Fifty By 50: Pigeon Forge- Alcatraz East & Titanic Museum, Gatlinburg and Smoky Mountains

Jason wanted to run some stairs today so while he did that,

I went down to the lazy river and just dipped my feet in for a bit.

It felt really nice.

It's very pretty here.

We wanted to just check Pigeon Forge out a little today so we drove down to the other end of the main road, parked the car and just started walking up the street.

There were so many cool things to see.

This place was called Wonderworks - it's an indoor amusement park for kids.

The Hatfields & McCoy spot looks so great.

They do a dinner show here.

There were some live animals outside in pens.

These cars were awesome.

I would love to go to a show here and if we ever come back, we most definitely will do that.

Another cool looking spot.

This place was called Beyond the Lens - it's an interactive museum for families - I think this would be a great spot to bring kiddos.

I so want to do a family trip here.

Next was the Titanic Museum.

Then there was the Wax Museum.

They have their own version of Mount Rushmore there.

Even King Kong.

There are just so many attractions all along the street.

We came to a giant Christmas store so I had to check that out for sure.

Cute deer ornament.

Some interesting picks.

Ideas for Christmas crafts.

Amazing nutcrackers.

The Mad Hatter one is fantastic.

They had so many different nutcrackers

Check out that turtle one.

They had an Elvis one.

A spooky skeleton one.

Some Nightmare Before Christmas decor - I don't think these ones were nutcrackers.

More sign ideas.

I had the craft show on the brain so I was taking pictures of things that I think I could make and I'm all about farm animals.

I can't really make this but I did think it was super cute.

I could maybe make it into a sign though and put "Merry Christmas from the Funny Farm" or something, give all the animals little bows.

There was SO MUCH STUFF to see.

Ba ha ha - another sign idea.

And another.

It just kept going and going.

The little joy ornaments would be easy to make.

Another sign idea.

Giant globes with Christmas villages inside.

Nice sign.

Another cute sign.

I had a lot of fun looking at all the Christmas stuff - I bought an ornament for a souvenir - it's a little pair of Elvis sunglasses - super cute.

When we went back outside, it was starting to sprinkle so we walked back to the car.

We were able to get an up close view of this place on the way back - what an awesome idea.

We were hungry so we went to a Cuban restaurant that Jason had found that had good reviews.

Smokies Cuban Cafe

Jason had this deep fried pork chunk dish that came with rice, black beans and plantains and the pork was probably the most delicious pork that I've ever tasted.

I had the Cuban sandwich and it was also fantastic.

We shared a beef empanada - it was good but my least favorite of what we tried.

Then I had one of their tres leches and it was amazing that I bought another to take with me.

I highly recommend this place and wish I could go back right now.

It was raining pretty good so we figured it would be a good museum day.

There was an Alcatraz East Crime Museum that Jason wanted to check out so we went there.

This is the description from Wikipedia

"Explore American history from a different perspective in five unique galleries that burrow deep into criminal profiles, the penal system, victim’s stories, crime prevention, forensic science, law enforcement and our justice system. The museum is 25,000 square feet, spread over 2 floors and includes over 100 interactives."

This punch buggy belonged to Ted Bundy

The side view.

These were Jeffery Dahmer's glasses.

This typewriter belonged to Ted Bundy.

This was a clown suit that belonged to John Wayne Gacy.

I'm kind of torn over stuff like this because on the one hand I feel like it is kind of interesting but then on the other hand, they are serial killers and I don't want to glorify them or anything and part of me feels like it's morbid stuff to be interested in.

This was the bronco from the infamous OJ Simpson car chase.

There was a shooting gallery at the end - Jason tried it and he did pretty well.

They had some neat things there like Ted Bundy's VW and the bronco from the famous OJ Simpson car chase.

After the Alcatraz museum it was still raining so we decided to take a drive over through Gatlinburg and then into the Smoky mountains which was only about a 15/20 minute drive away.

It was drizzling a little and kind of cloudy but still so beautiful.

There's our rental car.

Everything looks so green and lush - I love it.

Jason & I.

Jason.

I wish we had more time here - I would have loved to keep driving through the mountains but we decided to head back.

We drove back through Gatlinburg.

Gatlinburg kind of reminded me of a a mountain town back in Alberta like Banff or Jasper.

It looks like a spot I'd like to have more time to check out.

We came across an ice cream spot so we stopped for one.

Cute - I like his tongue sticking out to lick the ice cream.

I got two scoops in a waffle cone.

We went for a little walk along the road so I could eat it.

There were the same kind of trolley stops as they had in Pigeon Forge.

Look at all of the lush plants growing around it.

Lots of gorgeous homes up on the hills.

This little brook was right behind the ice cream store.

Pretty flowers.

After our ice cream we went back to Pigeon Forge and we had just enough time to check out the Titanic museum before it closed so that's what we did.

An example of a first class state room.

Replica of the hallways.

There was a mirror on the other side which just made it look longer.

This was a life jacket.

Some toys the kids in first class would have brought onboard with them.

They had a replica of the bridge and it looked out into a night sky.

Then when you go out it's just like the deck with the starry night and the iceberg off in the distance.

There was water just on the other side that they had at 28 degrees which is the temperature of the water that passengers went into the night the ship sank so you could touch it and get an idea of how cold it would have been.

It was very cold.

There was this little video playing about this boy from Iceland who was autistic and he took a liking to the Titanic and decided to build it out of legos.