For our second full day on our trip, we spent the day in Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge was just as busy as Gatlinburg, so we aimed for an early start. We started the day at the Moon Pie General Store, which was fun to see the different flavors (and sizes!) of moon pies. It is also a GIANT bookstore, so I wasn’t sure we were ever going to be able to pull Wormy and Squid out!
After that, we all moved on to the Alcatraz East experience. It was a fascinating crime museum, and had a lot of neat interactive experiences inside. The girls learned some important life skills, like how to crack a safe and hack an internet account. Squid learned how to drive in a police chase, and Wormy learned how to walk the white line while wearing beer goggles. They both rocked at disarming explosives and escaping from a jail cell! I’m not sure what to think of that…We all also really enjoyed the laser maze experience.
Once we all finished committing, I mean solving, crimes, we headed outside to “The Island.” This area is a shopping and restaurant area that also has a giant fountain in the middle that is surrounded by rocking chairs. We had a blast looking at the giant Christmas tree and soaking in the ambience here.
By this time, we were STARVING, but we had a plan to avoid the crowds and long waits at the restaurants in town. We drove to the Busch’s Baked Beans Visitors Center in Dandridge, which was only a half hour drive or so (plus traffic). This is where they make the beans, and they have a cute museum and cafe onsite. We started at the cafe for lunch. When you arrive, they give you a small cup of the ‘Bean of the Day’ for you to try. For us, it was the Taco Fiesta beans, and they had lots of awesome flavor!
The cafe food was really good – I had pulled pork with sweet potato fries, and LOVED it. Wormy was excited because she got a big bowl full of (non-box made) mac & cheese along with some onion rings. Squid ate grilled cheese, and my hubby had a fish plate (that came with hush puppies). I think my bro got the same thing I did, but I don’t remember. However, my sis got chicken fingers and she said they were amazing. The most interesting thing about the cafe was the desserts – they had a pinto bean pecan pie. Of course we had to try it, and it was DELICIOUS. You couldn’t tell there were beans in it, and they shared the recipe with all the customers. The beans basically took the place of the corn syrup you would normally add, so I keep telling myself it is a healthy pecan pie!
After lunch, we went into the museum and learned about how the beans are made and canned. There were interactive spots for the girls (and us!) to play while learning, and there were a lot of photo opportunities. It was a great spot, and not crowded at all! It was a refreshing break from the craziness of Pigeon Forge, and we were all so glad we went.
We had wanted to go to the Titanic Museum, but they did not have any tickets available for the entire 4 days we were in town. I’m posting a picture of the museum here, though, because it looked so cool!
The other neat thing about Pigeon Forge at this time of year is that they have Christmas decorations everywhere! We got to see the 12 Days of Christmas in the median of the main highway running through town. I had heard Dollywood is full of amazing lights and shows, but we just couldn’t fit that in with the cost and the amount of people in town. It’s not like we can’t come back again some day….
Car Full of Harmony 