On to Knoxville

After a couple of nights in Nashville and the wedding....John and I were off to Knoxville to visit family.We got up fairly early on Sunday and headed out...so the traffic was pretty light and the drive wasn't too stressful.
First stop Pigeon Forge.

We hadn't been up to TN in about 8 years. We have seen John's sister and her husband many times over the years, and we saw our nephew Chase two years ago at Thanksgiving (in Alabama), but we had not seen our other nephew since his wedding! We looked forward to meeting our great-nieces and seeing him and his wife again after all those years.
We first started going up to Pigeon Forge back in the 70's....and naturally things have changed over the years. Back during the 70's there was one two (maybe 4) lane road through town...and really NOTHING on it. Just a nice little country town on the way to Gatlinburg. Well now it's jam packed with attractions, restaurants, go-carts, outlet malls.....one thing after another. Not my favorite thing to see. Progress is inevitable...but I'm glad I saw it back when it was unspoiled.
 Walking down the Riverwalk path we had to check out Margaritaville.

this one's for Megan hahaha

actually it was only around 10:00am-we didn't stop in

It was interesting...all fairly new, nice and clean...and once upon a time Megan would have gotten a kick out of staying there...hahaha but we didn't hang around for too long.
I did like the way the walkway followed the river...and there was a natural barrier between where the path was and the main road through town...so you could enjoy the nice trees, the river, etc. and not have to deal with the noise and commotion just on the other side of the river.
We headed over for an afternoon in Knoxville.
John's sister and brother-in-law bought a few acres several years ago and they have been slowly working on restoring the house that was on the property. Last year the other part of the property (originally all owned by one family) became available and our nephew bought it. Ken and Sandy were thrilled to now have all 7-8 acres in the family...and the original owners were happy knowing it was all one piece again...so things worked out well for everyone.
It is a beautiful spot.

The creek divides the two parts of the property. This is the view from the front yard of one house.

It was a beautiful day in late May...just a little warm mid day...otherwise lovely.
Of course we had to gather the group and get a picture on the bridge. John set the timer...but didn't quite make it into the picture as planned...hahaha

We spent the afternoon relaxing and checking out the property. It was fun watching the little girls playing in the creek.

View from the creek looking back at the house...one on the right side...the other off to the left side

one house

the other

This house was built in the 40's (I think) and my nephew and his wife are fixing it up, updating it, etc. It's a work in progress...but it's really coming along.

New white cabinets and paint...lighten things up. They took out one wall between the kitchen and small dining area...it made the room much brighter and roomy. They are still getting it all together...but it looks great.

The second day in town we got ready for a Memorial Day picnic/party. We headed back over to the house. My nephew gave us a tour of the property and the neighborhood around the property......here's the river out back.

summertime green!

The party was a lot of fun. We enjoyed talking to family and meeting some of their good friends and meeting some of the in-laws's is that a word???family members. It was a nice afternoon, lots of good food and just a nice relaxing, fun day.
Our last day in Pigeon Forge, we walked around a bit down at the end of my sister-in-law's street. Over the years many little shops have come and gone....my house holds more than one item from some of those shops...hahahah  missed not having them to stop into...but we did poke around a bit in the stores currently down by the Old Mill. It all started to feel a bit like Disney World....every store seemed to have variations of the same theme....oh well...they have what people want to buy I guess.
And this restaurant was definitely worth the visit!!!!!

Every thing was tasty and it was just a short walk from where we were staying. I'll be stopping back there!
Well...our visit to Tennessee was a good one. We enjoyed seeing some new places and celebrating at the wedding. We got to enjoy some mild temperatures for an extra week...as things were rapidly heating up down in Florida. We loved meeting our great nieces and getting to know my nephew's wife and some of her family. It was interesting to see how things have changed and been built up over the years since we were last there...and always good to have "locals' to show us all the side streets and back roads to get around the congestion.When we left town to head to the Knoxville airport...we enjoyed the scenery, since traffic was light on a mid morning Monday in early June. :)
Flying out of Knoxville is great...just a bit busier and bigger than our airport in Melbourne...GREAT!!!! We'll definitely be back up there....we'll try not to wait 8 years.

TN weekend

The reason we were in Nashville was we were attending a wedding on Saturday, May 28th. Brenna left after breakfast for a day full of preparations. As i posted last time John, Josh and I spent part of the afternoon downtown...which had definitely come to life during the 3 hour break we took. It was packed every where we went...so we didn't hang around for too long.  Rain had been in the forecast and we were just happy that the skies stayed clear the whole time we were there.
We got ready for the evening and headed out to the venue The East Ivy Mansion.
It was a lovely old "mansion".

 Some of the bridal party actually stayed there. The wedding was outside next to the gardens and the fountains. Dinner was set up on the patio area.

 Dancing, cake, cigars were in a part of the house and by the pool.

 Because of the possible rain....tents were set up. Even though there wasn't any rain....we all agreed that the tents kind of "dressed" the place up...they really did look nice.

Bridesmaids were gathering and getting ready for the ceremony.

 They had the kind of dresses that you can shape and tie to suit each individual person...so they were all  the same...but slightly different. They looked nice and actually probably could be worn again....because of all the ways you can style it.
The ceremony was nice; Kristian's friend who officiated gave a heartfelt "speech" , I think everyone enjoyed it.
As usual...following the actual wedding ceremony, there were cocktails and then dinner. Then it was time for celebrating!!!!

I'm like one of the kids when it comes to the cake...hahaha who cares about the dinner (which was good) I'm just saying.... I'm more interested in the dessert! They had an assortment of cupcakes. Yum yum.

We had fun dancing...the DJ had a list of requests from all the guests...and he did a great job of keeping things going without the cheesy games and announcements that DJ's sometimes resort to. I know, I know...that's their job...but sometime they're just obnoxious!
Actually John, Brenna and I were among the first dancers...hahaha...one of the other bridesmaids said "If I ever have a big party I'm inviting you guys!!" hahaha We were sort of like "motivational dancers" that people hire...hahahaha 

"That's the look, that's the look, that's the look of love!"- ABC  :)

The grooms family told John we have an open invitation to come tailgate down in Baton Rouge anytime...hahaha What can I say...we just like to have fun. The bridesmaids all had a good time dancing...and a few hours in the DJ was asked to stay an extra hour...(just like at Megan and Marcus's wedding). By then the rest of the group was loosened up and starting to get in on the dancing...also the tempo of the music changed to what the "kids" liked...more rap...less of what I know and like...so we decided to duck out. ( also....we weren't drinking hahaha)

The Bride and Groom both had fun...which to me is one of  the most important things at a wedding. You spend months and months planning...it's a shame when people are so caught up in the arrangements that they don't/can't even relax and enjoy the celebration!!
Glad we went to join in the celebration. 
                            The next day.....we were off to Knoxville to visit family.

We went to Memphis Nashville, and Knoxville , Tennessee.

The last weekend in May, John & I flew up to Tennessee for a first visit to Nashville.

 A friend of Brenna's was getting married, Brenna was in the wedding, and her friend was kind enough to include us. We didn't really know her that well...so at first we weren't sure that we'd go...but the more I thought about it, the more I thought "Why not?" We had never been to Nashville...but we have been to Tennessee and I have always enjoyed it . I like the weather, the landscape, etc. I figured TN at the end of May would probably be pretty nice. (it was!)
Another thing to consider was the fact that we had not been to Tennessee for about 9 years. The last time we were there our nephew was getting married. We have seen John's sister and her husband since then...but always in other places. Over the years my nephew and his wife have had two daughters...so it would be a chance to meet our great nieces. We've seen them growing up on Facebook, but looked forward to getting to meet them in person. Once we thought about all the reasons TO go...there really wasn't any reason NOT to go!
We got to town the day before the wedding

 which gave us some time to do a little bit of sight-seeing.

 We stayed at a hotel just a few blocks away from Vanderbilt University. We decided to wander through part of the campus on our way to dinner down in that part of town. It was a beautiful campus...what we saw of it anyway.

 Beautiful trees,

 nice old buildings and since school was out it was very quiet.

 The place we went to eat was an old diner that was supposed to have the best burgers in town. We were not disappointed! It reminded us of a place that used to be in Downtown Melbourne....Pop's Casbah...the whole set-up of the place....the counter, the step up to the back dining room, and the over all feel of the place. It was like going back in time.:) Somebody told us this is the place that inspired Jimmy Buffet to write "Cheeseburger in Paradise"
 We ate and then slowly walked through the campus back to our hotel. On the way we passed by this place

 that had a line around the building...good thing I'm not a fan of Hot chicken...John would never wait in line for that!!! hahaha Every time we passed that place (when it was open) it had a line.

Saturday morning Brenna and Josh decided to sleep in a little, but we got up early to take a walk.
We decided to walk downtown towards where the pedestrian bridge was.

It was quiet....there were a handful of runners and walkers around....but overall it was dead. It was kind of nice to be out walking before it got too hot and having the road to ourselves.

hardly any cars on the road

We walked down to the end of the bridge, looked around for a few minutes and then turned around and made our back.

Home of the Tennessee Titans

walking back towards downtown

Natural Born Grillers getting ready

Down near the stadium we saw people setting up for a Barbecue Cook-off happening later that day. They were just getting things going....but I bet it smelled really good later that day!!!!! Watched the people  down there for a few minutes and then headed towards the hotel.

                   I liked all the signs painted on the sides of the buildings....some older than others

and the signs in general  :)

Like I said...there was hardly anyone out and about...things looked pretty quiet. Little did we know what it would be like when we came back 3-4 hours later...hahaha We decided we were going to come back later and stop by The Johnny Cash Museum

empty streets at 10:00 am...hahaha

.....at least that was the plan......

 We got back to the hotel and made our plans for the day. Brenna was due to be at the wedding venue by 11:00am; so she was getting her things together for the day.
John, Josh and I had plans to stop in at the Elliston Place Shop for lunch. (another place I had read about in my guide to Nashville)

If you go to a soda shop to eat...you have to get a milkshake! hahahaha Josh got a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Shake and John went for a real, old fashioned Banana Shake. 

 It was made with a plain milkshake base and fresh bananas and it was delicious! Not too sweet...just perfect creamy banana flavor. I had a taste of Josh's and a few good sips of John's. I could have easily slurped down a whole one all by myself....but I decided I'd save room for a piece of wedding cake later on...hahaha.
 Our plan was to head back downtown to check out the Johnny Cash museum. John is a fan...I like some of his music...but for me one or two country songs in a row and I'm good...hahaha It's not my favorite genre...which is why it was kind of funny for us to be walking around Nashville.

When we got back to the museum there was a long line of people waiting to get in. John does not like to wait in line for much of anything...and we weren't that interested...so John announced that we'd just go in and check out the gift shop. (Josh was like..."Huh... You mean We're not going in????")

John and Josh looked around at some of the memorabilia  and even bought a couple of t-shits...I lasted through half of one song (hahaha) and opted to wander across the street to the GooGoo Cluster store. I thought about buying one that sounded delicious...with chocolate, nuts and toffee bits...that is until I looked at the calories. One  approximately 5 inch candy was 500 calories....per serving!!!!! Three servings per package. I have no  doubt that most people polish off the entire thing....getting a total of 1500 calories!!!!!! YIKES!!!!!! I bought 3 postcards instead...hahaha

Here's what the streets looked like now! Everyone was up and out by 2pm....hahahahaha

We saw quite a few of these pedal bars going by...looked like a lot of Bachelorette  parties in town for the weekend....every bar looked packed, the sidewalks were full of people...there were people everywhere...and I'd say  about 90 % were drinking.( I felt like I was in Daytona for Spring Break.) It was definitely interesting...................A few locals commented that Nashville has kind of morphed into the "New New Orleans" or Las Vegas in the south....I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not....but it's good for business apparently.

 Now...it was a holiday weekend, but I can't imagine what it's like downtown on a game day weekend...or when all the students are back in town...it must be packed all the time. everyone certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 It was a fun afternoon and we all enjoyed watching the crazy crowds and looking around. No of us were drinking...so we didn't go into any of the bars.....I can only imagine...hahaha
All in all we had a fun time and worth the time. If you actually like country music, you'd probably enjoy it more than I did...hahah  We headed back to the hotel to start getting ready for the wedding....more on that next time.