Friday, July 31st

On Friday morning we left Knoxville around 8AM. We then drove to Gatlinburg to spend some time there. When we got to Gatlinburg we were surpised to find that it is basically the Wisconsin Dells of the South. Hotels, tourist traps, and all kinds of locations owned by Ripley's Believe It or Not! Unfortunately, it was raining for most of the morning so we had to bypass the petting zoo that we had planned. We decided to go to an indoor attraction, Ripley's Aquarium. I think we were there for about two hours. All the signs say that it's the #1 Aquarium, but I don't think it was any better than the Shedd in Chicago.

Mads with the Ripley's shark:

BIG FISH!

Watching the sharks overhead with Dad:

Learning some things about fish in the kids' area:

Cool shades!


After the aquarium, we walked up and down the main drag of Gatlingburg, even though it was downpouring. We stopped in a few shops, but didn't find anything that we NEEDED! :)

STUPID RAIN!



We wanted to have lunch at one of the many pancake houses around, but apparently they aren't open after 1PM. So, we had some pizza at Papa John's instead. After our lunch we went to the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum. This place had over 20,000 shakers - and that's A LOT!



Shakers, Shakers and MORE Shakers!!






After the S&P Museum we left for our next destination, Greenville, South Carolina. We hit two more states on our voyage: