Thursday June 12 was the first full day of our, short but much needed, Pigeon Forge vacation.
After a restless night's sleep, I woke up at 6:30 AM EDT. As a rule I don't sleep very well the first night of vacation. Paula was still fast asleep and I wanted to let her rest as long as possible. So I headed out to enjoy the condo.
I didn't want to just sit in the recliner, turn on Good Morning America, and look at Facebook. I could have done that at home. So I headed outdoors.
Here's a link to the video I shot during my time out on the balcony at the start of this first full day. It's on my RHFactors You Tube Channel.
My Point Of Vue: Pigeon Forge Edition
Our plans started out with eating breakfast at a pancake house that has been in Gatlinburg since 1960.
When we got to the restaurant we had to wait about 10 minutes or so for a table. While in line we decided to split an order of their "golden harvest" pancakes.
We also ordered side orders of bacon and sausage to get some protein to counter the carbs in the pancakes. When our breakfast came to our table I couldn't help but notice that the sausage patties were in the shape of a "Hidden Mickey".
I know we were in Tennessee but Walt Disney World and it's infamous mouse are always on my mind no matter where I am.
The pancakes looked delicious with plenty of whipped butter and even before we poured on the syrup.
They were very very good. Paula kept saying that they were the best pancakes she has ever had.
Full and satisfied we left the Pancake Pantry. It was time for us to go do some shopping. The restaurant was right next to an area of specialty shops collectively called "The Village".
We bought some monogrammed clothing items for our granddaughter at a shop called "U Name It". Paula bought some jewelry in "The Silver Shop". We got caught in the Tervis cup store during an intense pop-up rain shower.
That gave us time to each find a new cup. I got a new Yankees cup and Paula got one with Star Wars on it.
Paula went into a few more shops and looked at a lot more things than I did.I played the "good husband" and just found a place to sit and wait for her to come out.
Once while I was waiting I saw a woman who had a very unusual pet with her. It was very small and furry.
Initially I was very excited because I thought it was a marmoset; one of my favorite animals. The woman who owned it told me it wasn't a marmoset but I don't remember what kind of monkey she said it was. Here's the link to the short video of the encounter also I posted on my You Tube Channel.
Monkey In The Village Video
I tried to be calm and polite, asking the woman if I could take some pictures. But I couldn't hide my enthusiasm. I mean it was a monkey out in public!!! When the kids walking buy saw what I was taking pictures of they started gathering around as well. The animal started getting nervous. This seemed to aggravate the woman and she put the monkey away in the small portable crate she had with her. I apologized again and walked away.
After we went through the open mall we came back to the small fountain near front archway. We sat and shared a chocolate cruller from "The Donut Friar" shop.
We made a quick stop in "Our Southern Candy Kitchen" to get a small amount of fudge and a single chocolate candy for each of us. We headed back out to the street to continue our journey.
One of the changes I noticed in Gatlinburg since the last time we were there in October 2011 was the addition of large shops selling "distilled spirits."
From an internet search on our way to the Smokies we found out that the brewing and selling of whiskey and other alcoholic beverages has become big business in Gatlinburg.
Because they were new to us we were curious about them. So we went into the Davy Crockett Tennessee Whiskey shop. Of course I had to try on a coon skin cap. Here's the "selfie" to prove it.
The funniest and most memorable moment of our entire vacation happened in the Davy Crockett store. It has a lot of details that are best told in person. If you want to know the details ask me or Paula when you see us.
While Paula was browsing and taste testing in a beef jerky shop I waited outside on a bench.
It was outside a shop called "The Fudgery". The two employees working inside the open front shop were singing a song inviting passers by to come in and get a free sample.
I went inside for the free taste. The freshly made peanut butter fudge was so delicious I bought a slice to take back to the condo. When it comes to fudge I have no resistance.
Having accumulated a cache of bags and packages from our shopping trip so far we walked the two blocks back to the lot where our car was parked.
We stashed the stuff in the trunk and then sat in the coolness of the car's A/C to rest and refresh.
After about 20 minutes we headed back out to the main street and headed for our next destination.
I wanted to get Michael a "thank you" gift for taking care of our dog, Angel, while we were gone. I found out from Heather that he really liked the t-shirts from the Ole Smokey Moonshine shop.
We walked the two blocks to the Ole Smokey Moonshine store. By the time we reached our destination we were both hungry. We had not had lunch and it was about 4 in the afternoon.
There was a Mellow Mushroom pizza place right next to the Ole Smoky store. The restaurant and lounge was on the second floor. Not surprisingly there was a Mellow Mushroom souvenir store on the street level of the building.
Neither of us had ever eaten there before so we ordered our own custom pizza. Here's what it looked like.
The pizza was good and tasty but not anything remarkable. There was nothing to set it apart from any other pizza I've ever had.
After we finished eating what we wanted and put our leftover slices in a "to go" container we headed to the Ole Smokey Moonshine store. We picked out a t-shirt for Michael and headed back to the car.
We stopped at a couple of shops on the way but didn't buy anything else.
Although our goal for the day was to enjoy ourselves but not wear ourselves out it hadn't turned out that way. Both of us were exhausted. So the only thing we wanted to do was go back to the condo and relax.
Once we got there I got a "second wind" and decided to go swimming in the lazy river. Like I wrote yesterday I ended up getting a blister on the bottom of my foot (specifically the big toe of my left foot) that kept me from getting in again.
We ate leftovers from our IHOP meal the night before as our dinner and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.
I did make a trip back down the parkway to get some first aid supplies for my blister at a Walgreens pharmacy and get our evening snack at the Baskin Robbins.
Our first day full day in the Smokies was over. It was a fun day. We were tired but it was a good kind of tired.
At this point of the day, although it was something we could very well have done at home, sitting and relaxing in the living room of our very nice condo, watching TV and surfing social media was just what the doctor ordered.
We looked forward to another day of doing "touristy" things on Friday. I'll cover that in my next post.
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