground waterfall, that has been named one of the most Incredible Cave Waterfalls on Earth.

It is America's deepest commercial cave and largest underground waterfall.

We went down an elevator shaft to the floor of the cave, where we were taken on a tour, we talked about the formations of the rocks and the grand fanatically was the colorful ruby falls which was small hole where water was coming out.

Some of the rock formations that we saw were Totem Pole, Crystal Chandelier, Donkey Formation, 

tobacco leaves, elephant's foot, Steak and Potatoes, Potato Chips, Leaning tower, Dragon's foot, Beehives, Angle's Wings, Niagara Falls, Weight Watchers Lane, and Leo's passage.

Another great day of sightseeing!