Tuesday was dark with clouds when we woke up, but the radar showed little spots of green instead of all green and yellow like yesterday.  And it was much cooler - 65 at 7:30 am.  I grabbed my camera and jumped over puddles to the edge of the creek for some shots.  Usually this creek is a little dribble of clear water, but not this morning.  Fortunately it didn't rain hard enough to make it run over the banks.  Whew.  I believe the northeast is getting more flooding that around here.

We were going to Western Sizzlin' for the breakfast buffet with Donna and Ron.  Ron had to be at work to train today, so we wanted to get over there, run up to Bass Pro Shop and make it back before lunch.

Western Sizzlin' was less than wonderful, however, it used to be really good.  It must be the old economy striking again.  It was a short ride up to Bass Pro, and we looked for some water proofing liquid that your clothes can be washed in.  I didn't know that existed, and we found it under a big sign that said "RAINWEAR".  Ron also found a neat jacket in vivid red that was light and waterproof he was looking for.  We didn't hang around long but will return to look at camping gear for the fun of it sometime soon.

At home, Ron went over to the CG office for his training, and I began to make a crockpot meal for Brenda, Larry, Ron and Donna for tonight.  Today is also our grand-daughter, Ainsley's birthday, and our family tradition is to call and sing happy birthday to them.  She wasn't there, so we left a singing message.

Brenda and Larry came around 6 and we had some yummies before a really good crockpot soup.  Everyone enjoyed talking and eating the strawberry shortcake that Brenda had brought and before we knew it it was after 10.  Ron had to get up for work tomorrow, so we called it a night, a really NICE night.

Wednesday morning, the creek was much lower and Gary was having a Panera attack.  He checked with Alvin (the CG Maintenance guy) about how to get there the back way.  Alvin agreed that he had the correct turns.  Donna dropped of lunch for Ron and off we went.  First stop was Dollywood to  pick up Donna's umbrella and check my schedule.  Hmmm, I am not scheduled to work even one day until Sept. 25th.  Good thing we get free rent. 

We were getting really hungry but about 40 minutes into our drive, Gary was having concerns about the landmark he was supposed to have seen by then.  I opened up our iPad, Googled our position and discovered we were on a long, long dead end road.  Ooops.  Turned around, enjoying the scenery and even stopped to take pictures of these whimsical straw bale statues:

It was a nice drive but added an extra 30 minutes to our final destination: Maryville.  Finally we get to our now lunch, enjoying soup on this 65 degree day.  I never thought I'd see this temperature again with all the heat this summer.  How refreshing!











Panera was delicious, and on our way back, I took some shots of how the clouds were misting over the mountain tops. 

Along this road, close to Wears Valley, are small stores, antique shops and small eateries.  We are all curious, so stopped at a few to check out the local artisans offerings.  Came close a few times, but just wasn't sold on the perfect piece.  This outfit was brand new; Gary and I watched it finished this summer, so we had to visit here. 

 Gary found a T-shirt with "Paddle faster, I hear banjos" on it.  Later that night, I heard that the saying belonged to a movie called Deliverance.  I hadn't seen that movie, and when I listened to the description, I was glad I didn't.  We also found a T-shirt that had the Dragon's Tail road depicted on it.  Wow, we've got to do that - but ONLY in the Jeep.  We'll let you know when that happens.

Ron got to leave work a little early, so he grilled burgers and we ate outside before we headed down to Gatlinburg for a show at the Sweet Fanny Adams theatre.  We found the parking deck, got a good spot, walked over to the theatre and - oops - it was closed tonight.  Oh, well, the parking attendant let us off free and we decided it was too late to catch another show, so let's go to Mel's Diner for a banana split.  Are you ready for this????

Six scoops of ice cream, a whole banana, three toppings, whipped cream nuts and a cherry.  I ate all the chocolate, but Gary couldn't finish both the strawberry and vanilla.  It sure was tasty, and with our discount, we saved the tip.  We won't be doing this again any time soon, but I can't even remember when I last had a banana split.

And it's such a good idea to go to bed with all that sitting in your tummy.  But no nightmares, please...