The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: the good being the trip up until Pigeon Forge. The Bad and the Ugly are most of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Here are some pictures of "the bad and the ugly".

More horse farm pictures for all you horse lovers

Here are some more pictures from the horse farm for all you horse lovers! The first 3 pictures are of the 6-year-old stallion and the last picture is of the yearling.

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg Days 6 & 7

After our horse farm tour we were driven back to the motel and shortly afterwards we left for Pigeon Forge, Kentucky. It was about a 4 hour drive. We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Berea, KY. Then we went into town and shopped at some quaint shops. Once we got close to Pigeon Forge there was highway construction that caused us to experience bumper to bumper traffic. And when we finally hit Pigeon Forge, we were disappointed. What a tourist trap!! It is a Wisconsin Dells type of town and then some! It was raining, gloomy and dreary. But I have to say that the scenery was gorgeous. Today, Saturday/Halloween, we drove to Gatlinburg and the scenery and Fall colors were even more breath-taking...even though it was raining again. We stopped at some quaint craft shops but once we got to downtown Gatlinburg, it was another Wisconsin Dells. If you look carefully at the one picture, you can almost make out the chair lifts. We had hoped to do that in Gatlinburg, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. We drove back to Pigeon Forge area and stopped at a huge Knife Works store and then a large scrapbook store. So both of us were happy. We are now back at the motel and tomorrow it is on to our final destination: Asheville.

American Saddlebred Horse Farm tour

While in Shelbyville, Kentucky, we took a tour of an American Saddlebred Horse Farm. It was a personal tour. Dick & I saw a sign in the motel saying to ask the desk manager about it. He then set it up for us. One of the people from the Tourism board of Shelbyville came in a mini-van and drove us to a working farm. We got a tour of the beautiful house as well as the farm. We were taken into the arena area and we stood in the middle while the horse went through his workout around us. We loved it! The horse was a 6-year-old stallion and went through his paces grandly. We were so happy that we had stayed in Shelbyville and got a personalized tour instead of going on to Lexington and ending up on a bus tour of a farm. We wouldn't have had the same 'front row' experience.

Scenic pictures

Here are some scenic pictures taken over the last couple of days.

Thursday in Shelbyville, Kentucky

We left Madison, Indiana at 11 and should have arrived in Shelbyville, Kentucky before noon. Unfortunately a confusing detour lengthened the trip. We had pulled over to look at the map and a man came drove across the road and asked if we needed help. He agreed that the detour signs were not very clear. So we turned around, did some back-tracking, and eventually we were back on track. We got to our destination at 12:30: Claudia Sanders Dinner House. Claudia was the wife of Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. Aunt/Uncle Paula & Joe Gerke had eaten there and recommended it to us. We had a delicious meal there. The hostess asked where we were from and when she heard it was Appleton, Wisconsin, said her niece was married to the former principal of Neenah Armstrong H.S. It truly is a small world! After lunch we checked out downtown Shelbyville...some historic markers and a lot of antique stores. Tomorrow we will have a tour at a American Saddlebred Horse farm. We are looking forward to that.

Wednesday afternoon, October 28, 2009

The weather was determined to stay gloomy, so we did an indoor activity by going to the Lanthier Winery. We tasted 5 wines and bought 3 of the ones we tried. In the evening we ate at an upscale restaurant. The food was outstanding. We were glad we had decided to splurge. It was worth every penny. This is our last night in Madison.