6-24-18 running around Knoxville with Tim

We decided to spend a whole weekend with Tim.  So on Sun. we headed off to breakfast.  Forgot the name of the place, but breakfast was good. 

Then Tim took us for a ride downtown.

You know you're in Knoxville when you see the iconic sunshere in downtown.

Knoxville is another neat city.  Only about 186,000 population---about 30,000 more people then Macon.  Same tree lined streets and historic downtown.

Lots of little boutique restaurants and stores.

And today they were holding the Road Bike Nationals in downtown.  We happened upon the end of the women's race.  In fact, by the time we parked and got out to watch a little of it, all we saw was the last woman rider and the enterage of medical and chase vehicles.

So we hopped back in the car and continued on. 

Part of the city that was closed off for the race.

more of the city.

just outside the city is Fort Dickerson.  We had never been there before. 

Tim and I walked up and around the little hilltop earthen fort. 

The forts was constructed to prevent the Confederates from bombarding Knoxville to drive out the Federals.  Confederate cavalry attempted an attack on November 15  & 16, 1863 but retreated when they decided they couldn't take the fort due to the steep terrain and strength of the defending troops.

Tim did his own battle there----some game on his phone where he was able to "take" many spots within the fort.

Not much of a fort, but I guess it didn't need to be.

a wild flower growing along the trail

about the battle

one of the 3 replica cannons that stands there now---I think there were originally 4.

About the siege of Knoxville.  In 1863, Confederate General James Longstreet placed the city of Knoxville under siege. After two weeks and one failed attack, he abandoned the siege.

Near the fort is this lookout to the 350-foot deep quarry

Pinkish gray marble-like limestone was quarried from here up until the start of the Great Depression. 

Now it's a park with swimming and kayaking

Back at Tim's house, the sky opened up and poured on us. 

Still no mountains, but an interesting day none-the-less.

10-26-17  sunrise at Cades Cove!!!!


Since Tim and Faith had an early flight, I decided it would be a great opportunity to see Cades Cove at sunrise.  So we were up by 6 and on the road by about 6:30.  Dropped the kids off at the Knoxville airport.  Then continued on our way up into the Smokey Mountains.

Got to Cades Cove about 10 minutes before sunrise, only to find out they don't let you in until sunrise!  So we queued up---a little surprised to see so many people there already.

10-1-17  a day in Knoxville:

No big plans for today.  Started it off by going out for breakfast.   After a great breakfast, we headed up to a park on top of a mountain overlooking Knoxville and the mountains beyond.

 Close up of the Sunsphere in downtown Knoxville from the top of the mountain (with my 150-600mm zoom lens).

5-11 and 12, 2017  Angie and me to Knoxville to check out an Estate sale:

A couple days after Ken and I got back from Knoxville, Angie and I were on our way back there!  She found an Estate sale there on the 12th that she wanted to check out.  Lots of folk art and old furniture like she likes.  So she asked if I wanted to go with her.  Of course I said yes!  So we made it a little mother/daughter trip.  Don't know how many more of those we'll get now that they're in an adoption program.
With traffic still a mess on the perimeter highway due to the burned down I-85, we took the back route to Knoxville.  It took us up through Ball Ground, Ga.  Ken and I have been through there many times on our trips to and from Chattanooga and the North Ga. mountains.  This place always looked interesting.  Angie said she had heard lots of good things about it, so we made it part of our trip!  Lunch in a bus!

 The Burger Bus.  Pretty reasonably priced, too.

5-7-17 Wild Love Bake House, Mid Mod and TU garden---Oh my!

Time to try out another new-to-us restaurant for breakfast.  But first---a ride up to where the kids almost bought a piece of land and had a house built.  The land to the left is that lot.  A lot more remote then where they are now.  Nice views, but probably longer commutes.

Then we were off to the city to try out another new breakfast spot, Wild Love Bake House---sort of like a Starbucks.  Lots of teas and homemade pastries---and students sitting around using the free wi-fi.  I got a tea with steamed milk  and this strawberry rhubarb pastry.  Ken had a biscuit egg sandwich and chocolate milk.  The kids had a biscuit sandwich, a croissant and some other pastry with their tea and coffee.  I thought it was a little pricey at $45, but the kids treated us and it was yummy. 

The outside of the bake house---to the far right---as we were walking to an old garage turned mid century modern store---Mid Mod.

3-5-17  back into the Smokey's:

I love riding up into the mountains, so on Sunday we headed into the Smokey's.   I was even able to fill some more of my photo addiction of unique barns along the way. 

3-4-17  on to Knoxville:

It was a short St. Louis visit this time.  Only 4 full days.  But we packed alot into that.  I went swimming twice and volleyball once.  It sure was nice getting a chance to play volleyball again!  Ken visited a couple of his buddies who were in rehab centers right now.  We also made it to dinner with a couple we haven't dined with in years, as well as ate at Ken's brother's restaurant and had a nice visit with him, and went to dinner with Faith's dad and his new wife.  Lots of good eatin' and great visitin'!  We had thought about staying a couple more days, but decided to head to Knoxville on Sat. so we could spend Sat. night and all day Sunday visiting with Tim and Faith.  Another reason for wanting to go on this trip!
So we were off by about 8:30 am.  We had planned to meet up with David and Jane for breakfast in Mt. Vernon on our way through.  But just like last time, our plans were foiled by his foster kids.  Last time it was the run-a-way boy who he had to go to court about.  This time he was at the hospital with the new boy.  He's a large 18 year old senior in high school who thought it was a good idea to let a bully punch him to prove that he can take a punch.  The punch broke the kids jaw in 2 places and the stress caused his heart to have some problems.  He wasn't released in time for David and Jane to join us, so we stopped and had breakfast by ourselves, then continued on.
Here we are crossing over to Illinois on the newer I-70 bridge.  At least you don't have to go downtown to cross the river anymore.

 Another view of St. Louis from the new bridge.

12-22-16  Back in Knoxville---Happy 38th birthday Tim!

Since Angie and Josh were heading back to St. Louis for Christmas this year and we had yet more Dr. appointments the next week, we left a few days before Christmas and went to spend Tim's birthday with him and Faith in Knoxville on our way to St. Louis.  It was a short visit, only 2 nights, but we planned to spend a few more nights with them on our way back to Georgia.

We got there on the 21st.  The next day Tim took his birthday off work and we ran around to a few stores with him.  First to a huge very well organized used book store---McKay's.  I'm not an avid reader, but I did thoroughly enjoy looking around this store.  Loved the book Christmas tree they had by the entrance:

Then he was on the hunt for some new work shoes.  Who am I to complain about going to a shoe store!?
When Faith got home from work, we headed off to dinner at a really good steak house, Connors Steak and Seafood Restuarant.  It was so popular, that we had to wait about 40 minutes for a table, but it was worth the wait.

11-26-16  a ride into the Smokey's---

Tim giving a little concert before we head off for breakfast.

 Clawdine enjoying the new pet bed.  Apparently Jesse pulled her around on it while we were out.  At least he didn't chew up this bed like he did his last one the first time they left him alone with it.

11-24-16 Thanksgiving at Tim and Faith's in Knoxville:

After celebrating with The Hicks the day before, we were able to get up bright and early and head off to Knoxville for another celebration.  It was a beautiful day for our 4 hour drive.  Made it there in plenty of time to watch the preparations going on.   Another fantastic dinner was about to be devoured!

Don't know what was going on with my  camera!  All my inside photos with the food and guests were way overexposed!  Maybe time for a new camera?!  But I did manage to get some good ones of Tim and Faith in their back yard.  LOVE their back yard!!

The subject matter isn't to shabby either!

7-24-16 kayaking in Oak Ridge and wandering around the UT botanical garden:

Ken actually suggested we all go kayaking!  He thought if there was a gentle enough slope, he could easily get in the kayak.  So we headed to a river in Oak Ridge where the "kids" had rented kayaks before.  Only when we got there, Ken changed his mind and didn't want to kayak----said his knee was hurting.  Since we were here already, he told us to go on and he'd wait for us.  So we did!  I had a 1 person kayak and the "kids" had a 2 person kayak.  Since it was cheaper to rent for 4 hours then for 2, we did that.
I got in my kayak and waited for Tim and Faith to join me.

 And we're off!

 a selfie with Tim.

Ken actually took a few pictures of us from the shore.

Across the river from where we put in was this interesting cove.

 Too bad the picture doesn't pick up the wild flowers very well that were growing along the shore in the cove.

 There were even some birds.  I believe these are coots.

 cattails and flowers.

 We could see lots of little fish in this shallow cove, too.

 heading out of the cove and back onto the river.

 We could even see the mountains as we paddled this way. 

 We got the brilliant idea to paddle up to Calhoun's and have a light lunch.  Ken met us there.  Only problem was there was nowhere to get out of the kayaks.  The shoreline was all rocks and the boat docks were about head level.  So we just continued on with our kayaking.

We went up to the bridge, then headed back.  Ken took our picture from a distance.

 Checked out the cove again.  By now we had been kayaking about 2 hours.  Don't know about them, but my arms were getting a bit sore by the time we got back.  I'm surprised they didn't bother me the next day!

  Ken was back at the rental place taking our picture as we made our way back.

 It was another hot day in Tennessee---upper 90s.  It didn't seem too bad on the river, but we were ready for an ice cream when we got back to the car.  So we headed to one of those serve yourself places where you pay by the weight of the sundae.  It hit the spot!
Back to the house to clean up and get some dry clothes on, then we took off to another favorite activity of mine---wandering around a botanical garden.  There's a really nice free one at the University of Tennessee.

 As an added benefit, Tim was able to capture a bunch of locations in his online game---not Pokemon, but the preceding game made by those programmers.  I forget the name of it (Ingress, maybe?).  Originally the places to capture were history oriented.  Later players were able to suggest other locations.  So he enjoyed running around the gardens, too.

 The only one that wasn't too thrilled was Ken.  He parked himself in the shade and waited for us.
It is a beautiful garden!

 Thought this was a swallowtail until I realized it doesn't have the elongated tail.  Perhaps a Blue Morph?  I've never seen a Blue Morph in the wild, only in a butterfly house.

 Faith pointing out the interesting planters.

Love all the brilliantly colored flowers.

The shelter Ken hung out at.

 Looks like we were there at peak season for many of the flowers, too.

 UT squirrel!

 Lots of areas to sit and enjoy the gardens.

 Some Canadian geese even decided to call this home.

 One of my favorite channels, HGTV, is home here, too.  The kids even tried to get on House Hunters but HGTV waited a little too long to contact them.

 another interesting planter---the back of the truck.

 They were even growing vegetables.  Wonder why our tomatoes never grew like that!

 interesting artwork.

 more roses.

 so many different kinds of roses.

 Some of my favorites---tropical flowers.

 a newer section of the garden.  Behind this they're building a childrens play area. 

Love the heart sculpture.

 By now Ken was texting me and saying it was time to go.  So I found my way back.  Saw these on my way out.  Loved the bark on these trees.  Reminds me a bit of rainbow eucalyptus only not as colorful.

 It was time to go eat.  So we went to Sunspot in downtown Knoxville.  Again the food was very good---I just got a burger, but it really hit the spot.

 Back at the kids' house, I took a walk through their little forest (their back lot)

 Tim even mowed a path through it.

 Jesse sure likes his new back yard.  I don't blame him!!!

 A few of the pears in their back yard.  Originally they had peaches and apples and a bunch of other stuff, too, but the critters seem to be helping themselves to a lot of it.

Spent the evening watching a Netflix movie.  They've learned to live without dish or cable.  With the way prices have exploded for dish and cable, Netflix and digital tv are a very good alternative.  It would be nice to have Netflix for our place in St. Louis, but we don't have internet there!  I believe they have Roku, too, but I don't know that much about it.
It was another great visit.  The 3 nights went way too fast!