In my Tennessee mountain home, life is as peaceful as a baby’s sigh – Dolly Parton, 1973
Driving into Tennessee we found ourselves in the Smoky Mountains and even with no leaves on the trees the scenery was beautiful and certainly reflected Dolly Parton’s fond reminiscent lyrics about her childhood home. We couldn’t have had a better segue-way to visiting Dollywood, our first Tennessee stop.
A quick detour to the Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine distillery warmed us up before we found our Airbnb cabin perched on the mountainside.
And then there was Dollywood… filled with all things Dolly, her theme park has been transformed into a winter wonderland for Christmas with a whopping five million lights illuminating the park. All over the park there are shows and entertainers – including members of the Parton family – sharing their music. Between this and the museums, rides, shops and restaurants there was plenty to keep us occupied.
Our next Tennessee stop was one that was completely unplanned and one that we debated long and hard about sharing on the blog. But in the interest of sharing our USA experiences we’ve decided to include it. Let us start by saying Sammy is fine, healthy and great now. But she was feeling decidedly unwell which led to a 24-hour stay in hospital and us being able to add “experience the American health system” to our list of things to do on our road trip. America, we can honestly say our experience was excellent. The care that Sammy, and I, received was second to none, from the nurses to housekeeping to doctors to diagnostic imaging staff. We were looked after so well and made to feel like we were a priority at all times. An enormous thank you to all the staff who looked after Sammy at LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, you were all exceptional. Even if I did remove a record 21 ECG dots from Sammy upon discharge – you were nothing if not thorough! 😂 A big thanks for the excellent wifi that allowed us to keep in touch with our family. We are totally impressed with our patient experience. We also need to say a big thank you to Covermore travel insurance – if any of our friends are travelling overseas from Australia, choose Covermore, they have been superb.
So with a happy healthy Sammy beside me again, we headed off to our next destination, one I have been super excited to get to and Sammy maybe not so excited😂… Nashville!
We kick-started our Nashville experience by attending a Grand Ole Opry show at the Ryman Auditorium. The Grand Ole Opry has been running for 94 years, broadcasting live country music into homes the world over. We’ve also taken in a show at The Listening Room, showcasing aspiring country musicians accompanied by only a guitar.
Tennessee, you have ticked all the boxes so far (including some unexpected ones) and we can’t wait to continue our time here 😊
S&P