Lumberjacks and Margaritaville

Last weekend, Caroline and I meet up in Tennessee for a girls weekend! Last time we were in Pigeon Forge we saw adverts for the Lumberjack feud and we figured it had to be done. It was a dinner and a show though honestly the food wasn't that great. But the show more than made up for it. The pre-dinner show was a trio band.

Banjo and guitar

Our lumber jill, dancing.

It just ins't a show without a dancing bear.

I was quite surprised how many people were there considering it isn't anywhere near peak season. There were even a group behind us who had just got married that day. This was their wedding dinner. Not my idea of a good time but each to their own. They seemed to really enjoy it and got pulled up on stage to participate. 

Wedding group

The idea of the show is there are 2 families, the McGraws (our team in red) and the Dawsons (in blue) who are competing for the rights to log the last mountain after the smokies became a national park. So they have a lumberjack competition.

Ready to fight.

They did various activities. All really impressive. And they were very .... athletic! :-)

Chopping down a "tree"

We were encouraged to cheer for our team. And like good sportsmen/women, boo for the other side.

Boo!

They also had a lumber jill on each side who got into the action.

Jill and jack double saw.

Jack and jack double saw

Honestly though my favorite was the lumber dogs. They were just so happy. They came bouncing onto stage each time, so eager to do their job.  Basically they play catch and fetch for a living. The first one was jumping for a stick into water. Flying dogs! And a fetch the "duck".

Flying dog.

Got it!

"Let's go!"

Fetch for a living.

It was also really funny and light. The comic relief was a guy called Cookie who was a little crazy.

Cookie

Don't call a guy with a chainsaw a jerk!

Showing us the chainsaw.

My favorite was one of the cheats. They are supposed to put their hands on the top of the log for one event. But they wrote "top" on the bottom side so his hands were close to the chainsaw. But he got caught. However Derek was then told to put his hands on his bottom. So he did! (Current favorite photo!)

Hands on your bottom!

In action

Derek was my favorite lumberjack. He was so cute! After each win, they gave away a cookie (piece of cut off log) to someone from the winning side who was the most enthusiastic. Derek gave his to the little boy sitting near me who had been going crazy trying to get one. The kid was so happy!

There were also times when I had to cringe. The axes were real. And very close to limbs at times.

Too close for comfort.

The lumber jills also got into the chainsaw action.

Very happy with her chainsaw.

In action

And no one seemed the least bit fazed by heights. At least Cookie had a safety rope.

Cookie being nuts.

The lumberjacks did a "climb" up and down a 60 foot pile. With no safety lines. In about 10 seconds. It was like watching spider man! And coming down was more of a semi-controlled fall. It was amazing (and most of my photos were blurry).

Coming down. At speed.

The finale was the log roll, where 2 lumberjacks get on a log, in water and try to roll the other on off by spinning the logs.

Balancing

It was a best 2 out of 3. The second time, our lumberjack Derek landed funny. One leg either side. :( We think it may have been staged as they had a routine ready. But can you imagine being told that was part of your job!?!?!?

About to do the splits.

Dramatic finish.

The show was great fun and I highly recommend it.
After the show we went for a walk around an area called the Island. The whole place is a little bit over top (a cross between Vegas and Blackpool) but it made for good photos.

Night time display

I wish I could say my choice of hotel was carefully selected, as we were over the road from the lumberjack feud so could walk. But I don't plan that well and it was a complete coincidence. And even better was the fact that there was a Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville a minutes walk from the show. 

Margaritaville

We had to wait a bit (as it was packed) but they had a great live band so it was not a problem.

The band

There was also a 72-yr old in tap shoes, just dancing away around the bar. He was very happy just dancing. I hope I am like that at his age. Because if you can't dance like no one is watching then, you never will!

Dancing in tap shoes.

We got a chocolate brownie sundae and of course margaritas, including a sampler selection.

Margaritas.

Enjoying our sampler.

It was a really fun night, though the bar closed at 10pm which was a bit of a disappointment. But still probably for the best. (I was really enjoying those drinks!)