Why it's better to eat at camp

I've been neglectful, but I have good reason - I've been watching what I eat. HOWEVER - what that means now as I've started to get into the swing of things is that I'm realizing that food cannot be bland or boring. It must have flavor to satisfy me.

Recently, we traveled to Cherokee, NC. Lovely area. We camped, ate a roast done over the fire and sipped wine while stargazing. One afternoon was spent riding horses in the Great Smokies. Afterwards, of course, we were famished. So we left the peace and quiet of the mountain and headed into Gaitlinburg. We stopped for dinner at a little restaurant in town that was supposedly a great place to eat. You be the judge.

I'm not a big catfish eater, but it was on the menu as an appetizer. What the heck, we said, so we ordered it.

Bland. Bland. Bland. It had no flavor or even texture at all. But, I perked up. I'd ordered lobster bites for dinner. That had to be better, right?

It was as boring as it looked. Seeing a streak, we skipped dessert and left. We really didn't want to chance their coffee there! Not after how spoiled we've gotten with the good stuff, which seems to be even better cooked in the old campfire coffeepot we use. We walked through town instead, where we saw a great deal:

I had to wonder how they were seasoned! Hopefully better than my lobster bites.

The BEST meal we had that we ourselves didn't prepare was at Grandma's Pancakes and Steaks. A little restaurant with vinyl tablecloths was where we chose to have our Easter morning breakfast. It was homecooking, well prepared and, unlike our sad dinner, it didn't cost an arm and a leg. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that, as I'd left the camera back at the campsite.
Lesson learned, though? In touristy areas, stick to small, out of the way places or prepare it yourself if you can. Less fattening and more flavorful!