TITANIC: My Heart Will Go On and On...

As a child, I used to HATE history! I thought all of the facts and dates we were learning in school were so boring and useless. It wasn't until I grew up and became a teacher (that teaches social studies) that I began to grow a passion for learning about historical events. The moments in time that stand out for me are the Civil War, the witch hunts in the Colonial Period, Westward Expansion, Christ's life on Earth,  the 20s, the Holocaust, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, the Columbine Shooting, and 9/11. Titanic is one of those tragic events that I hold near and dear in my heart, particularly because my grandfather was born the same year the ship sank (1912) and my great-grandparents had migrated over to Texas from Italy. On Wednesday, (during the Tennessee trip) my mom and I got the rare opportunity to experience Titanic in a very emotional,spiritual way through going back in time and learning about the people, journey, process, and artifacts that were a part of the Titanic. In Pigeon Forge, there is one of the largest Titanic museums in the world. We spent 5 HOURS studying and reading everything we could and it was worth every penny we spent! It was my FAVORITE part of the WHOLE trip :)! We ended up leaving the museum at 10PM and we were happy because we got a personal experience by talking with the staff about the museum. I was so stunned and awed...I had felt like I had participated in a 5 hour funeral ceremony, but I was proud because I had did my part of paying homage to the people who had died on the ship.I would have SO loved to work there! 

Me with one of the Titanic's "servants" The boarding pass she gave me belonged to Lucille "Lady" Duff Gordon, which I thought was neat because our names were similar and she was such a fascinating person! She was the first woman to do the splits in a dress and Victoria Secret can be thankful for her because she is the first person to make lingerie! Luckily, she survived and went on to design some beautiful dresses of her time! Click the link below to see some of what we got to experience!
Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN

Getting Waxy & Lost in Mirrors

(Wednesday) We were waiting around for my aunt so we got a late start on our day in Pigeon Forge. My mom, cousin, and I decided to go to Hollywood Wax Museum and Hannah's Mirror Maze :). The wax museum was pretty neat because they were set up to be interactive with sets and opportunities for a person to take pictures with the stars. I put some of my fav up and the ones I thought were funny or cute of my mom.

  
                           Can you tell my mom is a Twilighter?? Obviously, she is Team Edward!

Barbara....meet Barbara :)!

 
Then, we went to the mirror maze and what fun that was...it took us only 10 minutes to get through! We had to listen to the story of how Princess Hannah was so vain and she was always looking in the mirrors so this witch places a curse on her where she is trapped in the mirror...UNLESS...we are able to rescue her!

 

 

 
We did it...we saved her!! YAY!!!

Princess Hannah's dad was happy!

Shopping Spree in Tennessee

On Tuesday, we decided to see what Gatlinburg had to offer since we spent our first day in Pigeon Forge. Our first stop was the moonshine shop.

This was where the moonshine was brewed  legally! 

 

(Above on right) Mom being crazy as usual! She had just bought my dad and brother moonshine.They would have gone nuts had they gone with us to this place because it was right up their alley!  
(Above on left) The backwoods, redneck guy was telling jokes. It's neat to see the different kinds of entertainment that was offered in Tennessee versus Texas. I noticed that they play into the backwoods country style stereotype whereas here we play more into the cowboy stereotype people who live outside Texas have of Texans. 
(On Left) Papa and Uncle Ray decided to let their women go ahead and buy the moonshine while they chilled for a while LoL. My aunt bought some cherry moonshine and each cherry was worth half a shot in alcohol! 

This car was used to drive moonshine illegally back-and-forth.

After that, my cousin and I went to the Hollywood Star Cars Museum. I was really excited about going here because I knew I would get to see some pretty neat cars from cool movies! I put up the ones that were my FAVE! The Flintstones, Stephen King's Christine, The Munster's drag-u-la, and of course, Jurassic Park!

 

 

We ate lunch at one of my favorite places to eat when I can find it while vacationing......Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.! They have the best shrimp :)!!!!!! I always get their appetizer shrimp with a plate of broccoli. I found this place when my husband and I went to Los Angeles for part of our honeymoon and we fell in love with it! At this one, the waiter was somewhat snippy and rude AND nana was not too happy about the prices but it was worth going and getting to experience it with my family. 

 "Life is like a box of chocolates..you never know whatcha gonna get!"- Tom Hanks, Forest Gump

 

 
Some other things we saw while walking the streets of Gatlinburg....

 

(The top 2) There was a neat pizza place called Mellow Mushroom that we never went into but these neat sculptures were erected outside and I thought they were very artsy and cool. Mom obviously did, too, LoL. 

(The left) This was hilarious! The song that was playing was "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy." It was electronic and it stood outside of this mini-golf place.

Wonder Works (AKA the Upside Down House)

June 4-The first day we got to explore Gatlinburg, TN...we got a late start because we were so exhausted from all the driving and excitement. We ended up going to Pigeon Forge since there were more places to go. Wonder Works was first on our list! It was built to look upside down but I would compare it to the Dallas Science Place.

The ceiling

I'm 5'3..which I already knew!

The water was 28 degrees that night! They joked that I would have probably survived the Titanic sinking because I was able to keep my hand in the water for a while! 
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(Pictured below) You get in this little "cafe" and they simulate an earthquake.

 Brett did this! It was where you sit on this bike thing and go in a circle (360 degrees)! He was braver than me...I would do it if I knew for sure that I wouldn't throw up!
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Lacy the astronaut! To infinity & beyond!

The world's longest rope course! It is in the ceiling! 
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You ever play with those things as a kid where you pressed your hand or face into these plastic rods? Mom decided to do that with her backside with this giant one.
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 (Pictured above) Momma on a BED OF NAILS!!

(Pictured to the left) These portraits were made out of gum!

 (Pictured above) Can you see Beethoven? 

After we went through the place...it leads down into a magic museum! My favorite thing was the houdini box and the curio filled with white rabbits.

(Pictured to the left) A curio filled with magic tricks!

(Pictured on the bottom) Mom with a magician LoL. 

Afterwards, we went to Krystal burger to eat and a souvenir shop!