Today was our last full day of vacation. Shawn had plans to golf this morning at Seiverville Country Club and I was going to drop him off and then hopefully make another trip to Cades Cove while he was golfing. Thursday evening's situation with the car changed those plans for me :( As we were getting in the car to leave Cherokee, North Carolina - 42 miles away from our motel - the check engine light came on in the Acadia. I instantly got stomach cramps and was afraid to drive the car. See we just had a new transmission put in the car literally 3 days before we left for vacation. While we've been gone this week, I had noticed earlier in the week that the car was making a whirling/puttering sound when we were going up the mountains, and Shawn mentioned that maybe we had gotten a hole in the exhaust. Shawn said the check engine light probably came on because of that and that everything was going to be fine. I wasn't so sure. We've had more problems then I care to talk about with the Acadia and anytime a light comes on on the dash, I'm a nervous wreck!
Because of last nights car situation, this morning I opted to stay at the motel so I could sleep in and get caught up on my pictures and blogging and told him to take the car golfing, and then after he got finished golfing, he was going to take the car by AutoZone and have them hook it up to their code machine. The machine gave us a code that said the intake manifold system was open. Whatever that means. Shawn called our mechanic and also the GM dealer in Knoxville, and they both said it was fine to drive for the rest of our vacation and on the way home, and to just bring it in to the shop when we get back, so that's what we'll do.
After he got back from golfing around 2:30 p.m., he picked me up and we headed to a late lunch at No Way Jose's Cantina. We ate there Saturday night when we got in town and it was so yummy that I had been craving it again and wanted to eat there one more time before we left town. We ate at their location in Pigeon Forge on this particular day and the food and everything was just as delicious as the Gatlinburg location. And Shawn and I both ordered the exact same meals. I definitely recommend this place if you are in the area!
After lunch, we drove the back roads over to the Greenbrier picnic area and the Pittman Center area. I put the Pittman area in the GPS and it took us the backroads around Gatlinburg which is what I wanted. And when I say back roads, I seriously mean back roads. It's definitely not the roads I thought it was going to take us on. These were some of the narrowest 2 lane roads I've ever seen in my life, around the mountains and up and down the mountains. There was some definitely amazing views though!
At the Pittman Center there was supposed to be a covered bridge, however we never could find it, and honestly I'm not even sure we were even in the correct area of the Pittman Center! We ended up just turning onto the highway and headed to Greenbrier.
Greenbrier is an off-the-beaten-path part of the park that is often forgotten about it. There is about 6 miles of gravel roads that run along Little Pigeon River and beautiful views! The roads also take you to two popular trailheads, and there is some nice picnic areas in here. Definitely a return spot the next time we are in the area.
It was our last night of vacation and Shawn had been wanting to play putt-putt at this mountainside course for a while. They have two 18-hole courses so we paid for both and off we went. Even though it was a little chilly outside, fat girl here had to take her jacket off cause I was sweating up a storm climbing all the steps up the side of the mountain that are on these courses! I won the first game we played and Shawn won the second game we played.
This hole on the first course definitely gave us a challenge! HAHA!! See that leaf on the board on the left side of the picture? Well my ball hit it and rolled back into that corner and got stuck. There was no way to get it either. So Shawn took his ball and gave it a good hit hoping to knock my ball out, only he hit his ball so hard, it went off the course and went rolling down the hill. So there we were, stuck in the middle of the putt-putt course and no balls. HAHA!! Thankfully some girls came along behind us and the taller one was able to lean over the railing and use her club to push my ball giving it a nudge and moving it back onto the course. It was definitely a challenge and a workout by all four of us to get that ball! Shawn and I had to finish that course sharing my pink golf ball! On the next course we played, Shawn picked up an extra ball just in case!
Since we had a late lunch, we had a late dinner. Not many places are open that late and we happened upon the Happy Days Diner for dinner. I had the Cadillac cheeseburger and loaded fries, and then Shawn had the Speedster burger with grilled onions and mushrooms and regular fries. It was good and someplace we'd definitely return to.
We stopped in a parking lot and watched the Ferris wheel changes colors for a few minutes and then headed back to the hotel to start packing and get to bed.
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