Summer Road Trip: Day Three

Asheville, North Carolina:  Our wonderful summer road trip continued into day three with a horseback riding adventure.  This too had been a bucket list item for my wife and she was really looking forward to riding the mountainside.

The day began with breakfast at the hotel before hitting the roads to nearby Marshall.  The drive to Marshall was very scenic.  There were some two-lane roads on the trip that we a little hair raising for a family used to flat Floridian roadways.  There were amazing views around each turn making the drive just as exciting as the destination.

We arrived at Sandy Bottom Trail Rides a little early and sat on the front porch for a while making friends with their cat and dogs that roam the farm.  We were then paired up with our horses which would be our transportation for the next three hours.  My wife was paired with George, my son with Drifter and I got Twinkie,  Yeah, kinda ironic that a fat guy would be paired up with a horse named after a snack food.

After a quick tutorial, we hit the trail with our guide.  The first half of the journey took us to a garnet mine where we would mine for garnets and take a break from riding.  The ride took us through valleys and up hills led by our guide and our trail dog Peanut,

Once we arrived at the mine, we explored a cave before mining for garnet.  They showed us what we were looking for, gave us some tools and we went to work looking for our own garnets to take home.  While I did not have any luck, my wife and son managed to find some with my son finding a rather large one.

We then saddled back up and headed back on the trails,  We continued the trek up the mountain to the highest point on the ride where we stopped for a photo before heading back down to the stables.  On the way down, While we were on the way down, our trail dog started barking and alert the group to a woodchuck located just off the trail  Cross that off the wildlife list, have not seen on of them in the wild.

Back at the stables, we said good-bye to our horses and headed back to the hotel to change clothing,  We had to wing it on the way back because we relied on the mapping program on our phones to get to the ranch, but for much of the way back, we did not have cell signal to load the directions back to the hotel.  Lucky for use, my wife was paying attention to the roads, because since being here I have been so turned around and couldn't figure it out.  While on the way back to the hotel, we got to cross another animal off our list as a beaver ran across the road right in front of us.

After we changed, we went to grab some food before continuing our exploration.  Today we chose to try Homegrown, an eclectic restaurant featuring fresh, natural ingredients. I chose the open faced chicken biscuit and mashed potatoes with gravy, my wife had pulled pork and my son had a cheese burger,  I think our last two meals really set the bar high because despite the food being really good, I did not feel that wow factor.  The portions were smaller and we left the restaurant still hungry,  The food was great, the charm of the restaurant was even better, but I feel it is better for a light meal rather than to recover from a day of adventures.

From  there we decided to head out on the Blue Ridge Parkway to take in the natural beauty of the area.  We started at the visitor's center and then headed north on the parkway.  However our trip did not last long as we encountered some storms and heavy rain so we decided to head back to the hotel.  I was really hoping to leave the storms in Florida, but they seemed to have followed us into North Carolina.  I am beginning to take it personal.  We made it as far as Craggy Gardens before heading back to Asheville.

When we got back to the hotel, we stopped at Bojangles to grab some food and finish the hunger bug that our other meal did not quell.  We are huge fans of Popeye's and figured we would give Bojangles a try.  It's not Popeye's but it was really good.  Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs but we continue to warm it up and snack on it back at the hotel.

At the hotel the sun decided to rejoin the day but rather then hit the road again, we decided to spend the evening in the pool before heading back to the room.  But I think the energy level of my family is decreasing significantly because as I sit here writing this, my wife is already in bed and my son is laying in bed watching tv.

Tomorrow will be a surprise day as we are going to wing the day.  It is our bonus day.  We were originally scheduled to check-out and head back to Florida, but we were having so much fun we decided to stay another day.  So the initial plan is to head south on the Parkway and visit the Pisgah National Forest.  We are kicking around the idea of then heading over to Gatlinburg to see how the area is recovering from the devastating wildfires which burned down the very resort we stayed at during last year's summer road trip.

So be sure to check back tomorrow to see what the day had in store for us,  Also be sure to follow the site so you can see all the pictures we took and read more about the places we visited during this amazing trip.