My driver is a huge fan of bacon. I like it but try to approach it with moderation. All the same, we tend to find ourselves sneaking bacon into all sorts of dishes. Bacon is no longer just a breakfast food. It can be ground into sauces or garnish drinks. But sometimes, we like to return to the classics. Such is the case with the Camper's Club Sandwich.
Alum Cave was first referenced in a land grant application by three North Carolina farmers in 1837. The resulting Epsom Salts Manufacturing Company mined alum, Epsom salt, saltpeter, magnesia, and copperas in the area until the salts were depleted in the mid 1840s. Today, it is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a popular destination along the Alum Cave Trail.
I post a lot about cooking, but that may bely the amount of times we go out to eat. Somehow, this reliance on others to cook us food most often translates into hamburgers. It seems like many more remote eateries…
The hike to the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower Hike is a short but steep half mile hike with an 311 foot elevation gain. It is an incredibly popular path—old and young stop to catch their breaths at the many benches along the path. While we leaned into the incline and trudged up the steep path even we were huffing and puffing with the high elevation exercise.
So, we got a grilling basket and like the proverbial hammer finding nothing but nails, I now see all cooking challenges as sandwiches. Now I walk down the grocery store aisles and consider: how could I use this in a sandwich? So, when I came across a pretzel roll, I thought, "this I can work with." And so, I present to you: Hiker's Cheesy Ham Pretzel Roll.
It has been nearly a year since we last came to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The first time was specifically to enjoy fall, this time was a pleasant coincidence, returning from the Overland Expo.
Sometimes, it is uncertain if two desperate groups can cohabitant. We look on with hope and fear. Savory can be so dominating, can it really allow room for Sweet? Sweet is very particular, could it derail Savory? But we all breath a sigh of relief when we take our first bite of the Glamper's Bacon Brie Apricot Toasted Sandwich and know that finally, these two opposing forces have come together in harmony.
The Blue Ridge Parkway stretches 469 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge mountains between North Carolina and Virginia. The parkway was constructed to connect the Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The resulting thoroughfare is it the longest road planned as a single unit in the United States and the longest linear park. Most any iconic shot of the Smoky Mountains was taken from along this route.
When I want the luxury of fine ingredients in a simple recipe, I bring together two of my best friends: prosciutto and mozzarella. I call this pairing the Class in the Campground Prosciutto Mozzarella Sandwich.
The Biltmore is the largest privately owned house in the United States. George Washington Vanderbilt II was the grand son of the Commodore of industry, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the youngest of his brothers. While his two older brothers took an active role in managing the family empire of steamships, railroad, and sundry, George focussed on books, art, and intellectual pursuits. Perhaps that is why, upon inheriting $7 million dollars and gaining access to a $5 million trust fund, he decided it was time to construct his own "summer cottage" in North Carolina. Architect Richard Morris Hunt was tapped for the job to bring Vanderbilt's old world fascination to North Carolina with a mansion inspired by French Renaissance Chateaus. Construction began in 1889 and concluded in 1895. The final structure spanned 178,926 square feet of floor space within Vanderbilt's 130,000 acre North Carolina estate.