Anyway, Kitty Kat and I are out in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains for a long weekend. We stayed in Gatlinburg last night and walked all around and looked at all the stores full of purses and other assorted crap for sale. Ahhhhhh, you see how I am getting back to the swap meet louie title... all kinds of fake purses and stuff being sold here along with a ton of unlicensed characters on air brush t-shirts and who knows what else. Let me end the comparison to the swap meet there because this place is pretty nice. This is a very beautiful part of the country and, no offense to the Rodium or Slauson Swap, thus is the most beautiful big swap meet anywhere!
Here's one of our favorite pictures. They have air soft guns (or some such thing) for sale all over town. The only thing more prevalent is old tyme photo shops (you know where you dress up in old fashion outfits) which there may be 25 of in this small town (and that's no joke).
Anyway, in this photo Kitty Kat holds up a fake purse but notice what's for sale in the background... air soft guns. Other stores have weapons galore; guns, knives, nun-chucks, and other ugly looking weapons.Ok, put aside the weapons, old tyme photos and this is a most beautiful area. I went a 60 minute run one morning, and went into the side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and it is beautiful... and the temperature goes down 5 or 10 degrees within a block due to the shade of the trees. Anyway, I highly recommend the area for a visit. Plus, bring the kids because there are probably about 50 mini golf courses, 25 go-kart tracks, 50 old tyme photos, and hundreds of assorted other shows and activities. People out in SacTown have no idea but I do recommend you come check it out!
However, the SacTownGuy enjoys talking other stuff besides the beauty of the great outdoors. Besides the beautiful Smoky Mountains you notice a lot of other smokies... SMOKERS. Gosh, they are everywhere! They are up and down the sidewalk, perched in front of the gun stores, old tyme photo stores and pancake restaurants. Luckily I love pancakes because they have a lot of pancake restaurants here! Here are three Shoney's employees right in front of their restaurant smoking... right on the main street in the middle of town. YUCK!
They need some of those Cali type laws where you are not allowed to smoke on sidewalks or within 15 feet of a building because the smoking is NASTY! That's about my only real complaint actually.We have to visit our man Flash, aka Earl, at Gatlinburg Ink, the top tattoo shop in the southeast. I highly recommend you go visit Earl when you are looking for your next tat. Tell him the SacTownGuy sent you and he will hook you up! Here's Kitty Kat with Earl getting ready to go under the needle... or maybe just posing....
Shhhhhhhh, don't tell anybody the people down south do not know the Civil War is over. No joke! They LOVE their confederate flags. They have it on everything from purses to flip flops to t-shirts... oy vey do they have T-shirts!
I have never seen more T-shirts in my life and some with the most obnoxious slogans you have ever seen. Not sure which is worse... that somebody came up with his "great idea" for a shirt or that somebody bought it. I can't even quote these shirts in this family friendly blog. Here however is a pic of some for you....
I was so pleasantly surprised to see people of different nationalities working in Gatlinburg. WOW, this place has come along way since I first became acquainted with this place in 1985... or did it. I was impressed with people of varying middle eastern backgrounds working, and presumably owning, many stores throughout town. Their young children running the cash register... the American dream right!? Then I was reading the Knoxville (the BIG city) newspaper yesterday and there was an article about a new development by the Reagan family (big mockers in Gatlinburg) in Gatlinburg and I QUOTE from the Knoxville News Sentinel, "Lee Reagan said that, contrary to rumors, there are no Middle Eastern investors, but a person from Indiana is involved." Oy vey is all I can say.
We moved on to Sevierville and Pigion Forge yesterday. Spent a nice day there touring factory outlet malls and we also went to the Cirque de Chine which was an excellent show which the SacTownGuy highly recommends. For thirty bucks it's a deal. You will be freaking out during the last routine I promise! Plus, Texas BBQ, across the street, just got a beer license recently (the whole bible belt/no liquor thing will be addressed at a later date). I think that makes the show even better!
Oh, I almost forgot to give you a little breakfast review. I love my pancakes and iced tea. The Sevier County area is a hot spot for both. Of course, being in the south they have fresh brewed iced tea everywhere (and not that crap out of the soda machine). As for pancakes... they got pancake places on every corner! The first morning we woke up at the airport Hilton in Knoxville. Other than asking if we wanted separate checks the place was great. $6.50 for pancakes at a full service hotel? WOW! That's the cheapest ever. Plus $1.50 for iced tea. I could get used to these prices. The second morning we went to the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg. It's the tourist trap type of place, with line out the door, cash only, and you know what... it was damn good! How many times have the Pancake Pantry people heard this during their annual audit, "so Mr. Pantry you are telling me I see lines out the door every day but you have lost money again this year?" Ok, I lucked out that day and I got pancakes and iced tea a second time... lunch at the Cracker Barrell. Not having the Barrell in Cali I enjoy it so hit it up. The biscuits were awesome. I carb loaded: pancakes, biscuits and has browns. Oh ya, I also had similar for breakfast the Pantry and their hash browns were off the charts good! The last morning we had breakfast at Flapjacks in Sevierville. It was runner up to the Pantry in terms of food but a close second. The service was excellent and the ambiance perfect for breakfast in TN; as they are a log cabin style place. All in all I carb loaded on this trip and loved every minute of it!
All in all we had a great trip and, as I type this in an airport Hotspot, we are ready to get home to the kiddies on Sunday afternoon.
peace out.
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