Letting Go: Pigeon Forge Rod Run 2014

Every year since I met Frankie we make the trek up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to the car show Rod Run. I met Frankie in May (well, we went on our first date in May) of 2012 and the Spring Rod Run is in April every year. Last year, we met my parents up there and actually stayed in Gatlinburg, but this year it was just us and we stayed on the strip in Pigeon Forge.

Frankie loves all things cars, I mean Summit Racing is like his playground. It is ridiculous how excited he gets over things that I have no idea what they are but it is his thing so I try to be a good little cheerleader. Even if that means that I cheer him on while sitting in the truck while he oohhs and aahhs over weird stuff.

At first this year I was really nervous about going because last year my mom was there so we could keep walking if Frankie and my dad got fixated on particular cars. My parents weren't able to go this year so I wasn't real sure how it was going to work out. Then everything started getting stressful and I needed to get out of town and I thought you know what, it is a chance to get out of town and hang out with my hubby so heck yes we will have a blast. And guess what? We did!!

We left late Friday, April 11th but decided to stop at the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House and relax and sit down and eat. We didn't want to rush too much because we were on vacation and we wanted to enjoy it. We ate and headed out with no problems until close to the Tennessee line. They were doing road work so we got stuck in some traffic and then we got sleepy. :( hmmm... maybe stopping for a sit down meal wasn't the best idea after all. We ended up having to stop at a Tennessee truck stop/rest area and got some snacks. I felt bad sleeping while Frankie was driving so I tried my best to stay awake and talk to him... this also helped my peace of mind because I didn't want him to fall asleep.

We ended up getting into Pigeon Forge around 12:30 that night and went straight to sleep. Finally! The next day we slept in and then headed out to face the craziness of cars, cars, cars and more cars. The amount of people there was ridiculous and it took us a while to find a place to park but we did and we went ahead and went straight to the convention center. They actually built a new convention center and it was really nice! Frankie got really excited about looking at parts. Parts?! Really?! I just didn't get it. I had to leave him and find pretty cars to take pictures of. ;)

Here we are getting ready to head out to walk our butts off :)

We really did have a good time walking around and checking out all the cars, probably for very different reasons too. Ha! I like the way the cars and trucks were painted and what the interior looked like, Frankie liked what was under the hood... and the tires. lol He likes the paint job too. :)

When we finished walking the strip we walked back to the truck and went to the hotel for a nap. A nap at 5:00 in the evening. lol We were tired! We got up around 7, took showers, and headed out to this new attraction they built called "The Island". The only thing that I can compare it to is Pier Park in Panama City. The Island wasn't that big yet but it apparently just opened so some of the stores weren't ready for business just yet. They did have some restaurants open as well as an arcade and a humongous farris wheel called "The Wheel".

I tried to get a picture of the sunset in the background - you can kind of see it.

We were definitely learning how to perfect the "selfie" on this trip. :)

We decided to try Dirty Dicks - and lets just say it was an experience! We ended up with a really good waitress who took it easy on us since we had never been before. The whole concept is that they are going to mess with you, be sarcastic to you, almost, pretty much be rude to you all in fun and they expect you to do it back. We decided to roll with it and ended up having fun but I do think we both let out a sigh of relief when we left, at least I know I did. I do know that while we had fun we won't be going back to any more Dirty Dicks. It just wasn't for us and the food just wasn't worth all of the interruptions and craziness from the staff.

After we ate we actually got to ride The Wheel! Yay!! I had secretly wanted to since we first saw it earlier in the day but I know Frankie does not like heights and I wouldn't appreciate him asking me to do something with spiders so I didn't mention it. However, he does know me pretty well and he must love me a good bit because he said I know you want to ride that thing so we will try it out. Make my heart smile why don't ya! I was super excited. The Wheel was a blast and Frankie enjoyed it. We were inside a little gondola thing and as Frankie stated "it rides really smooth" so he was a happy camper.

The fountain changed colors and went along with different songs.

The view from the top! :)

We finished the night cruising the strip with the teenagers. lol It did seem like that but that is a good time to see some nice cars so we had a good time. While we "cruised" we calculated how many miles we walked in all earlier in the day and it came to a round total of 5 miles. Crazy! Once again we got to bed late but we slept in and slept hard!!

Sunday we made no quick moves to get back home. We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, which is becoming a quick tradition for us. We went last year during the Rod Run and our first Christmas when Frankie took me to Gaitlinburg we ate there, so this was the third time and it is always so yummy! After breakfast we stopped at the huge Tanger Outlet that is located there and we both found a nice sale and ended up with some new shoes! Frankie got a new pair of tennis shoes and I found a pair of running shoes. :) We were happy people.

We headed out of town and into Knoxville to visit Frankie's Granny. She cracks me up and it is always nice to see her. Once we left her house we headed back to Barnesville with a wonderful surprise stop for supper at The Varsity! The perfect way to end a great weekend. We had a blast.

Here are some pictures of some ridiculous cars that get a big Unnecessary from me!