Before one can exit The Ark Encounter, you have to go through a maze of pictures drawn out in comic book style. The pictures tell the story of three friends and a lot of doors. Mom was kind enough to capture the story with her phone. I think it’s also offered in book form ifContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Day 4: The Ark Encounter: The Doors of the Bible”
Monthly Archives: November 2019
The Toskey Reports: Day 4: The Ark Encounter
If you’ve never been to The Ark Encounter, the first thing you’ll notice is that this boat is big. I mean REALLY BIG! I don’t know how it compares to a modern day cruise ship, and I know it’s not as big as the Titanic, but Noah’s Ark is BIG! 500 feet long, 85 feetContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Day 4: The Ark Encounter”
The Toskey Reports: Day 3 (finally!) Pigeon Forge: the Las Vegas of the Mountains
When we first pulled into town two days earlier, I had thought Pigeon Forge was a lot like Las Vegas. My impression didn’t change in better lighting. Oh, we weren’t seeing casinos and slot machines, but every building we saw on “Tourist Avenue” seemed to shout at people “Look at me! Look at me! Don’tContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Day 3 (finally!) Pigeon Forge: the Las Vegas of the Mountains”
The Toskey Reports: Day 2: Part 5: Pigeon Forge
The plan was to spend the following day in Pigeon Forge, but somehow Mom and Dad found the energy to do a little more sightseeing that evening. After returning from the Smoky Mountains, Mom decided we should take a walk around the area where our hotel was. We had seen sight seeing trolleys going upContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Day 2: Part 5: Pigeon Forge”
The Toskey Reports: Smokey Mountains: Day 2, Part 4: Clingman’s Dome
It’s a sad truism that old people continue to get older. So is the case of my Mom and Dad. They had bought the Equinox, a vehicle with a strong towing capacity, with the intention of someday getting a pop-up trailer and traveling around the country to the National Parks. Clingman’s Dome got them re-evaluatingContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Smokey Mountains: Day 2, Part 4: Clingman’s Dome”
The Toskey Reports: Day 2, Part 3: Signs of the Times at the Smokey Mountains
At one of the vistor’s center in the Smokey Mountains National Park, there’s a slab of cement with a sign posted beside it. It was a First Amendment / free speech area. I had never seen such a thing before! Neither had Mom. I scratched my head. “So, if you want to talk, you haveContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Day 2, Part 3: Signs of the Times at the Smokey Mountains”
The Toskey Reports: Day 2, Part 2: The Great Smokey Mountains
It’s an awful thing when your phone decides to hoard pictures and refuses to share them. Such is the story of our day in the Great Smokeys. Mom took hundreds of photos, but Siri decided they were hers to keep and a fight ensued. Mom finally won by calling in the experts at the AppleContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: Day 2, Part 2: The Great Smokey Mountains”
The Toskey Reports: The Great Smokey Mountains: Day 2, Part 1: the Thing about Cheap Hotel Rooms
Mom thought it was funny when she discovered I’d been in the car all night. Yeah, mom. You’re quite the joker. They trust you with kids, and you can’t even take care of a teddy bear? Sheesh! The two of us went to find the breakfast room at our hotel. The weird thing was thatContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: The Great Smokey Mountains: Day 2, Part 1: the Thing about Cheap Hotel Rooms”
The Toskey Reports: The Great Smokey Mountains: Day 1, Part 3: Road Trip with the Prince Warriors and the Thrifty Parents
Traveling with grown ups is the worst. These people never stopped for anything! Well, yeah, they did stop, but it was for gas or bathroom breaks, never for the important things. Even as a teddy bear, strapped into the backseat where the view is mainly black upholstery, you notice those kinds of things. “I’m hungry!”Continue reading “The Toskey Reports: The Great Smokey Mountains: Day 1, Part 3: Road Trip with the Prince Warriors and the Thrifty Parents”
The Toskey Reports: The Great Smokey Mountains: Day 1, Part 2: Slow Food and Near Misses
It seemed to take forever for dad to get packed up for our trip, but finally we were on our way. Kinda. No one had eaten breakfast so Dad decided to stop at Macdonald’s. Mom scowled at him. She’s gluten intolerant. That means she can’t eat anything with flour in it. It messes up herContinue reading “The Toskey Reports: The Great Smokey Mountains: Day 1, Part 2: Slow Food and Near Misses”
The Reluctant Firefly 