We visited Dollywood, Dolly Parton’s theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Theme park map; click or tap to view on their site:
An interactive map:
Author: David
Blue Ridge Parkway south end
South of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We visited the northern end a few weeks ago.
Entering the southern end of the parkway:
There were several tunnels:
Views:
Fire lookout:
Visitor center:
Elevation 5,820 feet:
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
We visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina over several days, starting with a long drive from Pigeon Forge, north of the park, to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the southern side of the park (plus a bit further to the southernmost visitor center of the Blue Ridge Parkway; see a separate post about that).
The NPS map; click or tap to interact:
An interactive map of our route:
Parking tag required:
Elk were re-introduced to the park in 2001:
Oconaluftee Visitor Center:
Farm exhibits:
Elk in front of elk sign:
An interactive map of our route for our second visit, to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and Clingmans Dome:
Sugarlands Visitor Center:
Clingmans Dome:
Passport stamp:
Split rock:
Path to the lookout; we decided not to go up there:
View:
An interactive map of our route for our third visit, to Cades Cove:
Horses:
Old church:
View:
Visitor Center:
Old farm buildings:
Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge
We stayed at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)
One day we’ll learn that staying at resorts is a waste of money for us, but it was not this day.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-06-30
- Check out: 2024-07-07
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy, some rain
- High temps 83-91°F, lows 64-73°F
- Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- Some neighbor noise (mostly kids)
- Nightly fireworks at nearby Dollywood
Site:
- #84, back-in, concrete
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
- Somewhat unlevel site (surprisingly for concrete; high on front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
- Concrete driveway about 50 feet long by 18 feet wide
- 25 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- A couple young trees
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 25-55 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
- AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- Verizon: 15-24 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage pickup from site
- Pools
- Restaurant (in theory with to-site delivery, but that didn’t work when we tried it)
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice resort near Great Smoky Mountain NP
We’re not “resort” people, but this one was nice. It was the nicest-looking resort close to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and far enough off the main road, so it was reasonably quiet. The sites are all concrete pads, so you’d expect them to be level, which ours was not. Weird, but not a problem. We were down in “the valley,” which is the farthest you can get to the resort amenities, but that probably contributed to it being quieter. Our site was spotless, and all the utilities worked well. I loved being able to go up to the restaurant for coconut shrimp and a margarita (super spendy, but a bonus nonetheless). We camped at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Griddle:
Utilities:
Our site and others:
Bathhouse:
Lodge:
Restaurant dinner menu:
Fancy fried green tomatoes:
Burger and coconut shrimp, plus margaritas:
Lodge:
Foyer:
Breakfast buffet:
Pool area:
A nice resort, and we do appreciate an on-site restaurant, but we’re not really into other resort facilities. We probably won’t stay here again.
Video: Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 246 miles from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Travel from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
We drove our coach 246 miles, about four hours of driving, from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map, showing potential stops:
We had no sewer hookup at our campsite; when we were ready to leave our gray and black tanks were both at 83%:
So we stopped by the dump station on the way out:
A very narrow road out of the park:
Of course, as we head out of West Virginia, we had to play John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads:
Country roads:
Fun with zoom:
South on I-77:
5% downgrade; nice to have actual hills for a change:
East River Mountain tunnel:
“Welcome to Virginia”:
Rest stop:
Big Walker Mountain tunnel:
A colorful water tower, painted to look like a hot air balloon:
Fuel stop:
Sbarro for lunch:
Back to our coach:
An accident ahead:
“Tennessee Welcomes You”:
Rest area:
Heading in to Pigeon Forge:
Titanic:
Hollywood Wax Museum:
MagiQuest:
Swimwear and alligators:
Camp Margaritaville:
Check in:
Arriving at our site:
Custom couch side tables
While in Red Bay we also got Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets to create custom side tables for our theater seating couch.
We already had nice side tables that we bought from Dave & LJ’s RV Interior Design in Woodland, Washington, along with our couch. Here’s the one on Jenn’s side of the couch, next to the kitchen pull-out counter and drawers:
And my side, using the top drawer as a surface for my iPad:
They were nice, but we wanted ones that were sized better for the space, matched the look of built-in cabinets, and had a better pull-out surface on top. Cody was able to produce custom units to match our requirements.
Here he’s removing the old units:
Jenn’s new unit, without the top; you can see the pull-out surface:
My unit installed:
The pull-out surface is very useful for resting my iPad and MacBook Pro:
Jenn’s unit:
Hers also has the pull-out surface and two drawers:
Much better!
New River Gorge National Park: Thurmond and waterfalls
We visited the Thurmond area of New River Gorge National Park, plus a scenic drive to a couple more waterfalls.
The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route for visiting Thurmond and the waterfalls:
Waterfall on the way to Thurmond:
One-way car and rail bridge to Thurmond:
Thurmond:
Train engine:
Passport stamps:
Visitor center:
Train engine:
Historic Thurmond:
Back over the one-way bridge:
Glen Ferris falls:
New River Gorge National Park: Canyon Rim and Bridge
We visited the Canyon Rim area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Canyon Rim section has a visitor center that overlooks the iconic New River Gorge bridge, plus has a winding scenic drive down into the canyon, that passes under the bridge three times.
The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route for visiting Canyon Rim etc:
Going over the New River Gorge Bridge:
Visitor center:
Gorge viewpoint:
Bridge viewpoint:
We did the scenic Fayette Station Road driving tour, that goes down into the gorge:
One way bridge:
A view of the New River Gorge Bridge from the one-way bridge:
New River Gorge National Park: Sandstone Falls
We visited the Sandstone Falls area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Sandstone Falls section features a 1500 feet wide waterfall on the New River.
The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route for visiting Sandstone Falls:
“Masks are optional”; haven’t seen any mention of COVID-19 for a while:
Visitor center exhibits:
Viewpoint overlooking Sandstone Falls:
Sandstone Falls boardwalk:
