The Washington Post - USA (2022-04-10)

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Travel

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The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted travel domestically and around the world. You will find the latest developments at washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/

BY ANDREA SACHS

A

crowd many bodies deep stood behind a

white line, waiting. Hands of varying

sizes and manicure styles gripped pink

pompoms and paper butterflies on wood

stems. A woman rested her encased phone in

the crook of her thumb and forefinger, the

image of Dolly Parton poised to meet the real

Dolly Parton.

“She’s coming! She’s coming!” heralded a

parade attendee positioned by a Dollywood

sign near the entrance to the Te nnessee theme

park.

A loud cheer swelled up, then faded out.

False alarm.

Minutes later, a pair of elfin women in

butterfly costumes fluttered by. Then some

official-looking men in button-down shirts.

And finally what we had all been craning our

necks to see: the matriarch of Dollywood in

SEE DOLLYWOOD ON F6

Dollywood dreaming

Dolly Parton returns to the Tennessee theme park to kick off its 37th season

PHOTOS BY JACOB BIBA FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

NAVIGATOR

It’s harder than ever to

get a good night’s sleep

at cruising altitude, but

these tips may help. F2

TRENDS

On the U.S.-Canada

border, Mohawk culture

is the focus of this

tourism initiative. F3

OUTDOORS

Aging state park systems

face a plethora of modern

challenges as they head

into the next century. F4

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2022. SECTION F

TOP: Visitors walk down a path at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., with one of

the park’s roller coasters overhead. ABOVE: A statue of singer Dolly Parton is located

on the lawn of the Sevier County Courthouse, a few miles from the theme park.

BY BOB DROGIN

On Dec. 17, 1832, Charles Dar-

win put pen to paper as the Brit-

ish survey ship Beagle dropped

anchor off Tierra del Fuego, the

remote archipelago at the south-

ern tip of South America.

“A single glance at the land-

scape was sufficient to show me

how widely different it was from

anything I had ever beheld,” the

23-year-old naturalist marveled

in “The Voyage of the Beagle,” the

account of his almost five-year

expedition that ultimately led to

his then-radical theories of evolu-

tion and natural selection.

In mid-March, the start of au-

tumn in Argentina, I read from

Darwin’s still-vivid journal as I

SEE PATAGONIA ON F5

A sojourn to

Patagonia

brims with

adventure