Okay you guys, I have been wanting to write this one for a whole YEAR.
Last fall we took the O'Neal mobile all the way to the Smoky Mountains on our big seven week road trip (the whole itinerary is here if you want it: bellebucket.com/fall-road-trip-itinerary), and honestly I didn't expect to come home a Dolly Parton superfan. I liked her before. Who doesn't like Dolly? But I came home OBSESSED, and so did my kids, and I've been thinking about why ever since.
So let me back up a little.
Chris is from the Smoky Mountains. That part of Tennessee is HIS home, so going there always feels a little different than our other trips. He knows the roads and the food and which overlook to stop at, and I get to sit back and watch him show our kids where he comes from. Y'all, that never gets old for me. We stayed in a cabin up in the mountains in Pigeon Forge like we always try to do, with a hot tub, because after six weeks in a van a hot tub is basically medical.
I also need you to know that we got attacked by a bear on this trip. I'm not being dramatic. A bear. Everybody's fine, but I will be telling that story for the rest of my life and it's getting its own post.
And then we went to Dollywood.
I thought it was going to be a cute theme park day with the kids. It was so much more than that. Every single show we walked into, every time Dolly came on a screen or her voice came through a speaker, you could feel that her whole heart was in it. She built that entire park for the people she grew up with, in the mountains she grew up in, and she never once acts like she's too big for it. I sat in the back of one of the shows with tears in my eyes and my kids looking at me like, mom, are you okay? (I wasn't okay, in the best way!!)
What got me is that Dolly Parton decided a long time ago exactly who she was going to be, and then she just DID it. She dreamed big when she had every reason to stay small. She stayed kind when nobody would have blamed her for getting hard. She built her whole life on purpose and she made it FUN, and that's exactly what I want for my kids and honestly for me too. If you've read why I rebuilt Belle Bucket (read it here), you know that living your bucket list on purpose is kind of my whole thing. Dolly is the patron saint of it.
Bear especially came away inspired. He kept talking about her the entire drive to Nashville, about how she started with nothing and built all of this and still gives so much of it away. Watching one of my kids get that lit up about somebody who is kind AND driven AND completely herself is the whole reason we roadschool.
And I have to talk about the cinnamon bread. If you have been to Dollywood you already know. If you haven't, the Grist Mill cinnamon bread is the reason God made butter. We ate it hot, we ate it standing up, and we went back for a second loaf before we left. Do not skip it. I'm so serious.
A few things I'd tell you if you're planning your own Dollywood trip with kids:
Stay in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains if you can swing it. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have a million of them and it changes the whole trip. Waking up with that fog sitting in the trees is worth every penny. (Just, you know, keep your food locked up. Ask me how I know.)
Plan for Dollywood to take the whole day, and go into the shows. The rides are great but the shows are where you feel her.
Read up on Dolly with your kids before you go. Her Imagination Library has mailed over 200 million free books to kids, and mine loved knowing that before we ever walked through the gates. We listened to her audiobook on the drive in and her music the whole way through Tennessee, and it made the whole day hit harder. Her book "Dream More" is the one to start with, it's short and it's basically her giving a commencement speech to your kids: this one. And "Songteller" is the big beautiful one for the drive: this one
And eat the cinnamon bread. I know I already said it. I'm saying it again.
We left Tennessee with a new family saying and it comes straight from Dolly: find out who you are and do it on purpose. That's going on a bucket list, by the way (bellebucket.com/fall).
More Smoky Mountain posts coming, including the bear one. You're not ready.
xo, Amy