Batters Up: 60th Birthday Celebration

This past weekend all of my family drove to Gatlinburg from 4 different states to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. My mom rented a house in the mountains and it was gorgeous!

The ride to Gatlinburg was also extremely beautiful. The roads were extremely curvy and almost made me wanna throw up, but we made it there right before the sun set. My brother fell asleep, but his son was a soldier. He made it the whole way without a nap to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Our first day in Gatlinburg my dad said he wanted to go to Dollywood so we made the short drive and stood in a very short line to get tickets. My parents bought the tickets (Thanks again!) and while doing so met a Dolly fan who thought my mom was Reba and wanted to stand as close to her as she could...

She was a cute Dolly impersonator... shape ups and all.

I had so much fun on all of the rides! I can honestly say this was instantly one of my favorite amusement parks. I was pretty skeptical since it was Dolly Parton's park. I really didn't know what to expect. However, the rides were quality, the food was inexpensive and delicious, and the employees were very helpful and friendly. I would definitely suggest everyone go there at least once.

Unfortunately it rained throughout the day so we spent a lot of the day under covered picnic areas. My niece was pretty upset that she was too short to ride one of the rides and she didn't get over it for a world record 2 hours. That's a long time for a 5 year old!

Her uncle tried to block her from the paparazzi that emerged when we all noticed her cute pouty face. Poor thing she was mad! Next year Laura Dora, just gotta grow a couple more inches.

The little ones were very tired so we decided to take a rain check.

We came home to a gorgeous view of the Smokies and a rainbow. Breathtaking...

The next morning we decided to shop the city. I was sort of disappointed. It was so touristy and every 5th store was selling the same thing. There most have been 14 fudge shops, 12 old time photo shops, and gift shops galore. We did get to stop by a sky lift and ride up the side of a beautiful mountain. Absolutely worth the 12.50 per person that I thought was craziness.

There was so much to see up there. I was shocked with views. I think I'm so entertained by the mountains because I have lived in Florida most of my life and haven't spent a lot of time around other terrain.