The Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant. It is at the top of my favorite restaurants' list. It is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. On my recent visit to Pigeon Forge with Jacob and Amber, this restaurant was a must for at least one of our meals. The week had gone by rather quickly and we had not made it there to eat. The morning we were to come home, I thought, it is now or never. We quickly decided to eat breakfast there. I told the kids how good the food was and they were excited about eating there.

In the past, although I had eaten there many times with Julius, I had had only one bad experience with the food. Everything they serve has apples in it. This particular time, the hostess had seated us and I sat back in the chair, Julius sitting across the table from me, when the waitress appeared with a basket full of apple fritters, all fresh and hot from the kitchen. She served us complimentary drinks, containing apple and pineapple juice, of course. While we were waiting on our food to arrive, I pigged out on the apple fritters dipped in fresh apple butter, and the complimentry juices. OH LORD, did I get sick. Too much of a good thing, of course. My fault entirely, but it was worth every bit of the upset stomach and everything else that followed that day.

With all that in mind, I warned the kids to limit their intake of the fritters until we ate breakfast. They were quite agreeable, so we set out down the road to the restaurant, our packed bags in the trunk of the car. We faught the traffic all the way through Pigeon Forge and turned down the road to the restaurant. The apple trees that lined the road leading to the Applewood added to the atmosphere and gave the three of us a feeling of expectancy and excitement, anticipating the wonderful meal we were about to partake of.

A lot of other people had the same idea as we did. The place was packed. Jacob wanted to make pictures of us in front of the restaurant before we ate. OK by me, I told him.


Gan Gan and Amber Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

I jumped behind the sign, Amber following close behind me, and told Jacob to make our picture there. We placed our hands on the top of the sign and posed, just like Jacob told us to. Aren't we smiling and looking pretty? As soon as the camera clicked we lifted our hands from the sign and felt something wet and ickky on our hands. OH NO!! It was bird DO DO!! Smeared all over the palms of both of mine and Amber's hands!!!

We made a mad dash for the first bathroom we came to and started scrubbing. With hot water and lots and lots of soap. We washed our hands so many times we must have used a roll of paper towels. I thought about asking them if they had a pair of rubber gloves I could use while I ate my food. Mind you, there was a lot of snickering and giggling going on by the three of us, while we sat in that packed out dining room, amongst that huge crowd of people. I bet none of them had posed behind that sign!!

We were late leaving town that day, headed for home. It took around two hours at the restaurant. We spent fifteen minutes making pictures, forty five minutes eating our food and an hour for Amber and me to wash and scrub our hands! What an experience.

The next time I am in Pigeon Forge, I will return to the Applewood because I love the food. I just won't pose behind that sign for pictures. I WILL NOT pig out on apple fritters on an empty stomach, either.

Who knows what other surprises may await me when I return. OH ME!! OH MY!!!