December 12, 2009
We woke up super early and left Raeford at 6 AM heading towards Knoxville, Tennessee. We stopped at Bojangles for breakfast. Bojangles is apparently super popular in the south and another MUST eat at place. It was good, but super heavy for a breakfast meal. I got a biscuit sandwich and "botato" circles. My meal only cost like $3-4 which is relatively cheap for fast food now a days.
So after stopping to eat, we continued on our journey. It's funny because in California I complain about how cold I am and how it's "freezing" outside but after only being on the east cost for two days; my definition of cold had changed. Cold to me now is having to wear layers of clothing, gloves, hates, scarves and still feeling like your body is going to go numb! Haha
The drive to Knoxville was a bit longer than expected. The different between North Carolina and Tennessee is evident as soon as you cross the border. We said goodbye to dead fields of nothing to gorgeous mountains. 
The I-40 (our home for the next four days) was closed because of a rockslide so we had to take a different route which was longer. This route, however took us through Ashville, Where the Biltmore is. We figured since we were already here we might as well go and check it out, so we drive up there and find out that it cost $60 and takes three hours to see. So we give up and head back down the road…After many stops we finally reach Pigeon Forge, TN.
Pigeon Forge is the MOST random city, I have ever…ever seen. It consisted of 15 miles of different themed mini golf courses, helicopter rides, movie theaters, and billboards for all of the random shows that they have.
It was like the Vegas strip in Bizzaro world. Near the end of the strip is where you find Dollywood, which was our destination.
When we got there we were worried that we wouldn't be able to get in because we'd have to pay but the parking attendant informed us of a shoppers pass. The Shopper's pass lets you into the amusement park for free for only an hour. So we went in for an hour, bought souvenirs really fast and then walked around the place quickly checking out the sights then left.
After Dollywood we drove through Knoxville straight to Franklin to Lisa's cousin's house. Driving through Tennessee I noticed that it's not over populated like California. There just aren't that many people everywhere or on the roads. It's less busy and less stressful. Tennessee is one of the prettiest states I've been in so far. It's definitely cold but not as cold as Wilmington or Denver. I'm glad that we went to Lisa's cousin's house because it allows us to a less touristy part of Tennessee. Their house was huge and GORGEOUS. Lisa's cousins husband is a producer for a Christian record company. The basement of this house was a recording studio, it was amazing.
They suggest we go eat at this place called J Alexander. They say they've seen Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood Tim McGraw and Faith Hill there, but we didn't see anyone. The girls and I splurged for dinner and it was delicious. J Alexander is like your standard restaurant but a bit nicer than chilis or Applebee's. . The portions were big, I got a half chicken which wasn't dry and was very flavorable. It came with mashed potatoes. We wanted to see more of Tennessee and go out in Nashville but we were just too tired, so we headed back to her cousins house and went to bed.
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