Vacationing with mom

My mom came out from Washington from the 24th of May until the 1st of June. During her visit we drove down to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee so we could go to Dollywood and see The Smokey Mountains. My mom is a Dolly Parton fan so we thought it would be fun to go down and see her theme park. Here are the pictures from our adventures!

Black Bear Jamboree

Our 1st night we went to a dinner show called the Black Bear Jamboree. The food was great and the show was amazing! Rosalee had a wonderful time dancing to the music and even fell asleep during the show. This is definetly something I would recommend to anyone and something I would hope to go to again.

Rosalee playing with her placemat.

Rosalee and I got to be part of the show.

She loved the giant bears!
DOLLYWOOD!!!!

Rosalee's Elvis face

The Dollywood Express- this train took us up into the mountains and around the borders of Dollywood.

Rosalee all tuckered out!

Happy baby!!!!

Classy :)
Rosalee's 1st ride

She was VERY happy and spent the whole time smiling and squealing. She was wiggley and hard to hold on to, but it was fun for both of us.
Dolly's tour bus

Parked in Dollywood is Dolly Parton's actual tour bus. We figured it's parked because of the high price of diesel but no matter what the reason is, we were happy to see it!

Dolly's bedroom

Her make-up area
The American Eagle Sanctuary

A 5 ounce screetch owl that I find adorable

I got to be part of the show! A black vulture came out and landed on my arm 3 times. At first I was nervous but the bird didn't weigh that much or stay on my arm for long.

The red tail hawk that flew over the crowd

This crow is trained to take money from your hand and put it into the box. My mom was one of the last people to see him so he was tired by the time she offered him a dollar. She was able to pet him though and I think she liked that better.

Big Bone Lick State Park - Kentucky

About halfway back from Tennessee, near Union, KY, is a state park decided to paleontology. The first fossils were found by Lewis and Clark! They had a display showing how some of the primitive animals lived and died. There is also a large herd of bison in the park, but it was too hot for them to be hot. It was fun to stop, see the fossils, and then continue on back to Indiana.

What kind of museum?

On the way back from Tennessee we decided to stop at the Creation Museum near the Indiana border of Kentucky. The museum is reported to be about the Creation of the Earth by the Lord, and I admire them for making it, but it was weird! The place had more dinosaur things than Biblical displays. Randomly they'd have a dinosaur in the middle of a display or area. The children were greatly amused by the dinosaurs but it distracted from the point I thought they were trying to make. At one point the museum contradicted itself! They claimed that the dinosaurs died out in the Great Flood of Noah's time and then on the replica of the ark they had a pair of dinosaurs with an egg! It wasn't a crocodile or some other lizard, it was a full blown Jurassic Park toy. From the pictures it looks like we went to a dinosaur museum, not a museum about the Creation of the Earth. The place had very few good points and I'm sorry we went. The only good thing about going was that it delayed our return to Lafayette enough that we missed the tornadoes and nasty storms!