After a loooong day/night of driving, I arrived in Nashville last night to stay with Marah. She is a wonderful friend I made while at the University of Miami. We both have a love for anything eccentric and this led us to have a very interesting day trip to Gatlinburg, TN today. We decided to visit the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum.This pilgrimage was mostly uneventful until we exited I-40. We had inadvertently stumbled upon the Kissimmee of Tennessee complete with cheesy tourist attractions, plenty of mini golf and traffic.
It just so happened that every Southerner with a vehicle made prior to 1978 had descended upon Pigeon Forge (the only route into Gatlinburg) today and started a makeshift, antique car parade. This event had traffic moving at a whopping 25 miles per hour to and from the museum. Not only were cars on parade, but they were also proudly displayed in the parking lots lining the streets. Owners and spectators alike set up tailgate style tents and chairs to witness the scene. Very interesting indeed.
When we finally made it to the museum, it was more than we could have imagined. 20,000 sets of salt & peppers shakers were housed in this log cabin about 1 mile off of the main highway. We were warmly greeted and introduced to the museum by an older, eastern European man. 5 rooms contained various types of shakers all organized by category. It was a site to behold. Top 5 Salt & Pepper Shaker List:
1) Wooden Shoes
2) Rooster with Eggs
3) Hippos in Bathing Suits
4) Loch Ness Monster
5) Himmel
Tomorrow I’m off to Hawaii to join my family for the MonaVie Diamond Destination. Who knows what type of shenanigans await me there. We’ll see.
