Hey . . . it’s another layover day already!!!

Last night we caught a shuttle and headed to the Van Auken’s Restaurant for the weekly “All You Care to Eat’ fried chicken buffet (they lost money on our group). They have a Clucking Contest every Thursday night at 8:00pm for the best chicken impersonator. The winner gets their buffet for free that night. In September, all the weekly winners are invited back for a “Cluck Off’. The winner gets $200!!!! Ends up Wade does a pretty good chicken imitation, but we were gone by 8:00pm. Some were already getting ready for bed!!!!

A bright and  beautiful morning today in Old Forge. I actually slept in until 7:00am!!!! Old Forge is like any other tourist town we have been through though, mainly restaurants and shops. This one was very tidy though and not too tacky.

Some of ‘late risers’ headed down to Walt’s Diner  . . .

. . . voted the best breakfast for the last three years. Some went to the Pancake House which turned-out to not be so good . . .

Walt’s was a hopping place and similar to many other local diners we have passed through . . .

. . . we had a hungry group (and only 12 hours since we had eaten endless chicken) . . .

. . .and a three egg omelet with sausage, potatoes and provolone was only $8.00. (as you might expect, food is a BIG deal on a layover day).

Time for a little stroll up and down main street. Only two stops interested me. This kayak shop  . . .

. . . is the biggest in the northeast with over 1,000, kayaks and canoes on site for sale. Something for everyone!!!!

My favorite stop was the Mountain Man Outdoor shop. Foe those from MPLS who may remember Midwest Mountaineering or Eastern Mountain Sports, it was that kind of place. I wandered around for an hour. It’s a good thing the end of the trip is nearing or  I would have bought WAY more gear than I need to carry. Would have been nice to have been in a place like this BEFORE the trip . . .

They also had bikes including several electric mountain bikes. I had a discussion with Dan and mentioned ‘It just doesn’t seem right to me’. He said that a actually the ones they have sold have been to hunters who use them to get further back into the woods to find that ideal hunting spot. They sold one to a guy who went hunting in Utah and used it to skid out the carcass of an deer he shot!!!

Beside everything you needed for camping they also had a nice selection of ukuleles and banjoes for use around the camp fire FUN!!!

They also had 3 or 4 of these outside for sale . . .

. . .which  looks like this when ‘inflated’. We are trying to convince Mark to trade in his Topeak trailer for one of these to pull behind his bike. He  could haul all the group gear. At $8,900 it’s a steal!!!!!

As one reviewer commented, “The GO is the camper answer for the Apple tech set: innovative, user friendly, beautifully designed and painfully expensive. It’s an excellent compact alternative to standard pop-up campers, with the bonus of lots of gear towing and storage versatility, though the price is almost double what we’d expect.”

Tonight we ate right down the street at Frankie’s who has been serving it up for over 30 years!!!

The place was full upstairs so the ‘bourbon sipping group’ went downstairs to eat in the lounge area. Subdued lighting, Frank Sinatra singing in the background and a wall off 88 different bourbons (Frankie likes bourbon!) I felt like part of the ‘rat pack’!!!

Three of us had the Veal Parmesan Special . . . and it was AND huge . . .

. . . not only did we enjoy a flight of bourbon . . . but also an after dinner flight of cheesecake !!!!

 . . . a great thanks to our local bourbon expert, Debbie, who made our time in the lounge so special!!!! (not sure what the others upstairs in the main dining room had to eat AND drink).

Tomorrow it is on to Long Lake, back to sleeping on the ground and one pot meals. These layover days are killers!!!!!