Since the leaves were starting to change and we were going to be in Maryville for the weekend, we decided to take Monday off work and make it a long weekend. We drove up Saturday morning and we went to Avery’s game and to the Capitol Theatre Ice Cream Parlor and to the mall at Knoxville. Saturday night was trick or treat at the mall. There were lots of people there in costumes and masks. We all said that we were surprised that they allowed full face masks especially on the adults.
Sunday we got up early and drove to Wears Valley which is close to Pigeon Forge to get breakfast and enjoy the fall colors. We started with breakfast at Elvira’s Cafe in Wears Valley. Elvira’s is a farm to table restaurant. We got there as they opened but we noticed that there were people in there that appeared to have been there awhile as they were finishing their meal. As we hung around we found out that the reason why is because a local pastor comes there on Sunday morning and holds a service for the workers and locals that want to come there to hear his message.
The owner sat down at the table next to us with some of the locals that had came for the morning message and she saw me checking out the mayonnaise that was on the table and started telling me about her farm fresh ingredients. My reason for looking at it so closely was I was thinking shouldn’t this be refrigerated. After looking over the bottle I find the notation that said it didn’t have to be refrigerated. She told me that it is because it is “real” mayonnaise. I noticed several other things in the restaurant were more “real” than processed. On the table was a bowl that had coffee creamer and processed butter. She told me that she found out early on that parents let their kids play with what’s on the table to keep them entertained, so that is why there is processed butter on the table, but that you can ask for real butter from the kitchen. She told me that she knows where everything comes from that she serves in her restaurant. She said that she doesn’t like it when her regular salesman is off at her vendors and they try to substitute with things that are not up to her standards. We talked about this as I was checking out and since I had noticed several things and we talked about them she gave me a discount. Win win!!!
If you are in Wear’s Valley we highly recommend eating at Elvira’s. We don’t think that you will be disappointed.
After breakfast we rode the South Foothills Parkway from Wear’s Valley to Lake Chilhowee stopping at several overlooks to get out and take pictures. The pictures doesn’t really do justice to the magnificent views and the beautiful fall colors. They really just pick up the green, but there were lots of fall colors. At Lake Chilhowee we headed back to Maryville. We realized on the way back that we didn’t go on the Tail of the Dragon. We’ll have to do that on another trip.
Sunday night we decided to go to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Alcoa so that we can watch some of the games that are on. Well the entire section is empty, except for this table with like 10 people, 2 of them were young boys. The family was there for one of the boys birthdays. The youngest marched around the table with a party horn, that was annoying. Then one of the brothers gifts is a big tiger head, we determined that they were Clemson fans. He didn’t realize that we were Bama fans and that we don’t care for tigers. LOL!! He marched around and around the table with it on, I think he was just trying to get attention and to annoy us, he was doing a really good job. Avery was about ready to take it off his head and stomp on it. LOL!!! The parents weren’t paying any attention to him. Of all the seats in the restaurant they had to put us by the most annoying table of the night.
On Monday we had breakfast at the hotel, did a little exploring and shopping around Maryville/Alcoa and waited on Avery to get out of class. We then took him to lunch and headed home.
It was a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.