The weather has been quite fine thus far. It’s been unusually warm, but that’s going to change soon. The forecast is for rain and then a cold front moves in, and frost warnings for this area. Because of the rainy forecast for Monday afternoon, we thought we’d do outdoor things on Sunday and indoor things on Monday. However, apparently Mondays are closed days for nearly all the indoor places we wanted to visit, so that meant a change in plans.
Our first activity on Sunday, October 29, was to walk along the Greenway trail along the Tennessee River. Knoxville has over 112 miles of Greenway and hiking trails around the city.

After our walk, we went to the Visitor Center to pick up a map of downtown. We chatted with one of the staffers about what might be open on Monday, but it seems that Monday is a real closed day around town. She brought to our attention the nearby city of Oak Ridge, known both as the Secret City and/or Atomic City, where the Manhattan Project production facility was located. Apparently, there is a big museum about atomic science there and a big atomic research lab
We walked around the older section of Knoxville, especially an area called Market Square, a large, several block pedestrian shopping area. There was also a small sculpture garden and several commemorative statures.



We then went to the Eastern Tennessee History Museum, which I found really fascinating. There are 3 divisions in Tennessee, Eastern, Middle, and Western, and each is unique. I learned that Eastern TN, being a much more mountainous area, did not rely on agriculture and enslaved labor as much as the other 2 divisions. Eastern TN was more allied with the Union than the Confederacy, and had a strong history of abolitionism. The mountain people culture is also a strong tradition in Eastern TN as well as the rise of country music. It was a really good museum, I thought, and I learned a lot. One display was especially exciting for Christine, because it mentioned Cutter Gap, the fictitious location of the Christy book. We’re going to try and get to Del Rio, the “real” place on which Cutter Gap is based.

We had signed the guest book as we exited the museum, and Christine heard a woman coming in, who looked at the book and exclaimed, “Binghamton.” Christine went back and asked the woman how she knew Binghamton, and she said she went to college there. Christine and the woman chatted for quite a while, comparing notes on Harpur college. It is a small world!
After the museum, we headed toward World’s Fair Park to get a closer look at the giant, gold ball, called the Sunsphere, that is sort of the trademark of Knoxville. Yes, Knoxville, TN hosted the 1982 World’s Fair.




Nearby was the Knoxville Museum of Art. I was rather disappointed in the museum. They had one of the 3 floors closed, and that was the exhibition I was most interested in, on a century of visual arts in Tennessee. There was an interesting video piece by Jane Cassidy called Drink up the Moon which captures the magic and mysticism of sunlight on choppy seas. There was an exhibit on modern glass and another on miniature dioramas of Victorian and historical rooms.
After the museum, we drove back over to the river and boarded a riverboat for a dinner cruise.

Earlier this morning on our riverwalk, we debated for quite a while whether to do the dinner cruise. We finally made our reservation, and we are so glad we did. It was a wonderful trip up the Tennessee River about 5 miles. The boat turns around and then returns to its dock. Coming back, it was getting dark and so the lights reflecting on the water were so fantastic. Just coming back to the docking place, the near-full moon was visible and that just added to the awe of the night lights.









It seemed like a jam packed day and we were both very tired upon arriving at our hotel.
With the Monday weather forecast calling for rain starting at noon, we decided to make use of the dry morning and head over to the Knoxville Botanical Garden. Anyone who has read this blog knows that we are garden people. And while it really isn’t garden season in terms of blooming things, this garden is also an arboretum, so there were all sorts of colors to be seen in the trees.

The garden covers 47 acres and there are nice pathways through all the little areas showcasing various types of plantings. There are lovely benches along the way for sitting and taking in the bird calls and the breeze through the trees.



Although many of the leaves have already fallen, it was still beautiful, shuffling through the leaves along the paths.





The last thing I expected to see was a very thick bamboo forest. It was so thick that it was very dark walking through it.


Even though flower blooming season was over, if you looked well, you could still find spots of color from a few blooms.





We had a wonderful couple of hours at the botanical garden and we were lucky that it didn’t rain.


The bad weather blew in about 1:00pm, but we were safely back in our hotel where we are spending the afternoon catching up on computer-related things. We’ll be off on another adventure early tomorrow and will end up in Asheville, NC tomorrow night.