After Smokies...KNOXVILLE!

Jennifer showed us a good time in Knoxville! First, we started off just outside of the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg (super kitchsy little town with shops galore) where we went to the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen (the place where she had bought us the chocolate bear on a stick that I slowly ate over the course of 2 months), then we did a lovely driving tour of Pigeon Forge (home to Dollywood, pancake restaurants galore, and dozens of go-kart tracks) before ending up at Jennifer's friends Charlie & Mary's house. We had a great time talking with them- they shared lots of stories and were wonderful hosts. They were kind enough to prepare a nice dinner for us too. After that, Jennifer pointed out where the Gamble farm was and some other things in the dark, before we got to her house and PASSED OUT from being so tired!

Jennifer with Charlie and Mary

The next day we went with Jennifer, John and Amy on a driving tour of the Oak Ridge area, but passed on the museum (it would have been interesting, but it wasn't the museum kind of day). We stopped at Big Ed's pizza where we chowed down on THREE pizzas. We had worked up an appetite! That afternoon, we stopped by the dog park and watched Riley (John's dog) play with all the other dogs. Adam also witnessed a dog eating another dog's business...yikes! Then it was yummy BBQ for dinner! Somehow I still had enough energy to go shopping with Jennifer and her mom. I didn't find anything, but Jennifer bought stuff to return later. ;-) Buyer's remorse!

Because we are ridiculous.

On Tuesday, Jennifer scheduled a busy day for us! We started off the morning by visiting some of her colleagues at UT. We got to see Mary again in the Orientation office, met a few students that she had worked with, and got an amazing tour of the campus. If there is one person who can share some great stories about the campus and point out interesting facts, it is an orientation leader. Trust me!



After checking out the campus, we had lunch at Long's Drugs. Talk about yummy burgers and malts. The only downside was that this placed used lots and lots of styrofoam and plastic. We weren't too happy about that, but we'll let Jennifer contact Long's when she moves back to Knoxville to encourage them to explore other ways to serve their food while being more environmentally friendly. From there, we went back to the campus and met up with one of her other former supervisors/colleagues, JJ.

Sad face with our styrofoam cups

Jennifer then took us around downtown and the site of the World's Fair. We got to ride up the elevator of the Sunsphere. They have some displays and videos at the top, so we spent a bit of time learning facts about the Fair and the Sunsphere. It was good stuff! We decided to do a little bit of shopping in Knoxville after that. Jennifer's mom was meeting her up at the mall, so we split up with Jennifer and went back to her house to research Chinese restaurants in the area. The winner for the evening was the Mandarin House Kitchen (or something). It was a typical Chinese buffet kind of place, and I didn't think it was too bad, though their ma pao tofu left something to be desired. Adam did bring some sriracha sauce too! We chatted it up with our waiter when we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. He actually lived in Orange County but headed out to TN for family and school. Small world!



Then it was suddenly Wednesday, April 29, and time for Jennifer and I to fly to California and Adam to drive to DC! Before we got to the airport, we stopped by Jennifer's Gran's house. She had just turned 95 over the weekend and is still one sharp cookie. She doesn't look or act like she is 95 (in a good way!).


A few random things- we met quite the characters around Knoxville! From the man who asked Adam and Jennifer how to switch his cell phone off of speakerphone, to the man downtown who tried to give us his parking spot but then couldn't because his battery was dead, to the guy in the Sunsphere who gave us his whole life story in five minutes. People sure are chatty- I suppose that is where Jennifer gets it from! (just kidding! I know you are reading this! Haha).