{Travel} Tennessee Trip - Day 4 - Anakeesta, Pool Day and Mexican Food!

I am back with Day 4 of our Tennessee trip after taking a little break for my Halloween decoration and Trader Joe's posts.

[Outfit of the day]

We were heading to Anakeesta Mountain Adventure Park in Gatlinburg.

We got there as they were opening and found a parking spot right out front.  You can take a gondola up the mountain and they also have vans if you prefer to drive up.

We bought our tickets online and got through the entry line quickly. We boarded our high speed all glass gondola for a smooth, gorgeous ride to the top.

The views at the top were stunning. We climbed up the observation tower for even more views of the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg.

We weren't really sure what to expect of Anakeesta but we loved it.

We caught "The Vampirettes" show and enjoyed their on spin on popular songs.

We were there for the Bear-Varian Festival that begins in late August and runs through November 1st.

It felt like a Bavarian village.

We enjoyed walking around and seeing it all.

We explored The Treetop Skywalk which is the longest tree based sky walk in North America.  It had 880 feet of bridges that hang 50-60 feet in the air to get a birds eye view of the forest and mountains.  It was beautiful but I was happy when we finished, my legs were a little wobbly!

I had to check out Willow's Toyshop.

There were lots of places to just sit and enjoy this spectacular view.

We decided to join in on the Bear-Varian Beer Tasting and got Beer Tasting Cards. We each got 6 samples and could choose from all of these brews from around the park.

We shared this massive soft pretzel with our first beer (and a view!) as part of the Bear-Varian Fall Fest.

We also caught the Bear-Varian Bonanza Games for Oktoberfest fun. 

Willow is the park's mascot and known as the Keeper of The Forest.

Bird Venture had larger than life bird houses, interactive adventure zones and slides.  

We had a great day at Anakeesta!

We came back to the hotel and enjoyed some time at the pool.

Taking in the views from the rooftop area of the hotel.

Heading out to dinner.

Mr Click found a highly rated Mexican restaurant called Cielito Lindo.

The food was great!

We stopped at Andy's Frozen Custard on the way home and we liked that as well

Another full and fun day!

to be continued...

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{Travel} Tennessee Trip - Day 3 Dollywood, Smoky Mountain National Park & Cades Cove

Here we are at Day 3 of our Tennessee trip. I loved waking up to the Smoky Mountains.

We were heading back to Dollywood that morning.

We wanted to hit all of the attractions we hadn't done the day before. First up was Dolly's tour bus.

They only allow groups of 6 at a time so it was a little bit of a wait.

This was Dolly's room in the back.

Some of her tour outfits.

The details were so pretty, down to her dishes.

Our tour guide was wonderful and got choked up talking about his interactions with Dolly Parton. He was a performer at the park and got to meet her a few times. 

We toured a replica of her childhood home.

Another fun pumpkin display.

We were pretty amazed by this Tennessee Water Tree!  We watched an outdoor show and then headed to the indoor show. 

We didn't know what to expect from "Heidi Parton(Dolly's niece) Kin & Friends" but it was quite good.

They end with a song that Heidi wrote and Dolly had recorded with her.

We stopped at the Front Porch Cafe for some lunch.  I tried the chicken club on a butterfly shaped pretzel roll.

On our way out of the park we stopped at the Spotlight Bakery to get a look at the famous 25 pound apple pie!

This is the size of slice should you get one! We bought a cookie for the road.

A sweet tribute.

We were looking for coffee and stopped in this cute area called The Old Mill. I had to go into the Smoky Mountain Cat House to say hi to the kitties.

We got our coffee at Lucky Brews. I tried the white chocolate pumpkin latte.

We wanted to check out the Cades Cove Loop in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and stopped in at the ranger station for directions once we got there. They showed us the map of the stops along the way.

It's an 11 mile, one way paved loop with scenic views, historic homesteads and possible wildlife sightings.

The views were spectacular.

We spotted some wildlife-- wild turkeys!

We didn't stop at every site but got out when we wanted a better look.  The drive took us about an hour and a half.   We headed back to the hotel.

We tried a restaurant near the hotel called Bullfish Grill. I got a chicken rice bowl.

We had passed The Inn At Christmas Place and were curious about it so we stopped in. Santa was doing a bedtime talk/show with some guests.

We peeked around the lobby.

It is Christmas there 24/7!

It is decorated quite festively and felt like a Hallmark movie.

to be continued...

Linking up:

Talking About it Tuesday

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