In the morning after our first nite, we took a horseback tour through the woods. We stayed at the Cades Cove campground and the horseback rides were available right there next to the campground. We found the tours to be affordable at $25 for an hourlong tour. They had us read and sign a two-page disclosure then put us on horses which plodded at just barely over the walking speed of a human, each following the former, with our guide in the lead. It was fun to be on a horse, something I don't do often, but it would probably be more fun to get up to a trot.
After the ride, we witnessed a 14 year old girl act out a complete emotional behavioural meltdown over having to wear a helmet during the ride. She was sobbing and screaming that she didn't want to wear it because it was stupid. Her mother was telling her to behave, and that she was embarrassing her family. She sure was! Ha!
We also took a little hike in the park that day. We were feeling pretty lazy, and it was hot, and we were feeling pretty lazy, and it was hot, so we only went a little ways up a path next to a stream. We stopped by a rock in the stream to cool off in the water. Also on that trip we were passed by three people on three horses, which must have been a common sight on that trail, judged by the amount of horse dung all over the place. I was intrigued by a certain type of bright blue butterfly that feasted on that shit, forming little blue clusters perched on it, walking around on it.
Ashleigh did some calculus review on that day in the sunshine, while I did sudoku. She needs to be up to speed on her college math by the time her classes start next month. That review was tough; I mostly remembered the concepts, as they were stated in words, but then they were stated in math symbols in ways we had trouble translating. It was a lazy afternoon but in the evening we walked the local campsite "Nature Trail", a ".6 mile" loop. Well that "Nature Trail" was really a serious hike up a steep hill and back down, and we both thought it was quite a bit more than .6 miles. Getting more than we expected wasn't the worst of it, though -- we also both got stung by something! Ash got it worse than I did. She had the spot on her arm puff up a little, and a ranger put a little medicine on it. I got a jab in the wrist, but it hurt less than Ashleigh's sting, and didn't swell up. We both lived to tell the tale, but barely! Our advice is avoid that "Nature Trail"!
Finally the next day we drove out of the park. On our way out we passed from eastern Tennessee to western North Carolina. It was a foggy day, but we still walked up to the peak of Clingman's Dome, a popular vista point. At the top they built an observation tower an extra few stories tall, with a cool big spiral ramp going up to it. We could not see through the fog very far at all, so we went back down and stepped a few feet onto the Appalachian Trail. Clingman's Dome is the highest point on the AT.
We noticed that the visitors at Great Smoky were much more American than at parks in the west, where were heard a high percentage of foreign languages. I heard a large percentage of people in Zion speaking French, for example.
Driving through and out of the park was beautiful. Just inside the borders of the park, we turned left onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.
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