Back To Feuding

Andreas found some old photos from our trip to Tennessee that he claims he didn't process before.  These are them.  While renting a cabin in Gatlinburg, we went to the Lumberjack Feud in Pigeon Forge.  I hope this place didn't burn down in the fires last year.  The show was good and it employed national champion lumberjacks from the US and Canada, giving them money to train for further competitions.

Ol' Smoky Moonshine Shop

Gatlinburg has two moonshine shops.  Both give out free samples.  This is one of them; across the street is the other.  The shop is pretty elaborate.

Everyone Loves Friday

 We went to TGIFriday's one night while we were in Pigeon Forge because we had a gift card for it.  The drinks were strong, at least, but the food was meh.  It wasn't bad, but there wasn't anything memorable about it.  As usual, we found we'd ordered too much food, too.  My sandwich, a barbecue chicken with bacon and cheese, didn't have any distinctive flavors.  The salad tasted as common as it looked.  On the other hand, the gift card was free...

Sherlock Pub - Gatlinburg, Tennessee

 This restaurant is tucked away in the back of one of the shopping alleys in Gatlinburg.  The staff is nice and they have Blackthorne on tap - the reason we went.  It was great to have some hard cider, but the food didn't live up to the rest.  The fried items were obviously from bags of frozen food service delivery.  There were no original touches to them.  That doesn't mean they were bad - they were meh.  The salad I had was the same way - prepackaged and opened onto the plate.  This place could use a good cook to go with the friendly service!

I Already Miss Panera

Before leaving for the cabin in Pigeon Forge, we had lunch at Panera in Knoxville.  Just seeing this food again makes me wish there was something similar here in Moldova.

Another Backpack

I bought this backpack in Gatlinburg during our visit. It's completely quilted, cute, and roomy.  Now I need to fill it.

Hibachi!

 Every time we're in the US, I require hibachi once.  This time, we went to Misaki in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Luckily for us, we go for the food and not the preparation show.  Our "chef" was very new to the whole prep bit and it showed.  On the other hand, the food was great.  Miso soup and an order of veggie tempura started things off.  Then it was on to the salad and watching the cook cook.  He missed a lot, but the food was still awesome.  It was, of course, far too much to eat, but we took some back to the hotel for lunch the next day at the cabin.

Surprisingly Fun

Pigeon Forge has a huge number of dinner shows that perform every night.  With such a surfeit, we decided we should see one.  The decision became pretty easy because so many were completely kid oriented.  Considering the price (most were over $50 a person), we were kind of surprised about the way they catered almost exclusively to children.  One, we thought, was less child oriented, so we went to it.  This was the Lumberjack Feud, which promised real lumberjack competitions.  They delivered.  All the major actors were champions of the national lumberjack competitions, including the girls.  There was some local history, some log rolling, some silliness, and some climbing and cutting.  Overall, it was rather fun.

 We had 'bears', so our food was served in bear proof container.  The food itself wasn't all that good.  It wasn't awful, but it definitely could stand improvement.  Drinks (all nonalcoholic) were served in mason jars.  The food (not presentation) was the only disappointment of the night.

You could tell the competitors wanted to win, even though the overall show was rigged to keep both teams in it through to the final event.  The stage was easy to see and it was interesting!  They even had dogs competing to fetch out of water and run over logs.

I'd go again in a few years to see if it changed, but would eat beforehand.

Marbled!

 I found out there was a marbler selling items in one of the craft shops outside of Gatlinburg, so we had to go find it.  She had some lovely items, and I bought these sets of cards and notebooks.  It makes me want to marble again.  Unfortunately, there's no place to do it indoors here, and it's snowing.