I have said this many times, I love the beds at Hampton Inn. We got a few hours of sleep before it was time for us to start the drive to Pigeon Forge. We grabbed some breakfast and then hit the road by 8:30am. The drive took us longer than expected because of traffic, construction and a stop in Florence, Kentucky to check out the Christmas Tree Shops and Kohl’s. After seven and a half hours, we arrived at the Hampton Inn & Suites Pigeon Forge On the Parkway ($134.10 USD / night not including taxes) at 4:00pm.
Once we got settled in our room, we texted Darren to let him know that we had arrived and were waiting to start the fun. We picked him up and decided that we needed to start the whirlwind weekend with dinner. We ended up at Bennett’s Pit Bar-B-Que where we enjoyed awesome barbeque while getting caught up. We still had a little time before Darren had to be at work, so we took a quick drive up and down The Parkway checking out all of the things that you can do in Pigeon Forge. The city is a cross between Las Vegas and Niagara Falls. It is very family friendly and I now can see why people keep coming back. There is just so much you can see and do here.
We got to the Memories Theatre where Darren is performing in a show called “Elvis and Friends”. Lucky for us, Darren was able to get us tickets to the show. The first half is various tribute artists which included Buddy Holly, Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Conway Twitty and Cher. All of the performers were good but I thought the Dolly Parton was the best. There was a short intermission and then Darren came out and did the second half. As always, he put on a great show.
After the show, we went over to The Island to explore. The Island is shopping and entertainment complex that has restaurants, rides, games and attractions. Because it was after 11:00pm, many of the shops and eateries were closed. But we did manage to ride The Great Smoky Mountain Wheel which is a two hundred foot tall ferris wheel. From the top you can see all of Pigeon Forge. We left The Island and had a late night snack at Steak ‘n Shake before dropping Darren at home.
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