The showiness of the inside of the theater made me a bit uneasy. “What have we gotten ourselves into?” I wondered. We poked around the gift shop and had our photos taken again in front of a mural of an angel and somehow passed on the opportunity to own the 8 x 10 glossy finished printout. We were shown to our VERY, VERY good seats and looked on as some other people purchased flashing cross necklaces and light-up mugs the size of my head. I am not making either of those things up. I was figuring at this point that we had just spent our money on this lavish theater and what kind of money they were raking in. I hoped that we could make the best of it.

Then the emcee came out and as he shared, many of our reservations began to fall away. He shared about the theater’s goal of sharing the gospel and of the production’s history. As the musical started we were blown away by the cast, the music and the mechanics. The boys LOVED the angels sword fighting overhead!!

At the intermission, the same emcee [who played James and later the thief who didn’t come to accept Jesus] talked more about the mission of the theater and invited people to purchase half price tickets to donate to area nursing homes and children’s homes. We went out into the lobby where MOST OF THE CAST [minus Jesus and Satan] were working in the concessions! Seriously. Judas put the butter on our popcorn and Peter pulled our Coke off the draught.

After the second half [and about a gallon of popcorn] we were so glad we had not missed the chance to see this production. It was spectacular and Biblically sound. We were blessed.

If you click here, you can see a video. We had different actors playing Jesus and Satan, and they do change the musical a bit from year to year, portraying different miracles and parables. We’d definitely see it again, given the chance.

I can not think of one single negative about this water park.
Really and truly.
This is the nicest water park we have ever been to.

HUGE.
FUN.
Lots of stuff for every age and speed.

Lots of places to rest, shady or sunny.

This playthings are soft to the touch but so strong!

This area is called The Cascades and we had them to ourselves for the first 15 minutes on the first day we visited.

Bear Mountain Fire Tower
This area was lots of fun.

Grown ups and Angel sat still…
Beau, Champ and Skeezix did not!

☺

Playing in Little Creek Falls

Pigeon Forge, TN in the Great Smoky Mountains.

My, how I wish I could pontificate about the great hiking trails, the majestic vistas, river fishing and the white water rafting we embraced.

Truth is, we went to visit Dollywood.

Yes, Dollywood.

Pigeon Forge is the hometown of none other than the lovely Dolly Parton. She bought an amusement park in 1986 and put Pigeon Forge on the map. In the mean time she has infused gazillions of dollars to this otherwise quiet area.

I don’t know if it is nature or nurture, but our kids are good with amusement parks, just like JB and I. None of us are all that keen on hiking or boating. Sure, we’ll try it for awhile… as long as we end UP at an amusement park or a swimming pool. 😉

We bought season passes and enjoyed three days at Dollywood and two days at Dollywood’s Splash Country. I’ll bring you some pictures from there tomorrow. For now – I managed to find 15 pictures to post from Dollywood… out of the 177 or so that I took.

For the record, we highly recommend this park. It really is built right into the foothills of the mountains. The terrain is hilly to put it mildly and you are surrounded by trees. If you find yourself standing in the direct sunlight it is only because you have a good reason for not walking five feet in any direction to get under a shady spot.

And while most adults understand that Christianity is sometimes just cultural in the south, my kids do not, and they openly enjoyed the atmosphere of “God Bless Y’All,” and “Bless Yer Heart.” I for one was tickled to see a Christian book and gift store right inside the park. I’m guessing the Disney people aren’t penciling one into Magic Kingdom anytime soon. And on another day I will post about the theater we went to, celebrating the life of Christ.

We highly, highly recommend this park. We are not so thrilled with the little road that is overbuilt and under-wide that leads into and out of the region… but when you get past that, it is awesome.

Thanks for looking!

Daddy and Angel being lumberjacks!
Mommy and the boys being ridonculous!

The gang inside Dolly’s retired bus.
[My kids were delighted to see her Bible out by her bed.]

Riding the steam-engine-pulled train around the park.

Look who got soaked on the River Battle!

No comment!

River Battle rocks.
Eight people to a raft, four facing it each of two opposite directions.
You try to hit targets in the water…
and people on the land.
They work to hit you, too!

Scramlin’ Nan and Skeezix.

Sitting JB and Aunt Betty.
And an Angel bouncing around.

Who wouldn’t want to pose with a weiner?

[Totally had to type that for my Canadian family and friends.]

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT???

[Here is an aside: since 2005 we have been trying to get ourselves to Dollywood. For a number of years Bob, Larry and the gang were featured in stage shows and pirate-y productions. We finally get here… and they are retired. We saw Zooboomafoo guys instead. :S]

PS – this might be my Christmas card. Act surprised and delighted if you get on in the mail come November. 😉

She thought she was on a bunny.

Skeezix is an excellent driver despite that bizarre look on my face.
I just want to show you I was there.

This ride rocked, too.

I will tell you some other funny story soon!