Sunday was a slow day – a day of rest. I tried sleeping in, but once everyone else was up, I had to get out of bed to see what was up. I couldn’t stay in bed while something was happening out in the rest of the cabin. We took it slow all morning – hot tub, pool, snacks, and TV. Sometime around 1:00 or 1:30, everyone was finally dressed and ready to go out into the world.

Lunch at Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant was awesome as usual. Their smoked pork loin with apple relish is awesome – and you get a ton of extras to go with your meal . . . apple julep, apple fritters, vegetable soup, salad, rolls, and dessert.

After lunch, we took one of the shorter scenic drives in the area – the Roaring Forks Auto Tour. It’s a winding one-way road up one side of a mountain and back down the other, exploring the area that was once home to some of the area’s earliest settlers. The folks had to abandon their farms and ways of life when the government took their land to create the national park. Some of the buildings we saw were original to their locations, while others had been moved from other neighboring farms and areas. One house we saw had been painted white with blue and yellow trim – the “only three colors Sears and Roebuck sold.” We stopped once along the auto tour to look at some of the buildings and wade in the stream. We also took some time for pictures. So far, I’ve taken 331 pictures since Thursday.

This is the third summer we’ve been here, and it seems like rain is both guaranteed and unpredictable. No sign of rain one minute, and a monsoon the next. That was the case yesterday. On the way back from Gatlinburg, it started raining – a lot. It poured practically the whole way back to the cabin, then let up just long enough for us to unload and get settled in for the evening; then it opened up and poured again – both vertically and horizontally. Sure, a charcoal grill probably works better when you’re not in the middle of a mountainside hurricane . . . but the experience was definitely a unique one!

Ella at Applewood

Old-fashioned ice cream maker

Welcome to the Apple Barn!

Ella at one of the buildings on the auto tour

Ella next to the split-rail fence

Us in the stream