Nashville & Pigeon Forge, TN

I go to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge every November, but I've never ventured further into Tennessee before so decided to stop in Nashville on the way.

The drive was brutally long and because it gets dark early this time of year I wasn't able to stop and see too much.  But KY Stonehenge was a must.

The pic is awful but it was night, there was no moon, and most important it's private property (the yard of the town's mayor no less), so there was no way I was going to get arrested to get a cool pic.   It's about 15 minutes north of Mammoth Cave in a town called Munfordville, KY.  I've now seen Foamhenge (a Stonehenge made of foam in VA that I was super impressed with), the real Stonehenge in England (which I wasn't impressed with because it was so touristy), and then this which was just awesome.

A few exits down the highway, saw this marker.  Check out the middle part - yup, a UFO partially blamed for this mess lol.  The marker was in a strange spot surrounded by fast food restaurants (a McDonald's was literally right across the street).

Then it was time for Nashville!  My first big stop was the Parthenon the next day.  It's an exact replica of the one in Greece.  I ended up staying there almost three hours.  Just walking around it was amazing, but then inside was an excellent art museum - they even had an exhibit on the 1897 Nashville exhibition the Parthenon was built for.  If you go to Nashville, do not skip this - it's totally worth a visit.

Of course everybody told me I had to see the Grand Ole Opry.  This was the extent of my visit.  I was more in the mood to see Jigsaw which was playing in an Opry Mills Mall theater next door.  Great movie btw, as good as the Saw 1 - 3 movies.

That night I hit up Broadway in Nashville.  That's like the Chippewa of Buffalo.  But they've got something there that tops anything in Buffalo - the HQ Beercade.  It's a bar but with tons of classic arcade games and pinball (good ones).  Here's the thing that makes it so different - no cover charge to get in and all the games were FREE!  Obviously they want you to buy food and drinks there and believe me I did.  Ended up staying there almost four hours.  But I left for a bit to see the entire area too - definitely the cool night spot in Nashville.

After that it was off to Pigeon Forge to meet up with my friends.  I absolutely love Dollywood and the entire area it's in.  Dollywood is the home to the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world.  It's kinda debateable whether it's really a wood coaster, but I love it (especially night rides) so don't care.

Lots of other random stuff happened too - Rowdy Bear Mountain alpine coaster, Jungle Boat ride, Big Top arcade, dancing fountains.  There's so much to do, it's impossible to hit it all in one trip (a year lol).

 

And finally, there was this...