Touring Tennessee Day 14: Knoxville

[CrispyA]

We had our final breakfast on the deck, feeling really quite sad to be leaving our Tennessee Mountain home. We had enjoyed the relaxation and the beautiful setting so much and were keen to make sure we stayed somewhere similar on future holidays.

We were a little disappointed not to see any bears around the cabin, but you can't have everything, and I'd rather not get up close and personal with one.

We packed up the car, bade a fond farewell to Wa Ta Vu and then headed back down the mountain to Gatlinburg and beyond. The bright lights of Pigeon Forge were quite a culture shock after the peace of our cabin and our days in the Smokies and we were again thankful not to have stayed in amongst the pancake houses and tat shops.

It wasn't a long drive to Knoxville and we arrived at our hotel, the Holiday Inn, around lunch time. It was too early to check in but we could park the car in their garage, so we did that and headed off to explore Knoxville.

We were quite close to the centre so it wasn't a long walk. We had a mooch around the farmers' market and historical displays that were on, enjoying the sunshine and finding Knoxville quite a nice place.

We found the Tennessee Theatre, the official state theatre of Tennessee. It looked like a grand place.

We also found the Knoxville PD.

Evan wanted to see the Neyland Stadium, the 6 largest football stadium in the world and where the Tennessee Volunteers play football, so we found a walk along the river to get there. We greeted our old friend, the Tennessee river, and found a bit of much needed shade to eat some lunch and watch the world go by.

For some reason best known to himself, Evan had decided that the most appropriate item of clothing in Knoxville was his University of Alabama Crimson Tide t-shirt. We hadn't realised that college team rivalries are much more serious than NFL rivalries, and it did attract shouts of "Go Vols!" from passers by.

Undeterred, he decided to get a picture with the Vols stadium in the background.

The stadium seats over 100 000 and is enormous. As it is part of the University of Tennessee, we were amused to see admin offices around the outside. It must be amazing to watch a game there.

After that, we decided to move swiftly on, before any Vols fans decided to take serious offence at Evan's T-shirt! We walked through the campus, which looks very nice, and headed back towards the World's Fair Park which was opposite our hotel.

Knoxville hosted the World's Fair in 1982, with a theme of Energy. One of the attractions built for it is the Sunsphere, which is free to go up and gives great views across the city. It's a funny looking building but spotting it made navigation quite easy!

After this, we stopped off for an ice cream before heading back to the hotel to check in. The hotel was okay - the room was small, especially the bathroom and the TV didn't really work properly. We had quick dip in the indoor pool before getting ready to head out again.

We fancied another baseball game so had got tickets for the Tennessee Smokies vs the Chattanooga Lookouts. The stadium was a little way out of town and it took us a while to get there in the traffic. We called to a shopping centre that was supposed to have a branch of Lids, the hat shop, as Evan was in search of a particular Texas Rangers ball cap, but the shop had closed down. We didn't have much time to eat, so called to a Wendy's nearby, which was fine.

The game was fun but we could have done without facing into the sun for the first part of it! It was quite a relief when it dipped behind the wall. we did have a good view of the field though.

The Smokies won, which was good, and as we left, there was a firework display which was pretty cool.

Back at the hotel, we gave up with the TV and just chilled for a little while before bed.

[Melbatb]

Another busy day! That is one big stadium.

I love the smaller league baseball games - so much of a local experience and a much better price 😜

Another good day of poses too 📷

[RachelM]

What a busy day. Such a good holiday you are having.

[WileyCoyote]

Fun day, low key but some real "local" feel to it. Must have been a shock going from the lovely roomy cabin to a small room again !