Gatlinburg, Part 3

The first night we were in Tennessee, we were supposed to go see the parade. It was supposed to be a really big deal and something like 80,000 people usually come to see it. I like parades and all but have I metioned it was cold outside???

And also, that I HATE being cold!!

Oh, I did mention that already.


Well, then you can imagine how excited I was about the thought of sitting outside for hours in the 15 degree weather.....with a 4 year old who also HATES to be cold and a 9 month old who would have been bundled up so much that no one would know whether I had a baby or a blanket burrito!


We were planning on going to the Dixie Stampede on Saturday. The week before we left my dad found out we were going and mentioned that he could get us discounted tickets through his work because they are one of the sponsors for the race team he works for. Then, after a bunch of back and forth they told us they don't do discount tickets for anyone on Saturdays or Sundays in the month of December. But they do still do it on Fridays and how perfect is that?!? Great excuse to NOT go to the parade without telling everyone I just didn't want to go! The discount was amazing and ended up saving our group of 13 around $300!! We couldn't pass it up! So we skipped the parade and went to Dixie Stampede and everyone loved it. Caden was in awe the whole time and could barely eat for watching everything so intently! They don't allow flash photography inside so I only have a couple of pictures from after it was over. It was wonderful though. They even included the story of Jesus' birth. I was very happy they didn't leave Jesus out of their Christmas show! (I mean, it is his birthday you know ;) )


On Saturday morning, Scottie and I went to the new Titanic museum. Caden and our niece Alayna went with us. It was A-MAZE-ING!!! The story of the Titanic has always facinated me and Scottie. I would love to go down to the actual wreckage in a submarine or something! They are doing a cruise in April 2012 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. It will go on the same route that the Titanic went and will stop over the site of where she sank at the exact time that it happened and have a memorial service. Scottie and I looked at some prices for tickets and of course it was a little too expensive for us justify paying. But I'm sure it would have been very interesting!

The stage.  I would love to have a house like that to decorate for Christmas.  So pretty!

Caden with his flag and his souvenier boot cup!

He LOVED the show!

The outside of the Titanic museum.  It looked like the front half of the ship.  How cool is that?!?

When you go in, they give you a boarding pass that looks just like the actual ones from 1912.  On the back it has information about a passenger that was aboard the ship.  It tells things like why they were traveling, where they were going and some about their family.  But you have to wait until you get to the Memorial room to see of you lived or died.

This was my person.  She was married to "Diamond Jim" Baxter who was in prison.  He had told her where he had a lot of money hidden and she and her son and daughter went and got the money and boarded the ship to come to the states.  Helene and her daughter made in on one of the lifeboats but her son unfortunately did not.

This was Caden's person.  He was a 2nd Class Saloon Steward (he worked on the ship).  He lived!

This was Scottie's passenger.  He was a 1st Class Bedroom Steward. (He cleaned bedrooms).  He was the steward for Titanic builder Thomas Andrews.  He lived!

The front of the building looked like it was splashing through the water but it was scraping along the side of an iceburg.  There was a room inside that had an "iceburg", a wall of ice that you could touch and also a pool of water you could stick your hand in to feel exactly how cold the water was that night. 

 Let me just tell ya......

It. Was. COLD!!!!!!

I only lasted like 5 seconds......with only one hand!

I can't imagine what it would have been like to have your whole body plunged into that icy water even for a few seconds, much less hours.  Bless those poor peoples hearts.

Caden acting goofy!  "Can you believe that?!?"

The three of us.  Jaxten stayed at the cabin with Nana.

This was the sign at night.  We went by on Friday night because every Friday and Saturday night in December they have a snow machine on the roof blowing snow out over the parking lot.  I took pictures of that too but they didn't turn out so great.

The Titanic at night.

I absolutely loved the museum.  That is a place I definately want to go back to.  They had so much stuff in there and it was hard to see every picture and read every bit of information on every artifact.  The grand staircase was AWESOME too.  It was an exact replica of the grand staircase on the ship and it was kind of surreal to walk up and down it.  They said they spared no expense and made the floors out of the most expensive material of that time.  It was something even more expensive than tile or marble........linoleum. LOL 

I so wish we could have taken pictures inside. 

Anyway, we had an amazing time!!