Eating in The Dark

Posted by Barry Houseknecht Jun 18, 2006

We did the tourist thing in Pidgon Forge, TN last week. We booked a hotel for 2 days, went to a theme park and took in a dinner show. We paid $85.00 per night for the room. Tickets to the theme park were gratis because we are working at a campground in the area. The tickets to the diner theater were discounted to $11.00 each.

The non-smoking room reeked of smoke. The sink in the bath drained very slowly and the room was right behind a convention room that was in use. Here we are in a big chain hotel that was nowhere full getting poor service.

At the theme park we rode in a coal fired steam train. The ride, although short, was fun and there was no extra charge for the black cinders that fell on us as we rode. Several of the main attractions were closed down with no explanation of why. There also seemed to be a lot of closed vendor tents...don't know what they might have sold. I believe that the price for this park is in the $30.00 range and even though we didn't pay for to visit this park it just didn't seem right for a major theme park to have so many things closed.

The diner show was much the same as any other dinner show. They feed you a chicken. You eat in the dark with your fingers and you watch them harass animals for our pleasure. They chased buffalo with whips; they let kids chase chickens, and had girls riding ostrich. Even as we laughed at some of the antics I wonder if the animals thought it was funny.

I'm glad we went and did the tourist thing. It served to remind us that we are much happier in the boonies under the stars listening to the sounds of unmolested animals in the night. We will still be eating a chicken in the dark with our fingers but the show is way more spectacular. See ya there