October 12. Lunch In Bryson City At The Filling Station Deli.

Throughout our travels in North Carolina, I've always tried to steer our meals toward restaurants recommended to me, from either friends or other sources.

Such is the case today. We're getting sandwiches from The Filling Station Deli and Sub Shop in Bryson City, NC.

The Cuban Sandwich, aka the High Test, at The Filling Station in Bryson City was featured in Our State Magazine in their 100 Foods You Must Eat In 100 Counties issue.

Tourists and locals alike, sit in the rocking chairs out front on the sidewalk and shoot the breeze, while enjoying the delicious offerings of The Filling Station. Here's their extensive menu.

I knew I'd be ordering the Cuban Press or High Test, with ham, pork, Genoa salami, Swiss cheese, pickles, and spicy mustard. Mr. Hawthorne had a bit harder time choosing. After quite some deliberation, he chose the Italian Turbo - ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone, onion, tomato, Italian dressing, pressed in garlic butter. Upon receiving our orders, the hostess recommended we drive to Deep Creek at Smoky Mountain National Park and have a picnic there. Directions: At train depot, turn right onto Depot Street. Go to end. Turn left on Ramseur, then immediately turn right onto West Deep Creek Road. Go 1/2 mile. Bear to your left before the bridge. Continue down the road to the park area. Here are the rest of the offerings:

You can see why we might have had a hard time ordering.

In about five minutes, our orders were ready and we headed off to the park.

Here's Mr. Hawthorne's Italian Turbo.

I really liked this. The Italian dressing and the garlic butter made it.

And here's my Cuban Press. XKT has been on a "Quest for the Best Press," as she calls it. She's eaten at numerous Outer Banks Restaurants and just hasn't found one that blows her skirt up yet. I emailed her the other night about what makes a good Cuban Press, since I really didn't know. She replied: A good Cuban has all the ingredients uniformly sliced, the bread is toasted and pressed, but the whole thing doesn’t slide apart when you take a bite. It should have lots of cheese, and a pickle. Well, XKT, let's see. Ingredients uniformly sliced. Check. Bread toasted and pressed. Check. Whole thing doesn't slide apart. Check. Lots of cheese. Check. Pickle. Check. I do believe you'll like this, XKT.

Not shown: We both had a slice of pickle on the side.

I loved eating al fresco.

A lovely brook babbled nearby.

It was a beautiful day. Calm. Sunny.

I had to leave Mr. Hawthorne to himself. He needed to unwind, calm down, and de-stress. You see, as soon as we pulled into Bryson City, on the way to The Filling Station, Daughter Hawthorne called. Seems that her car had a flat tire. These are brand new tires, mind you. Just had them put on last week. So Mr. Hawthorne is dealing with Daughter Hawthorne and telling her who to call and what to do. And then he's waiting for her to call back and let him know that things are working out properly. With that issue taken care of, I had to tell Mr. Hawthorne he'd parked in the wrong lot and he might get towed. He's a little rattled now; however he does move the truck and park properly. Finally, things are taken care of and we ordered our sandwiches and left for the park. Then Middle Hawthorne calls and his car is broken down and we tell him to call Geico. But wait, there's another problem. Seems that a Q-tip broke off inside his ear and what should he do. I told him to have somebody pull it out with tweezers. "OH NO," he says, " this is MY EAR we're talking about. I need to go to the doctor." I left Middle Hawthorne trying to figure out whether to call Geico first and wait for them or go to the doctor first then call Geico. I was laughing at this point, but Mr. Hawthorne saw no humor whatsoever in the situation. Actually, we were both waiting for Youngest Hawthorne to call and drop the third shoe. We're 500-600 miles away from our "adult" children. What do they expect us to do? Damn cell phones!