Where We Went on Vacation

I mentioned in my last Dare to Share Party that I was going on vacation, but not sure where I was going.  We knew we could not go real far, because our first grandbaby is due very soon, and we wanted to be able come home quickly if needed.  A few hours before we left, we decided to visit the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky.  Willamstown is about 45 minutes south of Cincinnati on I-75.  When you are visiting the Ark there are actually two different exhibits to visit.  The Ark itself, and its sister exhibit, the Creation Museum.  We chose to just see the Ark during this visit, but combo tickets are available if you decided to see both. 

The Ark was massive.  It is the actual size that the actual Ark would have been,  510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high. There were three levels where you could see how Noah and his family lived and took care of all the animals.   

When you are done seeing, they have a restaurant with a good buffet right on the property.  There is also a children's zoo, animal encounters, a playground, and a carousel.  When we were done seeing the ark, we drove a little bit farther south to visit the Richmond, Kentucky Buc-ees, and a nearby graffiti bridge. 

After all the walking we did at the Ark the day before, we decided to go to Cincinnati, and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge there on day two.  I had never been at one before, and swimming sounded good on a day that was almost 90 degrees. 

The room was really nice, and we had an excellent view of Kings Island from our balcony. 

Our stay included passes for the water park for two days.  We spent most of the first day, and part of the second day in the water.  

It was still really warm on day three. We had thought about going to Kings Island, but it was warmer than we would have liked.  We decided to go to the Cincinnati Zoo instead.  There is a lot of shade there, and we could leisurely walk to see all the animals.  

The Cincinnati Zoo is the home of the famous hippo Fiona, and her baby brother Fritz.  Since it was warm afternoon, a lot of the animals were resting, but we were still able to take some great pictures.   After the zoo, we went back to the Great Wolf Lodge for a few more hours and then to dinner.  

Day four we had the perfect weather to visit Kings Island.  I had not been there since my kids were little.  I had not been on a roller coaster since 2017, so I was happy to find out that I can still handle riding most of them. I sat out on a few of the rides like the Banshee, and Mystic Timbers, but the rest I rode.  

If you are looking for a good choice for food while in the park, check out Tom and Chee. I love both grilled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese.  They have a sandwich that is mix of both, and it is so good!! 

At the end of the night, they have a nice but short fireworks and drone show. The park was not that crowded, the weather was beautiful and it turned out to be a great day.  

Our last day of vacation we did something special.  Saturday was the first preseason game for our favorite team the Cincinnati Bengals.  They were playing Tampa Bay, and the price of tickets for a preseason game were very reasonable.  We were also sitting in great seats with an excellent view.  

This was my view!  Joe Burrow played in the first series, and threw to Tee Higgins for a touchdown.  The rest of the game he stood on the sidelines with his helmet off with the rest of the team.  I definitely did not have any problems with that.  LOL!  Unfortunately we did not win the game, but it was definitely a fun experience.  

This week will be one to remember.  We were able to do all the things we have been wanting to do for awhile, just all at once. If you ever have a chance to go on vacation without any plans and decide where you go as you go along, I highly recommend it. 

The Dare to Share party will be back this upcoming Friday!  

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Our Trip to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge

Two weeks ago we spent a few days in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  If you missed the first part of our trip  can see it here.  On the second day of our trip we knew we wanted to go back to do one more thing in downtown Gatlinburg before heading to Pigeon Forge, and that was to visit the Sky Park Bridge.  On the way to the bridge we saw a lot of fun signs like this one in front of on of their restaurants. 

Right next to the Sky Park is this spooky building, the Mysterious Mansion.  It is supposedly one of the oldest "haunted houses" in the area that you are able to walk around on your own self tour.  I personally do not like haunted houses, so I was not to upset that it was closed on this day.  I did think the outside looked pretty cool though. 

To get to the Sky Park Bridge you have to ride a ski lift. While on the lift, it was not that far off the ground.  

I found another giant chair! 

Pretty much every where you look around Gatlinburg you will see black bear statues in various shapes and sizes.  I think this one with a mama bear and her two cubs was my favorite.  This was an area on one side of bridge that had pretty views of the main street below.  A lot of this attraction was destroyed in the 2016 Gatlinburg fires. They had to replace the ski lift, and the upper terminal.  They had plans to rebuild/upgrade the bridge, and it was supposed to be completed in October 2016, one month before the fires.  They were not able to start it when planned though, so the timing worked out in their favor. They rebuilt everything after the fires.

The bridge is 680 feet long, and the longest pedestrian cable bridge in North America.  While you could feel it moving a little bit, it was secured with giant cables and felt very safe.   

This was the view near where the bear statues were located.  Since we were there in early March, it was still early in the season for all the green grass and leaves to come back. 

After a quick lunch, and a stop at a nearby Buc-ees, we drove around Pigeon Forge to check out the sites.  Dollywood was a few days from opening, so most places were not very busy.  While we were not ready to eat yet, we stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe to see the memorabilia.  They had some fun items at this location, including a dress worn by a certain blond superstar who had the biggest tour in the world this year. :) 

We drove by the Titanic Museum.  I know there is also one in Branson, Mo which is not that far from where some of my family lives.  It was already pretty late in the day, so we did not stop there on this trip.  

Another cool place to visit is the Hollywood Wax Museum.  We did not stop at this location this time, because we recently saw the one in Branson which you can read about here.

 

We did see a familiar face on the side of a building and decided to check it out.   At Downtown Flavortown, you can play games in the arcade, bowl in a small bowling alley, and eat at Guy Fieri's Tiki Bar. 

This giant Guy Fieri rubber duck is over 5 ft tall.  

You can also see his red convertible from Diners, Drive Ins and Dives up close. 

Downtown Flavortown is located in a cute little shopping area. We found a great gift shop there with affordable souvenirs.  I bought a few T-shirts and sweatshirts for only $9.99 each. There was an area with a fire pit where you can sit and rest.  While we were sitting there, a man was giving kids' rides on a colorful train around the shopping area.  It looked like fun, but it was not big enough to grownups to ride.  LOL  

At this point it had started to rain, so we headed back to Gatlinburg a few miles away.   We were starting to get hungry so we decided to eat a late dinner.  It was already almost 8 pm, so we stopped by Jason Aldeen's Kitchen and Roof Top Bar. 

We decided to eat salads, and have one of their signature drinks.  Since it was raining we did not eat on the rooftop, but on the middle floor.  It had open windows and a nice view of the street below.   The food was yummy, and the service was great.  It was then time to walk back to our hotel while we finished up another great day in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. 

 

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