Much like we did with our oldest, we wanted to plan a special one-on-one trip with L in celebration of her turning 10. L's Ten Trip started off last September with Part ONE, but got cut short due to impending weather forecasted with Hurricane Florence. I have been promising her that we'd finish her trip BEFORE she turned 11 later this month (I really think that she thought I'd forgotten!), so I surprised her after school on Friday, and the two of us set off on Part TWO that afternoon...
When I think of L, I think of art, museums, musicals, and roller coasters... She's our quiet one with a daredevil streak, so here we go!
We crossed into Tennessee...
and witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets!
Another thing my girl really likes is "taco in a bag". This is a meal that she's come to love at camp, where they serve it at least once each session...
Come to find out... Knoxville favorite, Petro's Chili & Chips, actually debuted this concept at the World's Fair held in Knoxville back in 1982...
We made it there for a late dinner, AND it just happened to be the restaurant's BIRTHDAY ~ Retro Petro Day, to be exact!
Yep, after the success of the "petro" at the World's Fair, they opened their FIRST restaurant on Friday, September 13, 1984.
Happy 35th Birthday, Petro's!
After dinner, we turned in for the night...
We got up Saturday morning and explored a bit of Knoxville, most of it leftover from the World's Fair...
the World's Largest Rubik's Cube...
World's Fair Park...
and the Sunsphere...
{looks a lot like a Clemson doughnut to me ~ Go Tigers!}
and making our way to Dollywood!
Oh my word... We had a BLAST, and rode every single roller coaster and fun water ride...
Neat story... The last time I visited Dollywood was with my family back in 1986 when I was just about L's age. The ONLY memory I have from that trip has always been riding "the inside roller coaster with the people trying to jump out of the burning building". Much to my delight, 33 years later, Blazing Fury is STILL in operation, and it was sooo FUN to start our roller coaster day riding it FIRST thing!
Blazing Fury...
Wild Eagle...
Mystery Mine...
Dragonflier...
Thunderhead...
Lightning Rod...
WHAT a DAY!
We capped off the night with dinner back in Knoxville at the local institution, Litton's...
before heading on to Nashville!
The next morning, we got up early and hit the ground running...
First, we grabbed brunch at Pancake Pantry...
L ordered the Strawberry Shortcakes...
and I ordered the Sweet Potato Pancakes...
Then, we started mural hopping...
Hillsboro Village - Drippy Lips - Out East Boys
The Gulch - What Lifts You - Kelsey Montague
The Gulch - Colorful Geometric - Jason Woodside
East Nashville - Greetings from Nashville - Kim Radford
before heading over to check out The Parthenon (of Nashville)…
From there, we booked it downtown to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center to catch the touring Broadway show, "Dear Evan Hansen"...
It was not the Broadway show that I had originally picked out for this weekend last year ("School of Rock"), but was the show that happened to be playing. Though it does deal with some mature content and has a good bit of language (recommended for age 12 and up), it was a really great show that sparked some even better conversation with my sweet girl - mainly about staying true to who you are, being kind to everyone, and telling an adult if someone you know is in trouble...
From there we headed over to visit one of my favorite stores, Draper James...
before doing some more mural hopping...
12South - Draper James Stripes - unknown
12South - (another) nashville looks good on you - TheNash.TN
12South - I Believe in Nashville - Adrien Saporiti
After dinner, we said goodbye to Nashville and headed home via Chattanooga to meet up with an old family friend, The Bonnie Potter, to snag one of her precious pottery pieces...
to commemorate this special weekend in Tennessee with my most favorite 10 year old!
