A Cabin In The Mountains – Final Day - Model RR

We awoke Sunday morning to a cold rainy day, instead of the snow I was hoping for but we had a good plan for part of the day.  We waited until late morning to eat and headed over to LaCosta MexicanRestaurant for lunch.  They are rated well on the web and it’s obvious the place is popular as it soon filled up with the after church crowd.  It’s located in a strip mall and decorated very tastefully.

Bev ordered one of the usual combo meals and I had a craving for fajita’s but we started with the normal chips and salsa and a very good margarita.

This is shot of my fajita plate and the lighting made the steak look like chicken – I also had another plate with rice, beans, sour cream, guacamole, and salad.

We both thought our meals were very good and the service was excellent – we would definitely go there again.  With the two retirement/tourist communites, the state park, and other tourist draws, Crossville seems to have many more restaurants than most towns it's size.

After eating, we headed over to the Crossville Outlet Mall where Bev shopped a little and I visited the Crossville Model Railroad Club’s display located in the same building.  As a child in the 50’s who grew up with toy trains with a best friend who's father was a RR engineer, I became a model railroader and railfan in general.  I was very impressed with what this 50 member club had accomplished.  

They had a layout in each of the Z, N, HO, O, and G scales.  This is a shot (from the web) of the various sizes.  From the left, they are Z, N, HO, S (American Flyer), O (Lionel) and G scale (gauge).  O scale at 1:22 of real life and ten times larger than Z scale at 1:220 of real life.  You train enthusiasts will recognize the paint scheme as the Santa Fe Railroad's War Bonnet.

Of the clubs five layouts, the HO one is very large and the following shots are of it.  The first one is the total four section layout and the next two are of section two and three.  The layout is computer controlled to the point that they can run the trains with their cell phones. 

These are some shots of the sections I thought were interesting.

I gave all of my model RR stuff to my grandson last year in hopes that he and his dad might take up the hobby – hint, hint.

We once again ate our lunch leftovers for supper and decided with the yucky weather and uncomfortable bed and couch in the cabin, we would cut our stay a day short and head back down into the valley.  While the rustic cabin was pretty much what I was expected, I was disappointed in the condition of the furnishings and the general cleanliness of it.  While I might give one of their more modern cabins a try, I would not recommend the rustic ones at Cumberland Mountain State Park.

However, it was nice to get away with just my honey and the little trip did help de-stress us some.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/16/14 event date