Tennessee Day 12 - 31st May 2012

Culture vultures that we are, our first day in the Smoky Mountains was a full day at Dolly Parton's theme park, where they were also holding a Bluegrass and Barbeque festival.

For the third and last time on the trip we decided to buy the touristy photo-as-you-enter-pay-as-you-leave shots.

The true enormity of finding myself in Dollywood starts to sink in...

 

 

The Valium kicks in...

 

 

It was good place to spend a day and without going on any of the rides - we even ran out of time to go on Dolly's tour bus.

Miche with a butterfly...

Miche in one of the larger souvenir stores, searching for that special Dollywood must-have...

At the Back Porch Theatre...

Dolly's Family Reunion

These are relatives of Dolly that perform a selection of her songs at the Back Porch Theatre.

This is her Uncle Bill, who as well as having an uncanny resemblance to Pappa Lazarou, was a key influence in Dolly's musical career...

The mosh pit takes a collective breather...

Could that be a wig?

There was an announcement that we were fortunate to have Heidi-Lou joining that day, somewhere in Tennessee a pie shop was doing much less business...

Dolly's Tennessee Mountain Home, a replica of the mountain cabin that she was born in...

Just the one bed...

Dollywood Express...

By way of an interlude to listening to the Bluegrass Festival, we headed off to enjoy the many delights of the Barbeque Festival...

Grange Hill sausage moment...

Back to the music, this is the Crosspoint String Band - very strong Gospel message, but musically very easy on the ear...

Dolly's Closet - I loved the sub-title "Her Style, Your Size" - Dollywood was probably the fattest place I've ever been to - for once I was bringing down the average...

For some reason, I did think Dollywood would be far camper than it was, it was actually more like a regular theme park with rides, etc, however this label was an exception...

Dolly's Museum...

As quoted by David Brent...

One last pose at the sign and it was off to board our road train back to car park C...

Next stop - day 13 - Cades Cove & hikes

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