Rainbow Falls, Pretty Place and Fall Foliage Pt 3
Next we headed back through the park and down the mountain. There were two more falls we could see in this park but the shadows were beginning to get pretty long and our limbs were pretty tired. We did a drive-by of a little tiny waterfall called Wildcat Falls. We had been warned that it probably wasn’t flowing very well. It wasn’t flowing at all and worse, there really wasn’t any good place to park beside the highway in our little Honda Civic (drop offs on the road shoulders). Falls Creek Falls was next on the list and it got lopped off. It was going to be a moderate-length steep hike and we just didn’t feel like it.
So we headed back toward Table Rock keeping an eye out for places to eat. We had to stop at the little shopping area with the giant rocking chair out front. The only thing open was the country gadgets and antiques store. The white-haired lady inside was friendly enough and welcomed us to Pumpkin Town Mountain.
“Where do you recommend we eat around here?”
“Did you see the gas station down the street?”
“Yes.”
“Folks eat there. And at Ain’t Sue’s.”
“Where would you go if it was you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t eat out much. I think I like Pumpkin Town Café.”
“That’s a shame. I can see that it is closed tonight,” I said gesturing to the restaurant next door.
“Oh no. Not Pumpkin Town Mountain. I’m talkin’ about Pumpkin Town.”
“What’s the difference.”
“You know Pumpkin Town.”
“If it isn’t here, I’m afraid I don’t.”
“This here is Pumpkin Town Mountain. You gotta go to the gas station and turn right. From there you drive all the way into town. Pumpkin Town is the name of that town. You’ll see the café.”
“What do they serve?”
“Everything. All kinds of food.”
So how could we pass that up? Even though we ate lunch, with all of our hiking I was ready for a giant plate of everything. Carefully following our guide’s instructions we quickly (within 2 miles) came upon the booming intersection of Pumpkin Town and there was the café. Inside we found a short order dinner with a menu listing hamburgers and hotdogs. When we asked about any other items (I was hoping for BBQ) we were told that was it – and they were out of hamburgers for the day.
Back in the car, we decided the next place to check was Aunt Sue’s. We passed it on the way to Caesar’s Head that morning and it looked like a tourist trap, but we were in for a nice surprise. As we drove by, we saw that the parking lot was full. We took that to be a good enough sign, went back to camp, showered and came back for a nice sit-down meal.
Aunt Sue’s was delightful. It was basically like a one-off Cracker Barrel that consisted of a series of “houses.” It started with the Ice Cream House and when that became a success Aunt Sue expanded to a tourist trinket house, some other house, a restaurant house and, after she passed away, her successor added the Golf House. I got chicken fried steak and was a very happy man. For dessert I had cherry cobbler, which made Melanie happy since she got “just a taste” of it.
Jason Patz 