There were a couple of glitches, of course. First, everyone else in the town decided to attend the festivities, too, and that was fine except it caused a major parking problem! As most of you know, we drive a Ford F550 pick-up truck and it's just not that easy finding a space to park that thing. You just don't squeeze it into a space. But, we prevailed and parked across the parkway in the church parking lot. That was a suggestion given to us by the owner of the needlework shop I visited the other day. And it was a smart one - we didn't have to deal with the traffic leaving the park after the event. We just need to be sure not to get run over by the cars as we ran across the parkway!
The other glitch was that we didn't bring chairs!! When I called the town office to find out details about the evening, nothing was said about needing chairs! Oh, well. We persevered and stood for almost two hours awaiting the flip of the switch for the lights.
We did hear some good bluegrass music - yes, it is good music!! And listened, of course, to the local politicians thanking everyone for their volunteer work. (Have you ever seen a politician NOT take advantage of a captive audience???) Finally, it was time to light the park! And it was a nice display of lights; there was a huge steamboat, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, and a globe with a big arrow pointing to Tennessee and saying, "You are here" and several others.
Of course, there were the trolley rides. Free this night only - and if you didn't know that before coming, you would know from the lines that wound around the parking lot! Well, Russ, Pat, Randy & I looked at each other and said, nope, not for us. We'd already stood in the cold for 2 hours, we weren't interested in standing around any longer. Yes, we are party poopers. However, we had a better idea. We went to dinner at one of the buffet restaurants, had a good dinner made better with getting to know each other; and then, we went on our own ride through the town. To quote Russ, "We don't need no stinkin' trolley!" Randy did a great job chauffering us through the lights. :)
I didn't get any pictures of the lights because our camera doesn't take pictures at night very well. They come out blurry no matter what setting I use, so I've learned not to bother. But, Russ was able to get one picture of the prettiest display. So, I'm a happy camper - literally! :)
We're off to Gatlinburg today to do a walking tour of some of the historic areas. Stay tuned!
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