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FALL CRUISE – TENNESSEE
OCT. 15-17
WOW! What a fun filled weekend. Several of us met in Canton for breakfast before heading to Tennessee to meet the rest of the group. Our first stop was Savannah Oaks Winery where the others including our host and hostess Budd and Darr Neidig were waiting. We did a bit of visiting, shopping and tasting at the winery. Due to time, we had to skip the planned visit to SweetwaterValley Cheese Factory.
We caravanned to Calhoun’s Marina in Lenoir City, TN for lunch. It is a beautiful spot and we were seated in a room with a view of the lake. After lunch, we visited DouglasLakeDam and took pictures of the cars. We had quite an assortment of colors this trip: red, black, polo green, gray and flax yellow which made for great photos. Our next stop was Point Resort in Dandridge,TN. We each had a lovely large suite with balconies that faced a picturesque bridge and the lake. After checking in and taking a breather, we met for a light dinner in the “party” suite. A lot of eating, drinking and laughter ensued. We had a lively debate on the advantages of driving an Allante’ vs. a Hummer. LOL
Saturday morning started with a hearty breakfast at Smokey’s in the historic town of Dandridge. A visit to the Cherokee Dam was the next venue. Then, we went to Ritter Farms Market where we had several photo opportunities along with shopping for some wonderful apples and other treats. The next stop was the very unique and quaint ClinchMountain Winery. There were so many interesting things on the porch and grounds that it was hard to stop looking at the old washing machine, motorcycle, sewing machine, various farm wagons, a steel, old cash register and much more fascinating “junque”. Finally, after a lot of photos, we went in for tasting and shopping. It was such a great place off the beaten path that we would have never found it without our Bean Station residents, Budd and Darr. We made a brief stop for some mountain and lake views at Veterans Overlook. Our route to lunch at Planet Wings at Black Oak Boat Dock in Jefferson City took us down some real “country” back roads. We saw several donkeys or mules along the way. This led to another interesting conversation Sunday morning. We had another great lunch with a view of the marina and some very large yachts.
After lunch we drove back to the resort. Later, after a siesta for some and a walk around the marina for others, we headed for dinner at Angelo’s.
Sunday morning we had breakfast at Perkins and enjoyed some very decadent Mammoth Muffins before heading our separate ways home. Some of us decided to prolong the mountain trek and went home via Gatlinburg and were delighted with more scenic views. This was definitely a perfect top down weekend just made for cruising the mountain roads and taking in the scenic views.
A BIG thank you to Budd and Darr for planning such a terrific weekend for us to enjoy. We certainly fulfilled our mission statement, RIDE, EAT, RIDE, EAT, DRINK, RIDE……Here’s hoping you all have many more top down days before we meet for breakfast meeting in November.
Linda Penfield
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