As reported earlier we missed the scenery as we drove through the western foothills of the Great Smokies from Lexington to Knoxville, so after doing some catch-up laundry at the hotel we headed out to make up for it, and immediately noticed something we had not yet seen on our trip -- flowering trees -- the first sign that spring is on the way. Before heading to the mountains we decided to checkout downtown Knoxville, which neither of us had visited before although I vaguely remember passing through on the Greyhound bus when traveling back and forth between West Virginia and Tulane during my college years. Most notable (to me at least) was perhaps the prettiest federal courthouse I've ever seen, pictured above. We also drove through the main campus of the University of Tennessee which, like that of the University of Washington is an urban campus crowded onto the hills above a body of water, in this case the Tennessee River, which flows south from Knoxville through Chattanooga and northern Alabama before heading north again and emptying into the Ohio. Then we headed east, toward Gatlinburg, which bills itself as the "Heart of the Smokies," and along the way were treated to vistas of the famous mountain range in the distance, although it was a bit difficult to tell whether the bluish haze was in fact the phenomenon from which the mountain range gets its name or the exhaust from the thousands of cars and RVs trying to get to tourist meccas such as Pigeon Forge to spend spring break. Pigeon Forge, as you might know, is the location of entertainer Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood, which after giving it a millisecond's consideration we decided not to visit. Instead we followed Yelp's directions to lunch at what turned out to be the most unusual eating establishment we have encountered on the trip, or at any other time for that matter. The trip took us up some back country roads that were reminiscent of the places we visited with my brother Mike in West Virginia, except that the homes we saw were obviously expensive and well-maintained. We finally ended up at our destination, Friendly Falls Food and Stuff, not so much a restaurant but a shack where you order your sandwich, and then eat on a sturdy deck perched above a series of beautiful waterfalls. The weather had warmed up to the mid-50s, which combined with the heat lamps over the tables made eating outside comfortable. The food was basic but good, but the setting was spectacular and it's the kind of experience that we never could have found on our own. It turned out that there was a more direct route back to Knoxville, which made us even more appreciative of the back road experience getting there because this time we went right through the heart of tourist trap alley, passing such entertainment options as Biblical Times Theater, the Hollywood Wax Museum (complete with an over sized King Kong climbing a miniature Empire State Building on the roof of the building), and my favorite, the Hatfield McCoy Dinner Theater. I promise that I am not making these up, and in fact you can see previews of these and other options online here. After making our way through the maze, we then went west of Knoxville to Oak Ridge, which like Hanford in Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico was one of the sites of the Manhattan Project, where the atomic bombs that led to Japan's surrender were and the end of World War II were built. Having been born in Richland where my father worked as a civil engineer at Hanford, I felt compelled to check out this seeming twin to my birthplace. Other than having more vegetation and more interesting topography, Oak Ridge was similar to the Tricities in that there was one old (i.e. 1940s) downtown square surrounded by miles and miles of suburban sprawl, interspersed with large research labs and industrial parks. Another notable difference is that Oak Ridge High School's athletic teams are called the Wildcats, and not the Bombers. Most of the visitable sites aren't yet open for the summer, but we found a lovely park with plaques describing each of the phases of the development of Oak Ridge area from a sleepy farm community of 1900 residents to a booming "secret city" of 75,000 in a very short period of time. The park also features the International Friendship Bell, which Max proudly noticed was developed from a concept created by a Girl Scout as part of a Gold Award project. On the way out of Oak Ridge we stopped and visited another remnant from a more shameful period of our nation's history, the Wheat Community African Burial Ground with more than 90 unmarked graves of slaves from nearby plantations. Then we headed to Chattanooga from where, like General Sherman, we will begin our march on Atlanta Thursday.
As reported earlier we missed the scenery as we drove through the western foothills of the Great Smokies from Lexington to Knoxville, so after doing some catch-up laundry at the hotel we headed out to make up for it, and immediately noticed something we had not yet seen on our trip -- flowering trees -- the first sign that spring is on the way. Before heading to the mountains we decided to checkout downtown Knoxville, which neither of us had visited before although I vaguely remember passing through on the Greyhound bus when traveling back and forth between West Virginia and Tulane during my college years. Most notable (to me at least) was perhaps the prettiest federal courthouse I've ever seen, pictured above. We also drove through the main campus of the University of Tennessee which, like that of the University of Washington is an urban campus crowded onto the hills above a body of water, in this case the Tennessee River, which flows south from Knoxville through Chattanooga and northern Alabama before heading north again and emptying into the Ohio. Then we headed east, toward Gatlinburg, which bills itself as the "Heart of the Smokies," and along the way were treated to vistas of the famous mountain range in the distance, although it was a bit difficult to tell whether the bluish haze was in fact the phenomenon from which the mountain range gets its name or the exhaust from the thousands of cars and RVs trying to get to tourist meccas such as Pigeon Forge to spend spring break. Pigeon Forge, as you might know, is the location of entertainer Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood, which after giving it a millisecond's consideration we decided not to visit. Instead we followed Yelp's directions to lunch at what turned out to be the most unusual eating establishment we have encountered on the trip, or at any other time for that matter. The trip took us up some back country roads that were reminiscent of the places we visited with my brother Mike in West Virginia, except that the homes we saw were obviously expensive and well-maintained. We finally ended up at our destination, Friendly Falls Food and Stuff, not so much a restaurant but a shack where you order your sandwich, and then eat on a sturdy deck perched above a series of beautiful waterfalls. The weather had warmed up to the mid-50s, which combined with the heat lamps over the tables made eating outside comfortable. The food was basic but good, but the setting was spectacular and it's the kind of experience that we never could have found on our own. It turned out that there was a more direct route back to Knoxville, which made us even more appreciative of the back road experience getting there because this time we went right through the heart of tourist trap alley, passing such entertainment options as Biblical Times Theater, the Hollywood Wax Museum (complete with an over sized King Kong climbing a miniature Empire State Building on the roof of the building), and my favorite, the Hatfield McCoy Dinner Theater. I promise that I am not making these up, and in fact you can see previews of these and other options online here. After making our way through the maze, we then went west of Knoxville to Oak Ridge, which like Hanford in Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico was one of the sites of the Manhattan Project, where the atomic bombs that led to Japan's surrender were and the end of World War II were built. Having been born in Richland where my father worked as a civil engineer at Hanford, I felt compelled to check out this seeming twin to my birthplace. Other than having more vegetation and more interesting topography, Oak Ridge was similar to the Tricities in that there was one old (i.e. 1940s) downtown square surrounded by miles and miles of suburban sprawl, interspersed with large research labs and industrial parks. Another notable difference is that Oak Ridge High School's athletic teams are called the Wildcats, and not the Bombers. Most of the visitable sites aren't yet open for the summer, but we found a lovely park with plaques describing each of the phases of the development of Oak Ridge area from a sleepy farm community of 1900 residents to a booming "secret city" of 75,000 in a very short period of time. The park also features the International Friendship Bell, which Max proudly noticed was developed from a concept created by a Girl Scout as part of a Gold Award project. On the way out of Oak Ridge we stopped and visited another remnant from a more shameful period of our nation's history, the Wheat Community African Burial Ground with more than 90 unmarked graves of slaves from nearby plantations. Then we headed to Chattanooga from where, like General Sherman, we will begin our march on Atlanta Thursday.
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