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| Cori's Doghouse in Mt. Juliet, TN! |
You can always tell when a Dennie vacation is coming to a close by a lack of pictures. Robby and I are so depressed that we just don't even have the heart to carry around our camera any! Now, we did miss one good picture stop when they had huge ice cream cone banks and my kids would have been so cute pretending to lick those but oh, well there is already another trip.
Speaking of other trips, last night I mentioned we were going to Maine. Our route has now been determined though with over a year until that trip (we plan to go in the fall next year) things could still change quite a bit. Here is a run down of that route: Little Rock, Knoxville TN, D.C., Dover DE, Strasburg PA, Cooperstown NY, Burlington VT, Bar Harbor ME, Kennybunkport ME, Boston MA, New York City NY, Atlantic City NJ, Virginia Beach VA, Winston Salem NC, Charlotte NC and then on home. If we have some more time on the road tomorrow we will plan our 2017 trip!
Everyone slept well this morning and the boys were quick to ask if Santa had come to our room this morning and he had not. If Santa brings anything else this year, it needs to be a new stroller for Whitman. The handles are broken, the wheels are wobbley and the seat has come unsewn. We had debated buying new one and having it sent to a hotel on the trip but opted to just completely wear this one out before trashing it.
Breakfast was good again and the lady next to Pops said that she had never seen kids eat like mine. I am pretty sure she was talking about my boys who each had about 4 doughnuts and then a honey bun (or maybe more) and a moon pie (or two). She happened to be a dietitian and felt that this allowed her to say what she thought. Pops assured her that we eat better at home and it is a buffet after all (that is why he was eating cheesecake and I was eating pecan pie at 9 in the morning) I have no problem at all letting this kids eat doughnuts and moon pies for breakfast when at a buffet which we have paid very well for.
After loading up and saying goodbye to our Christmas hotel, we stopped at Applewood again to pick up a few goodies and then on to the Coleman store. Robby bought a few things-including a stash of ponchos that cost only a dollar. We will now have those babies with us at all times! Then we walked across the street to the Lodge Cast Iron store. It was interesting and I found a gizmo that I want-like a spatula but was an x at the bottom. The thing chopped up hamburger meat so incredibly easily.
And our final stop in the Smokey Mountain area was the Russell Stover store and we left with candy for everyone! Before we stopped once to go to the bathroom half of the kids candy was devoured. We stopped once to potty and then pressed on to our hot dog stop.
Outside of Nashville was Cori's Doghouse which was on Les' recommendations. He had actually noted it as a "must try" and it was worth the stop. I chose the Hawaii dog which had pineapple and mango salsa and Robby had the Georgia minus the cole slaw so it had only pimento cheese. He also sampled the Pennsylvania Italian which had marina sauce and mozerella cheese.
Campbell enjoyed the restaurant the most because she left with a shirt. She had already bought her souvenir shirt from the trip but a 6 dollar shirt that has her initials on the front (Cori's Doghouse) made it irresistible. The restaurant was a bit on the warm side but the dogs were still very good. Reagan did say "these are okay but that other place was stopped had better ones." The other place that she was speaking of was 7-11! My girl has some good taste!
On the road through Nashville, Robby joked about taking us back to the Hermitage. I had forgotten but we had to buy a family pass for the best price for our family so I could have taken Nonna and Pops for free today. But since it is a zillion degrees outside I think that we will pass. Again, that is why the next Dennie trip will not be in the summer time-maybe September or maybe May-hey, if we did May next year then we could swing back by the Hermitage for another tour.
Whenever we are in the car and I turn around holding my bucket I use to pass things back, Whitman starts clapping his hands knowing that a snack is coming soon. And if someone says any word that has to do with a drink like drinking, cup, juice or coke he goes nutzo until a drink is provided to him! I think my child has become a bit demanding.
We swung by and filled up Pops' car with gas before stopping off at Casey Jones for ice cream. When we arrived at Casey's place at the very first of our trip, it was late and the ice cream place was closed. We were hungry and needed something so by default we went to the buffet. They told us that we had 41 minutes to eat-isn't that great customer service? Ha! Today the ice cream was open and we had it-not the best of the trip and even tasted like it had been refroze. But we needed a potty stop and a bit of a snack before out hotel so it was still all good.
That was the first touristy stop on our trip and will probably also be out last. My kids still remember the Casey Jones song that Robby played for them after leaving Casey Jones' 18 days ago. The hotel was just about an hour past that stop and we made it there in no time.
It is a fine older hotel but after coming from the fancy dancy Christmas hotel, it is kind of sad! The rooms are big though so that makes up for it. After unloading we headed to the pool-Whitman didn't start off at the pool, he spent most of his time playing with his trains in Nonna's room. The carpet has swiggly stripes all over it and he is pretending that they are tracks for his trains.
After swimming, we came back to the room for showers. Graham actually came back with Robby way before anyone else-my boy is tired! The girls went to Nonna's room for bed and my boys watched a few episodes of Full House before bed. Another good day of vacation.
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