Exploring Mountain City

We spent the next part of our trip getting lost on our way to Mountain City.

A lake at the foot of Mountain City.

As we criss-crossed the long county highways of east Tennessee, we passed a few breath-taking views, a public swimming area at the foot of the mountains, and one cow in a lake.

A Mountain City cow. In a lake.

We finally made it to the main strip of Mountain City. It's a quiet, old town with some thrift stores and a local gift shop that was home to another new souvenir, the Appalachian Candle Company's High Octane jar candle, a candle that offers an authentic motor oil and gasoline fragrance, and one that my wife would never allow me to actually light at home.

The locally-owned Coffee House Cafe is a great place to stop in Mountain City, but it's hard to spot since it looks like a residential building. The fried bologna sandwich was worth it, the coffee was good and it felt like we were having lunch at a neighbor's house.

There's not a lot going on in Mountain City, but that kind of laid-back atmosphere is as comforting as it is charming.

Want to know why it's called Mountain City? Try driving across the border to Boone, North Carolina. Those roads are so hilly, twisting and never-ending, they put most rollercoasters to shame.