Sunday
It was time to visit one of Gatlinburg's premiere dining destinations, the Log Cabin Pancake House. I can't tell you why this region overflows with flapjacks; it's just a way of life in the mountains. The Log Cabin was only a couple blocks away from our hotel. By the time we arrived just before 10am, the line was intimidatingly long. They make everyone stand in front of the restaurant and wait in line for the next available table, rather than having a "put in your name and get a buzzer" system. Not sure why, but I suspect it allows for faster seating that way.
We had been waiting for about 10 minutes and the line wasn't moving much at all, except for large parties. The hostess would periodically come out on the porch and say, "I need a party of 5 or more." Then that lucky group would hop to the front of the line. I was about to give up hope and try our luck at another pancake house when the party of 3 in front of us asked if we'd like to share a table with them, with the goal of getting a table more quickly. They looked normal enough, so we agreed and mere minutes later were seated in the giant dining room!
Our dining companions were a couple from Virginia traveling with one of their moms, from West Virginia. They'd been to Gatlinburg a few times before. It turned out to be a fun and pleasant breakfast! DF and I were pretty much out of conversation topics for just the 2 of us anyway, having spent the last 60+ hours straight together.
(Sorry, no pictures of breakfast.)
On the way back to the hotel, we passed Gatlinburg Presbyterian Church. Their sign had advertised Sunday service at 11:00am and we had thought about attending. As we approached the church, we heard the tell-tale sound of bagpipes. Who can ignore a bunch of pipers?? Of course, this meant we had to go to church now to find out what was going on.
It turned out to be an event called Kirkin o' the Tartan celebrating the Scottish heritage of the church members. It has its origins in the era when England captured Scotland and banned Scots from wearing their traditional colors (tartans) because they were perceived as the clothing of war. But Scots wanted to hold on to this piece of their heritage, and they would secretly bring swatches of fabric to the church to be blessed.
I didn't want to be obnoxious and snap a bunch of pictures, but other congregants had their cameras out so I took a couple, too. Several people carried in plaid/tartan flags, and the bagpipers played enthusiastically.
This was definitely a new experience!
Since DF and I are mostly German, not Scottish, we had to find another place to embrace our cultural heritage. What better place than "Okt-Ober-fest" at Ober Gatlinburg, a little German destination on top of a mountain? This is a ski area during the winter. In the fall it's a nice place to admire leaves and eat some wurst. DF did a beer tasting but I was too scared to join in because there were too many yellow jackets swarming around. One literally flew into his sample cup while he was trying to take a drink! Ack!!
We didn't spend very long there because basically every activity/attraction came with a price tag, and I was eager to get to the Outlet Malls to spend money on things rather than experiences :)
After our fill of shopping, we explored Pigeon Forge a bit. This town in the home of Dollywood, which we did not visit. Although I do enjoy a couple Dolly Parton songs, I'm not a big enough fan to want to spend like $60 per person on admission. Instead, we checked out a Christmas Village.
By then, it was dinner time, so we went to one of the popular spots in town, the Old Mill Restaurant. Yes, it is actually located in an old mill. Their portion sizes are out of control! DF and I shared one meal and were both stuffed.
The final chapter in our journey includes Chattanooga, TN and a couple stops in Northern AL. Stay tuned!
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