Knoxville

Next stop, Knoxville. We stopped at the Ijams Nature Center on our way in. Carrie and I went on a trail walk to see how she was doing and break in my new shoes.

TN is thick with trees. There's no other way to describe it. Wherever there might have been a clearing in VA, nature tried to jam a ton of timber in here.

Carrie became fascinated with a grass carp while we were on the boardwalk. The picture doesn't do it justice. We were watching some bluefin swim around when this girl appeared from the murky depths. She had to be over two feet long. 

We did our best to figure out what species she was and then asked a guide about river fish when we bumped into him. He confirmed our guess, but also threw in "They're only good eating if you fry the hell out of them and throw them in a taco."

It was a scenic walk. I wouldn't have called it a hike, but we turned up the 'Mountain Trail' to get back to the welcome center.

The welcome center had a gift shop and a nature center. Getting your learn on is fun! I would have liked to have tried to hold the soft-shell turtle if I could. I've only seen those behind glass.

Speaking of glass, the gift center had an interesting economic idea.

Buy vodka, drink vodka, cut the bottle, and sell for $15 as a bird house? Was some alcoholic hillbilly trying to make a subsidized drinking dream come true?

The road expanded when we approached Knoxville.

Definitely, a city.

But, where was everybody?

The architecture and infrastructure was clearly made for a larger population than we saw.

Sidewalks were nearly empty.

Everything felt like it was built for a bigger scale than it was being used. There were some abandoned buildings, but overall the city seemed in good shape. Where was everybody?

Some of them were working construction at the University of Tennessee. Carrie and I went to the museum on campus while we waited for our room to become available. The Egyptian exhibit had me thinking about SG-1 (of course).

Including staff, close to 40,000 people work at UT. The city should feel far more alive during the school year. When we went out to dinner, the waitress said that most people left the city to beat the July heat. They traveled, went to the lake house, or disappeared into the Great Smokeys. It made for easy driving around town.

Carrie found us another home bed and breakfast to crash in for the night. 

We ended up in a beautiful, two bedroom basement.

I'd brought my laptop thinking I'd have time to use it, but we stayed busy.

After putting our stuff up, we went back into town to eat (food and ice cream!) and watch Spiderman Homecoming. I never wanted to see another Spiderman movie, but this one ramped up on Peter's nerdiness and cut out the origin story. It had some hilarious moments. I wouldn't recommend it to someone's who's completely anti-teen drama and comic books, but we were pleasantly surprised!

Morning brought Lemon-Blueberry-Banana Crepes and coffee. Then we were on our way.

Bonus info: It turns out the owner's uncle (great-uncle?) used to be a book cover artist.

She had an original painting he did for the cover of The Pearl by John Steinback. I read that back in middle or high school.

Also - The elementary school across the street was where they filed some of October Sky. One of my family's old neighbors taught one of the boys that movie was based on long, long ago. Neat stuff. I enjoy talking to people.

First Stop: TN!

"I like mountains," I said.

Carrie set the theme for our trip: Mountains.

We drove north and west through Asheville and a tunnel to pop up in the Great Smokey Mountains.

It was a scenic drive...

...made more scenic when Carrie decided to take the "local" route. We ended up on a 1.5 lane road, no lines, ditches, trees, and two-way traffic (with trucks). Carrie was on edge until we re-graduated to a fainted line divider. I don't think she was comfortable until we found a double yellow (the muttering, "This is crazy!" stopped).

Our first stop was a hilltop lodge outside Pigeon Forge, TN.

Carrie picked a gorgeous spot that reminded me of the House Mountain Inn (Was that really 5 years ago?)

Breakfast was served every morning.

The views and trails were daily.

The nearest neighbors were on the hill over there.

You've got great eyes if you can see them before I zoomed in.

Carrie's a fan of the rustic, timber look.

We explored the indoors more than the outdoors. Carrie's knees were still sore from a pair of cortisone shots. The movie library was impressive.

We were on the road to Gatlinburg after we unpacked and got the lay of the land. Carrie ended up with a white knuckle grip on a windy mountain, scenic approach into town. I got to appreciate the view.

The main route into town was solid red with traffic. I think the hairpin turns were worth avoiding staring at the same bumper in front of us.

We passed several homes that were clearly affected by the fires last November. I read about the disaster in the news. It was more real seeing the aftereffects.

Carrie visited the area for a parks conference when she was still in college. The area has grown wildly since. Gaitlinburg was so jam-packed with traffic we ended up on the road out.

Pigeon Forge was no different. It was like an endless strip mall of miniature golf, bumper cars, tiny theme parks, dinner shows, and tourist traps. There was so much it blurred together for me.

We did stop at a restaurant called the Local Goat. It was fantastic! I ordered a sampler of some local beers and Carrie and I played Hangman while we waited for our food.

The highlight of my night was when we got back to the inn. Carrie asked, "What game do you want to play?" I broke out a Sherlock Holmes one I've been eager to see. Carrie's opposed to anything with 

It was like an interactive novel. We spent over a couple of hours reading, talking, and solving the case! I loved it. Carrie had fun, but I doubt she'll agree to one of the remaining 9 cases. I don't know when we'd ever have a three hour, stress free block of time to allow for a leisurely murder mystery anyway.

Bed time followed. The Lodge was the most luxurious of our lodgings for the trip.

We were up early for day two. I'd left my credit card with the signed receipt at the Local Goat yesterday. I solved the mystery of the missing card and the manager put it in the safe, but we had to pick it back up. The restaurant didn't open until 11, so Carrie and I found ways to amuse ourselves in town.

Like a mountain side roller coaster!

The coasters had their own hand brakes, so Carrie and I raced.

Carrie's original plan was to go to Dollywood. However, her left knee still hurt and I needed new work shoes. We visited an outlet mall and went back to the lodge to unwind with some high class entertainment.

We watched a Sherlock movie afterward (It was extra fun after the game).

That night on the back porch, we watched amazed as at least ten orb weaver spiders constructed a bug force field before our very eyes. The spiders worked at a tremendous pace.

We finished the night with some cards, Code Names, and TV. We would move on the following morning. There was some talk about attempting to go to Dollywood again, but we decided to spend more time in Knoxville instead. 

Cville

Shane and I are in Cville for the weekend. The goal is to see Mommy and stay out of the house. That will keep it clean and let prospective buyers come and go at ease. I'm hoping for a quick sell, but who knows what God's plan is? All signs have pointed to "get your butt and your family's down south" so far.