We Take Ourselves With Us

Part way through the day at Dollywood, I told Ned I might be getting a cold.  By Monday, there was no "might" about it.  A quick stop at the gas and go provided me with Gatorade and DayQuil--Mother Nature's remedy.  Well, someone's remedy. Then, there's the apple a day keeping the doctor away.  South of the Mason-Dixon, this translates into complimentary apple fritters, apple muffins, apple butter, and apple juleps at the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant .  Health food! Dreaming of apples ...  This road trip, we alternated iTunes shuffle with Station Eleven until ... we hit good ol' Southern white out rain.  I'd have taken a picture if I weren't so busy pretending not to be freaking out.  Flashers on, we drove on the tail of the guy in front of us for about a third of our trip.  Don't miss that at all.  Blargh.  But, steel-nerved Ned got us through safe and sound. We knew one thing that would restore our vacation cool--so

Good morning, Day Two! We slept in a bit and then rolled down to the buffet for breakfast, finding new nooks along the way.  Our destination was Dollywood, and with temps estimated to be in the mid 90s, we sunscreened and hatted up. For thirty years, I lived near the Mouse; our kids started on Magic before their first birthdays. We even had season passes.  But, since moving to New York, we've grown to love regional theme parks.  The kids love their focus on roller coasters; we love their smaller size and attention to detail.  It's like they know they're not Disney, so they try extra hard.  Staff are super nice; food is usually surprisingly good; and everything seems more affordable.  So, no surprise that we loved Dollywood. This tree situates Dollywood in the timeline of life that includes when the Grand Ole Opry began televising--but of course.  All that country music turned Penn into Nosferatu. And Ned into a presidential candidate--w

Sometime during the winter, CBS Sunday Morning (which we watch every Sunday as a family; Harper expresses great displeasure whenever Charles Osgood deigns to call in sick) ran a feature on the Mammoth Caves.  We watched in awe. "We want to go to there," we thought.  With a bit of time on Google Maps, we realized we could visit the caves in Kentucky and then visit Tennessee: Nashville, Memphis, Dollywood!  And so ... We're on summer vacation in the South.  As my Southern-born and named son Penn observed, "You know you're in the South when the church is selling fireworks as a fundraiser."  Note, he said this just as we pulled into Zaxby's--where fried chicken fingers are an art form. Our trip began in the land of another chicken delicacy: Buffalo.  After getting our Upstate-on at Anchor Bar. Fried pickles, wings, wing dip, wing nuggets, beef on weck? Um, yes. We settled down at the gate, where for the first time in my hundreds of f