Vacation Recap: Friday - Gatlinburg & Nashville!

From this point of the trip onward, I pretty much only took pictures of food... I think I was just getting lazy...

By the end of Thursday night I was really fed up with my stomach hurting so much. So, I vowed to eat as close to the BRAT diet as I could. That ended up lasting 1/3 of 1 day. For breakfast the next morning I had a banana and some yogurt (which isn't even on the BRAT diet, I just thought the cultures in yogurt might be good for my digestive system).

By lunch time we had arrived in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We all had quaint memories of Gatlinburg based on a family vacation that took place around 1993. The Gatlinburg of 2014 was not what we remembered. It was CROWDED and so very obnoxiously TOURISTY! A nightmare, really. To me. 

Nonetheless, we stopped for pancakes at The Pancake Pantry. I really wish I could have enjoyed these more because I LOVE pancakes. I got the blueberry and my mom got the peach, and we shared. 

Yes, that's a glob of butter. No, I didn't eat it. 

Driving through Tennessee was...interesting. 

You should have seen the Confederate flags when they were fluttering in the breeze. Quite a (sickening) sight. 

By early evening we arrived in Nashville. Our first stop was a cookie shop, The Christie Cookie, where we got cookies to eat later. 

Sugar cookie with icing and SPRINKLES!

Rocky Road cookie

Then we went shopping on Music Row, where we got some souvenirs and gifts for others. 

For dinner, we went to this place called Monell's. It was homemade, country cooking and reminded me a lot of Babe's in Texas. The amount of food they gave us was RIDICULOUS. Coleslaw, cucumber salad, rolls, cornbread, peach preserves, turnip greens (gross), green beans, macaroni and cheese (yum!), corn pudding (again?), fried catfish, mashed potatoes, spinach lasagna (random), beef ribs, fried chicken, banana pudding, lemonade, and sweet tea. I just put little dabs of all of it on my plate and that left me stuffed! Partly because my appetite was (sadly) still not at its normal level of ferociousness. 

Our short time in Nashville confirmed for me once again that it is just one of those cities I LOVE. I intuitively get feelings about cities and I just really like Nashville. I add it to the list of other cities I feel as though I could easily call home (the others being Portland, San Francisco, and Austin).

Meanwhile, my brother continued to tease us with pictures of the most perfect and beautiful dog in the universe.