After spending a sort of leisurely morning going through some things at the cabin, we decided this would be our day to find Mama’s Farmhouse Restaurant. When I asked the people who were locals working at Dollywood for their recommendations of locally owned restaurants, this was one highly recommended. I was told that the lady who started the restaurant was indeed a local woman and it had maintained the local flavor and traditions. Awesome. Just what we were wanting.
The ride there was normal, normal. I did my usual and tried snapping pictures of unique things. Nothing too remarkable jumped out and bit me today until we got to the restaurant. How special it looked.
Yes. Those chairs do say Mama and Papa.
I hadn’t asked what kind of food they had or what their prices were like. My mistake. It’s really important to do that! But it worked out. It was what I considered fairly reasonable for a good quality restaurant in a high, high tourist area. What we didn’t know was that it was an all you can eat place. Cool.
We were seated in one of the front rooms, almost by ourselves. Our waitress came up with a sweet country smile and asked what we’d like to drink. I decided coke and Cliff got sweet tea if I remember right. She brought us our drinks in canning jars, the official glass of the area I think. Along with that, we were given a basket full of sweet cornbread and biscuits and PEACH butter! Oh my GOODness that was wonderful! She asked us whether we wanted soup or salad and told us that was one of two decisions we’d have to make. I opted for the salad and Cliff got the soup.
FanTAStic! Both were delicious. And what was best about my salad was the apple cider dressing. I had never tasted it before and I was in love.
Before our starters were gone, she came with the meal. We were given helpings of chicken AND meatloaf, macaroni and cheese AND mashed potatoes, okra, green beans and corn pudding. When something was nearly gone, she was prompt to bring refills.
When it looked like we’d had enough, she told us we now had to make our second decision. Strawberry shortcake? Or banana pudding. I asked if she could do half and half and told her I’d really like my shortcake without the biscuit. She brought me a bowl of vanilla ice cream with strawberry topping, Cliff shortcake and a banana pudding to share. Wonderful food. Loved this place.
The signs on things cracked me up.
On the way out, we happened to notice that the family tree of the Mama who started this special place was on the wall. How cool.
I was wanting to go back to the resort and take more pictures of the cabins and while we were wandering around see what other things we could find.
The cabin was still what we thought it was. No one moved it or changed it. Lol
The view from there was still superb. I was happy.
Driving down the road, Cliff saw me drooling I think. He pulled into the Factories Outlet Christmas store. He knows my love of Christmas stuff. And…I was taking pictures, pictures, and more pictures of all things Christmas thinking my sweet friend Cheryl and her best bud Denise will find their way down to enjoy if they see enough of it. Lol
As we wandered we realized that you really do need to check things out before jumping at an activity. There are many, many of whatever you’re wanting to do. Ziplines was perhaps the one that struck me the most. There were ziplines advertised that were right there in easy reach. But the coolest one we found was back some weird road we found and it looked awesome! We actually were able to watch some folks coming back to base.
We had pulled in their lot to turn around and out of nowhere in the trees of the far mountain came slip sliding in a couple people. WOW! How fun! They got to the platform we were closest to and hooked on and slid into the main lodge type building. Neat, neat, neat.
Our next little stop was at the Gatlinburg Welcome Center. I found a few trinkets there for gifts and learned about several other types of arts and crafts that are locally made. I could have gotten what I wanted there, but buying at the little shops from the artists would be so much more fun.
Our wanderings were the side and back streets on both sides of the main drag. If we got lost it was fine. We had the GPS to help us back to the business area and on to our evening activity. While driving we saw a gigantic barn with a huge picture on its end. We wanted to see just what that was. When we got to it, we discovered an empty barn with Dick Clark on its side, for sale. Wow. If we were rich and talented, we could buy it and do something with it. Lol ANYthing! Looked to us like in this area, anything goes and it all makes a good buck!
Great Smoky Mountain Murder Mystery Dinner Theater was a fun place to go. We had never done a murder mystery before. The show we saw was a take off on I love Lucy. The acting wasn’t real professional, but it was fun. The meal wasn’t anything to write home about but it filled our belly. Been there done that, now we don’t need to do it again.
We got Back to cabin after stopping in to use the two for one ice cream coupon we were given. And now I remember we also had 36 free holes of miniature golf. DRAT we forgot! We opened the door to the cabin and it’s REALLY hot! Oh fer joy. Sleep that night didn’t seem too promising.
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