Pigeon Forge, April 2024

Before the Solar Eclipse, we did a road trip from Charlotte NC, through Ashland, to Pigeon Forge.

Pigeon Forge is tiny, but packed!  The Island area is nothing but tourist attractions, fun for a day.

We stayed right there at the Margaritaville hotel.

They are a chain, and usually at beach locations, giant rooms and laminate floor that is easy for sand removal.

The beachy vibe at the Margaritaville hotel is strong.

The Zorb!  I love this so much!!  Of all the tourist things to do, this is the best.

This is the straight shot run.  You don't bounce around as much, instead you go faster.

So much fun!!

We stayed one night at The Way back hotel.  

The pool bar is an airstream and all the decorations that era.

Super cute styling in the lobby.  Definitely enjoyed our stay.

One night we stayed at one of Dolly's hotels.  Nice live music and activities throughout the day.

All the food was excellent, even deep fried deviled eggs.

We drove over the the fancier spa hotel to peek around.

Lovely touches everywhere.

Need a dining experience?  There are plenty around, but we opted for 

Pirates!

This gets you the best seats-worth it!  The food was quite good, especially considering they served about 500 plates, all at the same time.  I would love to have a back stage tour of the kitchen.

The performances were top tier-acrobats, sword fights, comedy and animal shows (ducks!).  At home now I love my pirate cup souvenir!

Puzzles!

 A few more puzzle happenings from the last few years.

The dreaded ombre puzzle!  It seems like it should be super hard.

First you sort!

Then the outline, like a regular puzzle.  This was really easy because the color is obvious when they are adjacent.

Then I just worked line by line.  A little boring because very little shape info, just trial and error.

Ta-da!

We also did a puzzle that had clues to the mystery in it.  

For example, when you look at this from the side, they are numbers.  It was not super successful as an escape room, but was fine as a puzzle.

A vintage map puzzle for Christmas.  This was way tougher than it looks.  There are words!  But they go in all directions and may not be where you expect.  Did a lot of it based on color, and lot on finding on the poster.  

A new one from the Magic Puzzle Company!  I love sorting by color.

There is a secret after you finish that I won't reveal. All puzzle fans should give one a try!

Vacation puzzles!

These are from the Maui trip. 

I love vacation puzzles because you don't have to decide what to do when you are done.

I only had time to do the fun parts of this one, oh well!

Maui, May 2024

 Maui

Perfect sunset on the beach, Maui

On a cloudy day we went around the bay to see the lighthouse.

There was no info online, but it turns out the lighthouse is...tiny!  Less than we expected for sure.

That didn't stop us from having a lovely time hanging out on the beach

listening and watching the waves.

Checking out the surfers

Uphill from the lighthouse is the wind farm.  There is a trail, but it was hot and muggy, so we didn't see the point.

We ate so well!  Shave ice.

Malasadas

Banana creme brulee

Fun tiki drink

Fancy humus

Fancy moco loco

Vegetarian poke...not what we were expecting and no better than we deserved, lol.

Classic moco loco

Fish tacos with coconut milk sauce on the slaw was A-mazing!

Choose local for our 'at home' drink!

Cheese and sausage in the center, wrapped with mochi dough, rolled in sweet potato chunks, deep fried, and I turned down the option of sugar on top.  Wow.  We didn't go back for another, maybe next time!