Labor Day 2023: Hey Boo Boo! How About a Pic-i-nic?!

Grace’s 12th Birthday Trip

Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Golden Valley:  September 1-5, 2023

Site #615

We headed up to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains to celebrate Grace’s 12th birthday and Labor Day weekend at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Resort.  We stayed at the site next to where we stayed over Memorial Day for Kaety’s birthday, right next to a creek.  Totally the most private and best site in the place as far as we are concerned!

We pulled in the first day and were careful about our backing up (no more truck breakage thankfully!) and got settled relatively quickly.  Because they were so busy for the weekend, they had delivered our golf cart to our site so it was waiting upon our arrival, which was really nice!  

As we were setting up, one of the park staff came by with a big bunch of balloons for Gracie, which was really cool.  I think it totally surprised her!  We definitely were looking forward to a warmer, less wet visit than what we experienced in May!
Birthday Balloons for the Birthday Girl!

We didn’t waste much time hanging out at the camp site as Grace was chomping at the bit to go out to the lake and onto the obstacle course, so we made a quick trip to let her get her energy out on the Wibit!  Even Kaety got on it!  It was nice because the crowds weren’t really here yet, so there weren’t hundreds of people the girls had to work around and it was calm enough for Kaety, which was awesome!
Stopping for a quick visit with Yogi…

Wibit girls!

They went down this slide multiple times!

We had a nice fire the first night and used color-changing powder, which was really pretty!


The next morning, we woke to the sad news that Jimmy Buffett had passed away, so we played his music all through making breakfast before we set off to explore the park in our little golf cart.  I will say that this golf cart (#514) was NOT as good as our previous cart (#71).  This one was a bit puttery, but we made it up the huge hills at the park and were able to stop and take some awesome pictures of the views along the way!







I would never tire of this view… I LOVE THE BLUE RIDGE!

After our drive around, we decided to brave the Alpine Coaster that had just opened over the summer and it did NOT disappoint.  They had a tram to take us up to where you ride the coaster because the road does not come into the park.  It’s quite a ways up and then getting on the coaster, you go up…and up…and up…and up!  When you hit the top and start speeding down the mountain, it is exhilarating and SO MUCH FUN!  Kaety kept saying “faster! Faster!” We all absolutely loved it!
Waiting for the tram…

Off the coaster - IT WAS SO FUN!

Waiting for the bus back to the park…

After the coaster ride, we suited up and went to hang out at the pool, where we drank margaritas in a toast to the original Parrothead himself, Jimmy Buffett - he will be missed!
To Jimmy…




The girls tried out the water park associated with the pool…it was COLD!

The slides were fast!


Kaety loved to play with the water at the bottom of the slides, so I obliged her and let her dump water on me!

After the pool, it felt good to get back to the camper and shower - full hook ups rock!

The next day after breakfast, we decided to do the scavenger hunt around the park, which was a lot of fun.  We found areas of the park we didn’t know existed in and amongst the cabins. We never found the last clue, though I hiked down a trail that went straight down to the lake. 






We also decided that the Alpine Coaster was too fun not to do again, so we braved it a second time.  This time, the line was ridiculously long, but totally worth the wait!













What a ride!  After we took the tram back to the park, we decided to do a little gem mining and putt-putt.  Auntie kicked all our butts in putt-putt - she was ON FIRE!

We ended our day lakeside with Grace Wibit’ing.  There were SO MANY PEOPLE - too many for Kaety’s comfort, so she hung out on the bank with us!





The next day, people started leaving fairly early.  Auntie and Grace went on a morning golf cart ride and took some pictures as things emptied out.  We were staying, and were able to rent a cabana at the pool, which was overly busy all weekend.  We were glad we did and had a blast, even though there was literally no one at the pool or really on property at all!  When this place empties out, it EMPTIES OUT!


Sadly, our last day arrived and we had to pack up to head home.  Auntie and I chilled a bit at the campsite before packing it in.  We caught some amazing views on the way out of town.  Nothing beats the Blue Ridge!  See you next time, Jellystone Campers! 



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Steve’s Retirement Trip to Tennessee June/July 2024: Part 1: Off We Go!

Image
Lake Oconee KOA, Greensburg, GA to Sasquatch Farm, South Pittsburg, TN June 28-29 Lake Oconee KOA - Site 31 With much anticipation, Steve’s last day of work was Thursday, June 20, 2024.  He began his retirement with a week of camping prep for our trip to Appalachia and adventures in Tennessee.  We left on his 62nd birthday, but maybe didn’t spend the day *exactly* how he planned.   Our adventure started by finding out the day before that our beloved pet sitter who had been planning to stay with our pup had been hospitalized, so we had to pivot and take the pups with us.  This meant bringing two cars (which ended up being helpful) and packing up dog supplies at the last minute to add to our travels.  I have to say, the dogs were excited to get to go with us for the first time this year! We set off around 10 am on Steve’s birthday, heading out for a 4 hour drive to the Lake Oconee KOA (which we hadn’t been to), as a pit stop on the way to South Pittsburgh, TN, whi...
Read more

Steve’s Retirement Trip to Tennessee June/July 2024: Part 4: Chattanooga fun & BATS!

Image
Rock City, The Incline Railway and Nickajack Cave Bat Kayak Sasquatch Farm, Site #17 Tuesday, 7/2 Today was a BUSY day! We had three excursions planned across two different timezones.  Unfortunately, Auntie’s foot was starting to show the wear of the day before and she chose to stay at the camper for the majority of the day and only joined us for our evening excursion. The pups were excited about a day laying around with one of their favorites! As we headed out of Sasquatch Farm on Brown Trace Rd, among the “deer!” and “horse!” exclamations that Kaety shared along the way, we also came across a small box turtle sitting in the middle of the road. I yelled “turtle!” and Steve steered the truck over so I could run out in the middle of the road and help the poor guy over to the edge/woods on the other side of the road where he appeared to be heading. It felt like a good deed for the day and started my day off in the right way! We headed out on the highway toward Chattanooga and Rock Ci...
Read more

Steve’s Retirement Trip to Tennessee June/July 2024: Part 3: The Lodge Museum - FINALLY!

Image
Big Bad Breakfast, The Lodge Museum and Ruby Falls Zipline! Sasquatch Farm, Site #17 Monday, 7/1 The day started early for us, as we planned to have an early breakfast and hit up the Lodge Museum - the main reason for our trip to this part of the country! As we prepared to leave, Auntie was exiting Geraldine but Lila was also trying to get out and Auntie was holding her back, stepped down from the steps onto the rocks that were our site and twisted her foot/ankle.  She first said she thought it was a pretty bad sprain, but didn’t want to go to the doctor.  (Later, after walking around on it for a week, she went to the doctor at home and found out it was a break on the side of her foot called a “Jones Fracture” and she was relegated to a boot with no weight bearing for 6 weeks, then a boot to walk in for several more… ;( ) We had a nice breakfast at Big Bad Breakfast, which is attached to the museum, though we actually struggled to find it at first and drove through the back ro...
Read more