Tail of the dragon

Chase and a few guys from work got a car from work so that we could all drive down to Tennessee and drive the tail of the dragon.  We ended up leaving later than planned and then because the boys were really nice to me and took breaks we didn't get to Josh's parents house in Knoxville until 2:30 in the morning.  It was really late and we were all really happy to have a bed to sleep on.  The next day we all split to go do our own thing.  Josh had family to visit, Sam went mountain biking and Chase and I went on a scenic drive and a hike.

 Tennessee was SO gorgeous and we were soaking up the view of mountains :)  I told Chase that I could live down there.  Later we all meet up and went to Thai.  The food was yummy and our tummies were happy.
The next day, Saturday, we all went to breakfast which was near DollyWood.  Josh's friend refers to DollyWood as hillbilly Las Vegas, haha.  Anyway breakfast was delicious!  Chase and I shared a plate of yummy peach crepes and a plate of chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter syrup.  My favorite were the crepes, they were so good.  We then headed on our way to the dragon.  The drive was so pretty and we followed this long lake that made me really want to go boating.

 Oh side note…. the temperature was amazing, it was 80 the entire time and it felt SO good.  We all enjoyed the change from Michigan's 50's.

 Alright, so the dragon is crazy!  It's an 11 mile stretch with 318 curves/turns.  Needless to say I ended up getting car sick, not bad enough to make Chase stop though.  I was really happy when we made it to the dam so that I could have a break before we had to turn around and do it again.  It was a full day of driving.

 That night we went to dinner at a bbq restaurant and then we went for some gelato afterwards.  The rest of the group was originally thinking of going to a bar that would've apparently appealed to the car boys, but because Chase and I don't drink/party the others decided to change their plans and that's why we ended up getting gelato :)  I thought it was so nice of them to change their plans just so that we didn't go home after dinner.  The next morning Chase and I left so that we could make a detour and visit Grandma and Granddad in Kentucky, where they are serving their mission.

 They showed us around the Fort Knox Military base which is where they are serving.  It was fun to get to see them.  It was a long day of driving and not as entertaining since we didn't have the rest of the group to joke with over the walkie talkies.