What? I didn't know you could even eat that stuff!

So we went to the mountain top flea market yesterday. They ought to call it the "hillside" flea market because it is on a steep hillside. You walk up or down, then once you hit a row, it's easy going to the opposite end. A good way to have a good time, buy someone elses crap, and get some exercise to boot. Marshall doesn't do very well at these things and there isn't anyone to dump him on so we pack him with us. I just wheel him around in his wheelchair. I don't mind because it also serves as a carrier for all of our junk. If you can't find what you want at the flea market, chances are it never existed anyway. It's cheap entertainment at the least, with a red-neck petting zoo for the kiddies to boot. Yesterday we saw some sort of large parrot that was making enough noise to wake the dead. I don't know what his problem was but he wasn't selling with that kind of behaviour. Kathy loves to see all the cute puppies. I'm glad they're so expensive. The last one of ours was free, these go for over $300 a copy. No thanks. I even saw a turkey that was packed in a 50# onion bag. He was trying to get out in earnest too. Sucks to be him.

This flea market is located towards the Eastern end of the state and is in the middle of nowhere. When we had seen it all and were about wore out it was time for some lunch. I chickened out on the flea market fare. The Mexican "roach coach" looked good and had a large crowd but I wanted something a little more substantial. On the way back we decided to head out of our way for 15 miles or so and try our luck in another town. There are only 2 restaurants between our house and this flea market:  Jacks or McDonalds. I figured we would roll the dice and also have a little adventure on the way. We made a right turn and headed out towards Albertville.

Kathy got out her new GPS after a while to see if we could find directions to a restaurant. She found a place right off called "Grumpys" and declared that's where we were headed. The directions to Grumpys had us going from the middle of nowhere to the land of the lost. But that GPS got us right to Grumpy's front door just the same. Only problem was that Grumpy's was closed. We were on the edge of a town that wasn't Albertville and wandered around for a little while looking for somewhere to eat (okay, I was looking for Chinese). Mexican was also up for grabs as a fail safe. We ended up at a tiny Mexican place called "La Autentica" or something. The menu didn't look like typical Mexican stuff so I asked the waitress for suggestions. We wound up with some mighty fine eats. There was one item on the huge platter of beef, pork, chicken, and shrimp we shared that I had never had though. It was cactus. She said it was very good for you especially if you were a diabetic. Also mentioned that it tasted like okra and quietly it might be slimy. I told her I didn't realize that cactus was edible. She said they ate it all the time. The waitress had Kathy pretty excited about the pork tacos  too so she also got one of those to try. I got a bite and it was the best taco I'd ever had. Pork, pico de gallo, flour tortilla, and a fresh lime wedge was an instant hit. The refried beans were very spicy as well.

The waitress really did right by us and we left a huge tip. Too bad that place is so far away. We found it by accident too. Maybe we'll head over there again. I'm gonna eat a big plate of shrimp tacos with cactus.