Pigeon Forge – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

Parrot Mountain and Gardens

We started our day with a trip to Tractor Supply so that I could replace my lost hat.

Then the question was, how to spend the rest of the day? We agreed that another hike was not in the cards. Our legs needed a break.

There are an endless number of activities to do in Pigeon Forge. One could seriously vacation here every year and never do the same activity twice.

Eventually, I talked Greg into going to Parrot Mountain and Gardens. I could tell he was less than enthused, but being the good husband that he is, he went along with the idea. I’m not really an animal person, but I thought I might get some pretty pictures of flowers to use for my paintings.

Holy moly, this place did not disappoint!

When you first walk in, there are parrots and other exotic birds sitting on perches out in the open everywhere.

They have every kind of exotic bird here. I was completely enthralled by all the bright colors. It’s hard to believe that Mother Nature could come up with so many beautiful color combinations and patterns.

Look at these gorgeous colors!

And the patterns! Mother Nature is the ultimate artist.

Mother Nature also has a great sense of humor!

This guy desperately wanted to eat my phone.

One of the highlights of our visit was getting to hold the birds.

Later, we got to feed some lories.

And at the very end of the tour, we stepped into the bird nursery. Here, all the birds were for sale.

This little fellow even color-coordinated with Greg’s shirt!

I don’t know how I feel about taking birds out of their natural habitat and keeping them in a zoo, but my ambivalence did not detract from my enjoyment of the experience at all.

Greg and I had a fantastic time getting up close and personal with these beautiful creatures.

Mountain Valley Winery

After leaving Parrot Mountain, we headed to Mountain Valley Winery for a wine tasting. I’m not gonna lie. This place was a bit of a disappointment.

When we walked in, there were four counters and no seating area. We stood at the first counter (we were the only customers), and the salesperson invited us to try four different wines.

I tried four sweet wines, and Greg tried four dry wines. He had to pay $5 for the dry wines.

We liked the wines, but we were really looking for a relaxing experience, someplace where we could sip wine in a comfortable atmosphere and perhaps have an appetizer before going back to the camper to make dinner.

We ended up each buying a glass of wine, and the salesperson directed us to a patio outside, where we could relax.

It had a pretty view, but it was chilly out there. We didn’t linger.

Greg and I both agree that the wineries in the Finger Lakes are much better!

Titanic Museum and GSMNP

We began our day with a visit to the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge.

As we entered the museum, the staff — excuse me, “crewmen” — gave each of us a card with the name and statistics of one of the passengers on the Titanic.

I loved this idea because it gave us a personal connection to one of the passengers. As we continued through the tour, we tried to figure out whether our passenger had survived.

The first floor held artifacts and stories about the building of the Titanic, the layout, and the passengers. We weren’t allowed to take pictures on this floor, but it was extremely interesting and informative.

Then we went up to the next floor, where there were recreations of some of the Titanic’s rooms.

At the end of the tour, we got to find out what had happened to our particular passenger.

Since Greg’s passenger was one of the musicians, he played until the Titanic sank and perished along with the ship. My passenger was a 17-year-old girl, who survived and lived until the ripe old age of 81.

On our way out, we descended the grand staircase.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

After a quick lunch back at the camper, we headed to the Sugarlands Visitor Center for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg.

We talked to the park ranger about hiking opportunities within the park. Since neither of us was up to actually hiking today, we decided to drive around the park to get a feel for what we might like to do in the coming days.

The views were spectacular!

Greg decided he wanted to drive Newfound Gap Road, which is about 13 miles long.

We kept seeing light blue trees on top of the mountain. Greg thought the color was caused by clouds, and I wondered whether they were a special type of tree.

It was neither. It was snow covering the branches.

We finally reached the gap, where we parked and took some photos of the beautiful views.

Following our stop at the gap, we headed back to Pigeon Forge for dinner.

Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad that we decided to take a detour and have dinner in Gatlinburg instead of making dinner at the campground.

The restaurant was the Mellow Mushroom, and it was very good!

On the road again…

Greg and I are about to head out on our first camping trip of 2025. We’ll be doing a six-week trip through Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, with most of the time spent in Tennessee. Here is our tentative itinerary:

3/31 – 4/5	American Heritage RV Park	Williamsburg area
4/5 – 4/10	Waynesboro North 340 Campground	Charlottesville, VA, area
4/10 – 4/11	Pioneer Village RV Park	Port Chiswell, VA, area
4/11 – 4/18	Riverbend Campground	Pigeon Forge, TN, area
4/18 – 4/23	Spacious Skies Belle Ridge	Monterey, TN
4/23 – 4/28	Raccoon Mountain Campground	Chattanooga area
4/28 – 5/4	Elm Hill RV Resort	Nashville area
5/4 – 5/8	EZ Days RV Park	Memphis area
5/8 – 5/11	Thousand Trails Diamond Caves	Park City, KY, area
5/11 – 5/14	Louisville South KOA Holiday	Louisville, KY, area
5/14 – 5/17	Seneca Lake Park and Campground	Cambridge, OH, area
5/17 – 5/18	TBD	PA, somewhere

Child #2 and Child #4 will be holding down the fort for us. I’ve outfitted both of their bedrooms with fire escape ladders in case they set the house on fire while we’re away.

Tennessee, here we come!