On our vacation, the Vol-in-Law and I touched down in seven states. I made that little cultural reference when we were visiting St Caffeine in Decatur, Alabama. The Vol-in-Law didn't get it. He didn't even know about Rock City** (once you've seen that, you've seen the best). He came away from this vacation feeling that I've not been showing him the best of East Tennessee. Now he wants to see Rock City, sail the Lost Sea, spend a day in Pigeon Forge, taking in the minitature golf (now with added dinosaur) and see the sharks at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies (ocean fish in the mountains!!).
(Fellow blogger Genderist's husband, a native of Sweetwater, mentioned the Lost Sea on Christmas morning, and now the Vol-in-Law just won't shut up about the blind fish.)
The Vol-in-Law came away convinced more than ever, that he prefers to vacation in the South. One thing he hasn't yet seen is Tennessee in the Spring. Now, that is a sight to behold. Perhaps we'll do that in Spring of 2007.
But rather than dwell on the things we did not see, I'll rehash my vacation by telling you the things that we did see. With pictures.
Week One: Knoxville
Usually when we arrive in Tennessee, VolMom picks us up in Nashville and then we have another hour and a half drive down to Lawrenceburg. This time, my cousin A picked us up and we had a 20 minute drive to Brentwood. What a difference that makes, my transition to Central Time went smoothly.
Cousin A has a dog called Reese (sp?) which is a red heeler. Those unfamiliar with the breed may not know that the red heeler is derived from the Australian Dingo.
We drove from Nashville to Knoxville the next day to visit with VolBro, who lives in the salubrious village of Fort Sanders. The good old Fort. Neighborhood of my birth and my misspent youth. It's great to be able to go back to the Fort and stay in an authentic student residence, but in the comfort of my brother's two bedroom - no roommate - apartment. He has cable and beer and you can smoke inside. I forgot to bring a sleeping t-shirt, but another fine feature of Chateau VolBro is that he has plenty of Tennessee Vols t-shirts to borrow (on my favorite borrowing plan - permanent aquisition).
VolBro is getting perilously close to 30 (he'll be 28 in March), and this is the age where it becomes creepy to still be living in the Fort. We used to laugh at my crazy neighbor who was 30 and had been living in the Fort for 11 years. VolBro, you are about to become this guy. Get out (but not until I have one last chance to visit!).
Scenes from the Fort:
Unrepresentative Fort housing. My grandfather lived here during the 30s, fueling the basement furnace in exchange for meager room and board while a UT student.
Holston marble columns marking the 11th Street entry to the Fort.
On Monday night I went to the Knoxville Country Dancers contra dance, which I used to frequent in my college days. It was as good as ever. I hadn't been in 9 years, but really it was just the same.
I had a nice visit with VolDad and VolBro. We visited the Knoxville Museum of Art.
The KMA
We walked up to Market Square one morning via the World's Fair Site.
World's Fair Site:
the ever iconic Sunsphere
Downtown Knoxville:
I know that downtown Knoxville is the subject of much controversy, but really I think it's OK. Sure Knoxville has the air of a town that has never really lived up to its potential, but that's kind of what makes Knoxville so great. It has hidden depths. I love that city. When I get twangs of homesickness, it's for Knoxville. I'll just say one thing about getting rid of art spaces and workshops in the Candy Factory to make way for condos and coffee shops... What would make living in that area cool is the quirkiness which exists because there are things like the candy factory, not just proximity to the Ice Bears...
Tennessee Theater downtown Knoxville
Arty hounds downtown
The University of Tennessee
I didn't actually do much picture taking on campus - but here's a few...
I was shocked to see Glocker gutted, but pleased that they seem to be keeping the facade. I spent many hours in Glocker, mostly unpleasant, facing up to my intellectual inadequacies. Math is hard. That crazy math with no numbers is even harder.
Stop Phil Fulmer's way indeed if it's that losing 2005 season way.
Exciting West Knoxville
I didn't spend much time in West Knoxville, but we did go out to the dollar theatre. While waiting for our film to start, we browsed in a homewares store and saw Smokey's lovely Christmas doghouse.
Sadly Smokey was out.
Next stop: Dollywood and Asheville, North Carolina
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* Just like the Rocky City claim, ours is also slightly dubious. One of the seven states we visited was Michigan, and we did not leave the airport. We were in Arizona for about 10 minutes as we walked across the Hoover Dam, but we were outside so that counts. The other states were: Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Nevada and California. We also saw some other states from the airplane window. However, we do have some overlap with the Rock City's see 7 states - AL, NC and TN.
** We were warned not to indulge in the Rock City, Ruby Falls package deal. Apparently Ruby Falls is but a trickle that has been augmented through pumps that are turned off every night when the tourists go home.
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