Moon Pies, Friends, Barbeque, and Art!

A Man and A Moon Pie... It all started with a 9 hour drive south to see Anne Bagby demo at The River Gallery in Chatanooga. (If you are in the area- I can't encourage you strongly enough to go see this wonderful gallery and Anne's unique work! The texture and depth of the pieces will blow you away!)

Knowing we were heading south, we called up our friend Kathy, (another awesome artist) to see if she could meet us for the day to see Anne's show. She and her hubby hopped in the car and we were thrilled to spend a fun afternoon with them exploring the Bluff View Arts district of Chatanooga with them. It was absolutely STUPID HOT! Our car read 103° and I believed every degree of it.

Our 1st stop was The Original Moon Pie Store. They used to give tours at the factory, but because of some silly laws somewhere they can't anymore, so they did have an interesting video about how the pies are made.

I never DREAMED there were so many varietys of Moon Pies! I knew about the chocolate originals and Doubles, and I had even seen the banana flavor, but peanut butter, and mint, and organge, OH MY! Minis and Doubles and singles and cartons!

Kathy couldn't resist the sweet siren song of the Moon Pie Originals.... Here she is buying dessert before we go to lunch!

We walked across the street to a yummy smelling barbecue place, and were not disappointed in where our noses had led us! Sticky Fingers Smokehouse had several interesting things on the menu that had us curious. Kathy's hubby tried the deep fried corn on the cob for us. He gave it thumbs up! I wondered how it didn't come out popped like pop-corn! All of us enjoyed our meal, the portion sizes were huge! I felt guilty about leaving alot on my plate, but in 100° + weather, it just wouldn't keep!

We walked outside and wilted, but bravely decided to walk to the gallery. (Because a kind local told us it was only a couple blocks away.) He failed to mention it was STRAIGHT UP HILL! He did mention an elevator, but the only one we found was a sealed little plexiglass booth with no air or electric and it looked like we would bake to death before reaching the top! It was an interesting walk among the impressive old homes, and we saw alot of wonderful architecture.

We began seeing wonderful sculpture, and knew we were closing in on our destination.

As we entered the cool air of the wonderful River Gallery, all of our senses were delighted! There was sparkling water and lemon, delicious smelling pumpkin appetizers, wondourous art for the eyes to behold and sculpture that begged to be touched! Hand created windchimes and drums were enchanting to listen to their different tones. All this, and we hadn't even gotten past the front room!

Through the doorway they had a wonderful space set up for Anne to demo in, and she was mezmerizing the crowd as she worked. She explained her methods and had her hand carved stamps on hand to see and feel.

After chatting with Anne a bit, and viewing the entire gallery twice, and making a purchase, we took our leave back out into the heat, and walked along the river. Beautiful breezes made it feel like it was only 100 instead of 103!

As we walked back to the car, we made one last stop for a mega box of Moon Pies! All in all, I think it was truly one of the most perfect days enjoying life and alot of the wonderful things it has to offer!

By the way- did you know you can microwave a Moon Pie? Says so right on the wrapper. We did. Now we are sorry we didn't buy 2 mega boxes of them!