Any good food around Bristol, TN?

I'll be in Nashville the following week. Missing the race by a week, damnit. We're doing the whole tourist thing. Looking forward to visiting Lynchburg and Mr. Daniels

Dave N said:

OK, talked the wife into swinging through Memphis on the way home. That will cover my BBQ fix! Guess we'll be looking for a good steak or burger type place around or in Bristol. Thanks for the suggestions so far!

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If you're still going through Memphis~ https://www.hogsfly.com/

I will second taking a trip to cades cove. Great place to go if you just want to drive around and see wildlife

Looks like Cades Cove will be on the list. Just had a guy here at work bring it up without even asking! Plenty of things to see and do right around Gatlinburg, guess we'll be spending a bit of time there.

Zach, looks like a good place. I've kind of had my heart set on trying the food at Central BBQ. Always heard that was the go-to place.

Check out the link below, you can't miss with any of the places featured. Scott's in Lexington is one of the last authentic whole hog bbq joints. I was eating there when there was only 1 food show, Julia Childs on public tv, and will put their bbq up against anyone's.

https://youtu.be/6WYR079F0xU

An entire day can be spent in Cades Cove with all the historical homeplaces and such. If you’re just wanting to see wildlife try To time it where you’ll be finishing in the dark to see the most animals. I know that may be self explanatory but it’s ghoulishly hot and humid this time of year from about 10am to 5pm or so. Be sure to bring some binos if you can. Girlfriend and I were there a month ago and wouldn’t have seen any of the 4 black bears we saw without our binos as they were munching far out in a thick blackberry patch. If you’re into hiking Abrams Falls Trailhead is about halfway through the loop at Cades. Takes about 3-5hrs to get to the Falls, hang out a bit and hike back but it’s well worth it imo if you have the time to kill.

If you’re looking for some good food in Gatlinburg check out the Smoky Mountain Trout House. It’s the one restaurant I make sure to go to at least once every time I’m in Gatlinburg. Have fun. The Smokies are an awesome place.

Thanks everybody! Lots of good tips here. Yep, binoculars go wherever we go. The wife has even gotten fairly good at spotting critters. Heading out tomorrow as soon as I grab a quick shower after work. Will try to knock off several hundred miles tomorrow so it won't be so far to go Saturday. I've been checking the weather forecast and maybe I should just stop. Nothing but rain this weekend! Figures...

Waffle House. Check. Will go there again! Now, to get to the track.

Dave N said:

Waffle House. Check. Will go there again! Now, to get to the track.

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Was there last night had a great time. Enjoy they may get it in between rain storms.

Back home now. Wife and I got our Bristol "baptism" right off the bat. Got into the track, picked up my t-shirt, got a bite to eat and went to our seats. No sooner got to start chowing down and the sky opened up! Back up the stairs to a relatively dry spot. Once it quit, things dried off pretty quickly. Got past the opening ceremonies and it was green flag time. My wife has never EVER experienced anything close to a NASCAR race. Sitting down in the front row she sure got an eyeful. Or should I say earful. When they hit it and got rolling her eyes were HUGE and her hand was over her mouth for about the first 3 or 4 laps. Then we put in our earplugs and settled in for the show. Truex went sliding right in front of us when he crashed. You hear the boos for Kyle Busch on TV but it's way more apparent in person.

Explored the countryside the next day, then headed over to Gatlinburg. Took the back roads and saw some neat things. Went up to Pigeon Forge, saw the Dixie Stampede show, and even found myself a new pair of dress cowboy boots. The next morning the wife saw a bear walking through the hotel parking lot when she went out for a smoke. Cades Cove was nice. Critters didn't really cooperate, only saw about 12 turkeys, 3 deer, 1 coyote and 1 groundhog. The old log cabins and barns were the highlight of the drive!

Left there for a trip over to Memphis. Stayed just a half mile from Graceland. Wife wanted to see it all there, so I went along even though I'm not an Elvis fan. Went to Beale Street, ate at Central BBQ, went to the Bass Pro Shop in the pyramid, then topped off our bellies at Marlowe's with fried catfish and an order of BBQ tater chips.

Had planned on swinging over to Missouri for the Bass Pro Shop over there but decided to head for home instead. Now it's back to grass mowing, green bean picking, laundry, grocery shopping, oil change and tire rotation, and so on! Work again Monday...

Thanks for the suggestions and tips! We had a good time!

Glad you guys had fun sounds like a great road trip. Amazing you lasted 3-4 laps with no hearing protection in at the world's fastest half mile. Loud doesn't even begin to explain that noise in there. Lol I usually put double ears on.