On our third day, we visited the Apple Barn, and had breakfast at the Applewood Restaurant. It was just as good as the Old Mill! They brought out Apple Muffins, Apple Fritters w/ applebutter, and some kind of apple mango juice. Then we ordered our food, which was pretty much the same as the old mill - eggs, bacon, bicuits, gravy, grits, home fries, etc. It was delicious, but WAY too much food! After breakfast, we went over to the Apple Barn to do some shopping in their store. They have such neat stuff, and its a great place for anyone who loves apples.
After leaving the Apple Barn, we headed through Gatlinburg to the Smokey Mountain Stables to go horseback riding. We pretty much got a private ride - it was just the guide, Scott and I. My horse's name was Buckerspots and Scott's was Tiny Tim (he was anything but tiny). About 5 minutes into the ride, we ran into a copperhead snake! The guide was in front of me, and he walked right over it, nearly stepping on it. I said to him "There's a snake right there" - I was walking by it as he turned around, and he said 'That's a copperhead", with eyes as big as coasters. GREAT. I made it past it and turned around to see Scott walking by it. I asked him, "Did you see it?" and he said "See what?". He totally missed it. Apparently, none of the horses saw it either, because they would have been spooked - horses do not like snakes. We're lucky the snake didn't strike - especially Scott. That snake had to be riled up by the time he rode by it, because we all almost stepped on it. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, but still quite beautiful. I'd hoped we would see some bears - the guide told us he sees them about every day, but we didn't run into any more wildlife that day.
We rode over to the Great Smokey Mountains visitor center after our horseback ride, but it was starting to rain up on the mountain. We decided not to drive up the mountain in the rain. Instead, we went back to Gatlinburg and had lunch at Bubba Gump's. Then we drove to Pigeon Forge and cruised around looking at the cars. The car show, Shades of the Past, was scheduled for Friday and Saturday. So by Thursday, Pigeon Forge was crawling with old cars. Scott loved it! We cruised around all afternoon, then went back to the cabin for a little while to relax before going back out to the Comedy Barn show that night.
The show was hilarious, and we had a great time. I had been to it the last time I was in Gatlinburg, back in the late 90's when I was still in highschool. My friend Heidi went with us on that vacation, and I had a keychain with our picture in it that we got at the Comedy Barn show. I still have that picture - after the keychain broke, I carried it my wallet for years. This time, I got the same keychain again with Scott and I. It's a terrible picture of me, but I couldn't resist getting it. And besides, it was a fantastic picture of Scott.
Well, that about does it for Day 3 of our trip. Here are a few pictures from our horseback riding adventure:
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