Guns & Pasta...

With encouragement from Dawn Marie, who was staying with us for the week before Christmas, we decided to combine her desire to go shooting with our plans to take her to Willie's in Seymour Tennessee, for some good Italian food!


So, here we are at our first stop, Coal Creek Armory in Knoxville.


We rented a Kimber .22LR Rim Fire Target Pistol with a 9-shell clip. It supposedly held 10 bullets, but we could only get 9 in the magazine. We rented one firing lane, plus we paid $10.00 extra for 2 extra shooters.


FYI...It's $10.00 to rent a lane, $5.00 for each extra shooter and $15.00 to rent a gun. If you rent a gun to shoot at The Armory, you must purchase the ammunition from them. The target was free. We bought 100 .22LR bullets and spent 90 minutes on the firing range. The total cost was $48.00 and change...or $16.00 each for an hour and a half worth of entertainment. Eye and ear protection are provided...


Here we have yours truly, Big Daddy Dave, testing his eyesight and checking to see just how steady his hand was!


Among the three of us, there is no doubt that Dawn Marie was the best shot! Very steady and very fast on the trigger...

We rented a .22, because it would be more comfortable for Laurie's first time with a handgun. However, there is a wide variety of pistols & revolvers that can be rented for use on the range at the Armory. These include models by Beretta, Glock, Heckler & Koch, Kel-Tec, Kimber, Ruger, SIG, S&W, Springfield Armory & Taurus. Calibers in addition to .22 include 9mm, 10mm, .32, .357, .380, .40, .45, .454 and .50. There were some real 'cannons' being fired on the range while we were there... A couple of them shook the room when they were being fired!

Laurie took her turns and after she settled down and got use to the idea of firing a gun and the setting, she actually enjoyed the experience! Her shooting improved as she gained experience and she started talking about wanting to try a lazer sight on a handgun the next time we go shooting!

The Armory sells guns, has gunsmithing facilities, conducts handgun courses and they also do custom finishing such as bluing, nickel & hard chrome plating. The Coal Creek Armory is located at 10737 Dutchtown Road in Knoxville, TN. Phone: 865-966-4545. Website: http://www.coalcreekarmory.com/.

After we finished working up an appetite blowing up a couple of targets at the Armory, we headed down to Seymour TN for dinner at Willie's Italian Restaurant. As many know, Willie's is our favorite Italian resaurant in East Tennessee...so far! We'd been talking it up with Dawn Marie so it was time to put up or shut up...

We started out with a large pizza with pepperoni and sausage, ($15.95), planning on a slice or two each as an appetizer with the rest going home with us. The pizza was good...but not as great as the pasta dishes that we've had at Willie's. The flavors didn't quite make it...maybe a bit too much cheese, or was it that the pepperoni was sliced too thin to pick up the flavor or that the sausage lacked any real 'pow' power? As I said, it was good but the Chicken Alfredo Pizza that we'd ordered on a previous visit was significantly superior.

All of the dinners come with yummy Garlic Knots, (rolls), and a salad. For her entree, Dawn Marie ordered the Chicken Alfredo. ($8.95) It was very good...

Laurie ordered her ususal...the Maine Lobster Ravioli in Willie's own Tomato Cream Sauce. (8 ravioli - $10.95) I didn't include a photo as I've published it a couple of times before. As usual, Laurie loved her dinner!

I ordered an old favorite. This is the Shrimp Fra Diavlo...8 shrimp in a spicy marinera sauce over Penne pasta. ($8.95) This may be my favorite dish at Willie's!!

We did answer a question. Willie's doesn't serve alcohol, so could we bring a bottle of wine? The answer was no...the restaurant is too close to a church.

Even with the pizza that was just 'good', Willie's is still far and away the best Italian Restaurant we've found in East Tennessee. Other places may be fancier...and more expensive...but Willie's food and pricing is hard to beat!

Willie's is located at 11612 Chapman Highway in Seymour, TN. Phone: 865-773-0170. Website: http://dininginthesmokies.com/_seymour/willies_restaurant_seymour_tn.htm.