Sarah Kay's Travel Adventures: Tennessee and Georgia "Spring" Trip-Part 2

Tennessee and Georgia "Spring" Trip-Part 2

The drive to Augusta from Chattanooga was a smooth one. The only time we had to make a stop was at a WalMart about 15 miles from Augusta to print out a few pics to get signed from the show the night before. I always get nervous driving downtown into a city I have never been before, but Augusta was incredibly easy to navigate. Driving to the theater Khadeja immediately noticed a record shop a few blocks down. She might be young, but she has always had an old soul. She loves all things “vintage” and has been collecting records for several years. So the record shop was definitely on our stop list while there. We also grabbed a bite to eat at Groucho’s Deli (https://grouchos.com/augusta) which is a sandwich/sub shop apparently popular across Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I recommend the tasty Baby Sub (The "original" Groucho's sub is a fat sub roll, served hot with salami, bologna, provolone cheese melt, herb slaw center topped by lean ham).

Downtown Augusta

Groucho's Baby Sub

This time I don’t have many stories to share about the show. VIP was fun as always. Khadeja got a group hug for her picture and I got the famous "Austin Brown lean". It was another good show, but definitely didn’t have the excitement of the night before. Austin is from Georgia, so it was a home show for him and the crowd did show him a lot of love. It was good to feel that. His lovely mother was also in attendance, so it made the night that much sweeter.

Rob Lundquist

Adam Rupp drum solo with his mirror jacket

Austin feeling the love from the home crowd

These adorable little girls made homemade signs that caught the Guys' eyes from up in the balcony. It was super cute when one-by-one Tim asked each girl what their sign said with each one replying the same thing "I love Home Free!" The Guys invited the girls to meet them backstage after the show, which they definitely deserved for their effort on those signs. The top pic was taken during the last song as the girls made their way down to the stage area and below I asked if I could snap a pic of the girls with their signs to share. I always love seeing kids at the shows, especially when they seem to love the Guys' and their music as much as the adults do! They always bring a smile to my face.

A few hours after the show we headed to Ashville, NC to spend the night so we could get an earlier start to the Smoky Mountains the next day. The over 3 hour drive to Ashville was not a pleasant one. My GPS took us through miles and miles of backroads that was plagued with dense fog and lots of deer. Also, as we drove through South Carolina I was shocked by the number of churches on these back roads. It felt like we ran across a church every 5-10 mile as we drove through the country. We have some country churches in Wisconsin, but nothing like South Carolina. Do they even have enough people to fill so many churches in one area? The hotel in Ashville was a very satisfying sight considering it was almost 4am by the time we arrived. The next morning was beautiful and sunny and the ride into the mountains from Ashville to Pigeon Forge, TN was gorgeous. And did I mention it was warm?

Maggie Valley, North Carolina

When telling people we were going to the Smokies, I did have some warnings of making sure not to get lost out there in the “backwoods”. You know, the places where people have been said not to return from. All these tales of what can happen in those places that make for the best plots on episodes of Criminal Minds running though my head as we took a wrong turn somewhere on the edge of the Smokies. We navigated what my GPS said was a road, but clearly was just a long driveway with a name. We ended up a car graveyard of sorts and all I could think was these are the cars of all those tourists who haven’t returned home the past 50 years. Before I drove in any deeper I managed to complete a U-turn on this narrow “road” and hightail it the hell out of there. I cussed my GPS out a little bit for giving me some very confusing directions that led me down that road. I know she can hear me when I yell at her, so she deserved it.

As if that little detour wasn’t enough for me, once we got back on our route we decided to stop at this redneck-looking shop along the highway outside of Gatlinburg. Again it looked like one of those places we might not make it out alive from, but once we walked in I was pleasantly surprised with all the goodies, vintage items, and exploration that were inside. The saying, never judge a book by its cover definitely fit this situation. The store was called Stella & Ruby’s Vintage and Variety and was stocked full of jewelry, vintage toys, telephones, dishes, pictures, and pretty much everything you could think of. Deep within the store I was delighted to meet the resident “shop cat” Sister Kitty. I am such a cat lover and she immediately won my heart. She was a gorgeous smoky grey color and was just so sweet. When we went to leave she followed us out as if she wanted to come back to Wisconsin with is, but I am sure she does that to all the visitors and we were not special to her at all. Check out Stella and Ruby’s on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Stella-Rubys-Vintage-and-Variety-183466838354235/.

Vintage telephones and ashtrays for sale

Sister Kitty

Beautiful picture of Sister Kitty from Stella & Ruby's Facebook page

Next door to Stella and Ruby’s was another gift shop called Hillbilly Deluxe. To be honest, it seemed as though the two stores had the names swapped. Hillbilly Deluxe is your typical tourist gift shop with t-shirts, candles, soaps, toys, jams and candies. Nothing about it screamed hillbilly to me at all. The thing I loved the most about this little shop were the heifer shirts. For those of you who know me, you know heifer is one of my favorite words to use and use it daily, sometimes multiple times a day. I didn’t buy the shirts, but immediately regretted that decision once we left. You can find out more information on Hillbilly Deluxe here: www.hillbillydeluxestore.com.

From this point I will share more pictures than story because we spent hours driving through the Smoky Mountains to Cades Cove. I was hoping to see some spring babies, but was stuck with mainly deer and turkeys. Same animals I see every day back home, but seeing them in the mountains was still something special. And I would love to know the stories these old building hold inside them.

We stayed in Pigeon Forge that evening and made another stop at the famous Waffle House. They never disappoint. Tasty food and the best customer service of any restaurant chain we have been to. Our hotel was right on the Little Pigeon River, a landing spot for many, many geese. Loud geese. Geese who decided I needed to be awake at 5:30 am the morning of a long drive home after not going to sleep until after 1am. So what to do laying there awake with loud geese annoying the shit out of you? Go outside and take some pictures and video for your Instagram story. Obviously the only logical thing to do. So I did.

Beyond this point, really not much else to share. I wasn’t looking forward to heading home knowing I was going back to snow and bitter cold. It was raining and dreary when we left, perfect setting for how I felt leaving, and once we got into Kentucky the rain turned to snow. I probably can stop at that.