Coming into Alabama on US-72, there are four large towns which are referred to as either the Quad Cities or The Shoals: Florence, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Muscle Shoals. As I entered Tuscumbia, I noticed that the Alabama Music Hall of Fame – it’s still open to the public, unlike Georgia’s – counts Buffalo Rock among its sponsors. I reminded myself to find a grocery store and bring home a twelve-pack, and promptly forgot. I remembered when I got home and recounted the trip to my family, slapped myself in the head, stood up and said “I’ll be back in three and a half hours…” Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part five”
Tag: barbecue
Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part three
After I enjoyed the really good pork at Chuck Wagon in Fayetteville, I continued west on US-64 for the next few hours. I crossed I-65 and made it into the town of Lawrenceburg, where the actor and politician Fred Thompson was born. There’s a big and faded sign with Thompson’s photo on it as you come into town. Local ne’er-do-wells have defaced it, giving him an impressive 19th Century head of hair, a swirling and thick mustache and beard somewhere between “Confederate general” and “grizzled prospector.” Give the vandals points for originality; kids in my hometown would have been satisfied with some sunglasses. Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part three”
Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part two
I’ve driven between Chattanooga and Nashville dozens of times climbing up and down the mountain through Monteagle, but until this trip, I had not gone down the southwest side, following US-41A. In the spring of 2012, we used US-41 down the north slope to Manchester, but this was all new to me. Taking US-41A west-southwest to Winchester will take you first past the campus of the oddly-named Sewanee: The University of the South before dipping down the mountain’s western side through a beautiful and gentle series of curves and twists. The highway then rolls through the town of Cowan before finding Winchester and winding north again. Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part two”
Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part one
Our circumnavigation series – this will be the third – have slowly evolved over the last eighteen months, and it occurs to me that while I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about these, I have not really communicated to our readers what the purpose and objective to them might be. I mean, what the heck is this all about? Why do I leave my wife and kids for two days to go out and absolutely overeat in strange and out-of-the-way places? Continue reading “Circumnavigating the Tennessee River Valley – part one”
Southern Smoq BBQ, Flowery Branch GA
It has been my experience that the very best barbecue joints tend to have some buzz. They have a reputation, built up over years and commemorated in newspaper stories and magazines and books and blogs and oral histories. These are the ones that barbecue lovers like me anticipate for years before sampling. I’ve been fortunate; every one of the old and/or celebrated haunts that have come with such high expectations have met them. Scott’s, Old Clinton, Brick Pit, Bar-B-Q Shop and so on; in every case I had read for ages that these were amazing, and every one satisfied. Continue reading “Southern Smoq BBQ, Flowery Branch GA”
Rib Country, Cleveland GA
Before I forget, should you ever find yourself leaving Dahlonega and traveling east to Cleveland, you’ll probably find yourself on GA-52, with the mountains beautiful and soaring on your left. There are twistier and curvier roads in Georgia, many of them, but this one is just twisty and curvy enough to make you feel alive. It’s wonderful. Doesn’t reading that just make you want to go to north Georgia right now? I love this part of the state. Continue reading “Rib Country, Cleveland GA”
Smokin’ Gold BBQ, Dahlonega GA
If you read us regularly, you might recall that a month ago, when we visited Hickory Pig, I wrote that I had a notion to visit three more of the out-of-the-way places in the outlying towns that make up the Urbanspoon Gainesville “metro” area. The first of these was Smokin’ Gold, a joint that I had originally intended to visit along with the girlchild and the toddler back in January, a couple of hours after we had stopped at Big D’s, only to find the business closed for a two-week vacation. We spoke with Laurie Dieterle, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband Dan, who explained that while I was having my patience tried to the limit by trying to shop with my exasperating girlchild, they were on a cruise in Central America, and Dan was probably zip-lining over some Costa Rican jungle while I was pouting at their restaurant’s locked doors. Continue reading “Smokin’ Gold BBQ, Dahlonega GA”
Marie, Let's Eat! 