Tennessee Gals, Part 1 of 2

In 2024, I had suggested to a couple of girlfriends that we get together for a long weekend somewhere in the middle of where we all lived. I thought maybe a crafts festival in Virginia over Labor Day, or a she-shed outside Asheville for a weekend of crafting and reading and eating. Well, I needed to wait until after the book manuscript was done, which it finally was in November 2025. However, it wouldn't make sense to travel to publicize it until after it was published in March. That conveniently left MLK weekend in January for a get together in between book-related business. KS had a timeshare in Gatlinburg and wanted to take me to a moonshine tasting, and JR offered to bring food and crafts. My only request was that we prioritize couch time, as I desperately needed to be stationary after an incredibly long year+ finishing the book, taking a leadership seminar, compiling my promotion portfolio, and keeping up with my clinical work. Friday evening I flew down to Knoxville, TN, to spend the night with KS. Then we drove over to Gatlinburg, passing through Pigeon Forge. Reader, I was completely unprepared for the cultural phenomenon and capitalistic sensory overload that is PF/G. The best way I could understand it was as an inland Atlantic City or Ocean City boardwalk: shows! rides! museums! go carts! arcades! live animals (gators, bears, etc.)! tattoos! pancakes!

This is the WonderWorks, whose building was constructed to look as if it were upside down. A little ways down the main drag is another building made to look like it's collapsing from a natural disaster.

Hatfields vs McCoys dinner feud

This is a Titanic-shaped museum dedicated to the--well, you get the picture.

Hollywood Wax Museum, completed with life-sized King Kong on the side of the skyscrapers

 While the interlude through Great Smoky Mountain National Park was lovely,

traffic was wretched through the bottleneck that is downtown Gatlinburg.

Aaaah, at last, feet up in front of the fireplace with football on the telly and mountains out the window. Once we were all assembled, we headed out for dinner at Crystelle Creek, a nearby restaurant famous for the waterfall over its eaves.

We spent the weekend on various mending projects; watched Clueless, which was new to two of us; ate Flapjacks pancakes for breakfast (I highly recommend the original white pancakes--don't bother with the buckwheat ones!); attended a moonshine tasting at Sugarlands (ironically, we liked the whiskey best of everything we tried); visited a local yarn shop (Smoky Mountain Spinnery); and enjoyed the outdoor hot tub.

Alas, a job interview for JR and a guest lecturer who had to reschedule because of snow meant we wrapped up the trip a little early so everyone could get back to reliable wifi. Thankfully I made my connection and got back to Pittsburgh in time to host a history of medicine lecture (from the airport). I'm going to write one more post about what may have been the highlight of the trip: the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum (yes, you read that correctly!). Stay tuned...

Above: a prodigious ramen noodle! And my bowl of pot sticker ramen--yum. Below: On our way out of town, we snuck in a wine tasting at Apple Barn Winery juuust before they closed.