Rocky Top, TN

Last weekend Josh & were blessed to be able to travel to Knoxville, Tennessee. Let me just put in a little footnote here...
MY CANON 40D DIED THE NIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT...
and I had just sold my back up camera. yes, I did cry... lots of tears the night before the trip.

I have never been to Tennessee before, but I liked it. I will go back if I get the chance.
The people are seriously like the nicest people ever. I am not kidding. Like almost over the top nice... if there is such a thing!

They also have this...

The smokey mountains...

and this...

really, really, cool old buildings with lots of character...

and they have these...

really bright and beautiful BLUE butterflies... everywhere, well at least in the Smokeys :)

They also have these... on every street corner, porch, store... you name it.

I wanted to bring some home... but they wouldn't fit in my carry on luggage.
It was a true bummer. Thankfully the cute one on the right had a ticket! :)

They also have this... which is the real reason why we went out to Knoxville...

Neyland Stadium... home of the Tennessee of the Volunteers...

and their mascot "SMOKEY" and of course their theme song "Rocky Top"

and on a totally random note...
they have this...

orange beer for the fans.... and true Vols fans who bleed orange.... and I guess they drink it...
now as you know we don't drink... and actually UT is a "dry" campus so they don't sell alcohol here... so I don't see how they have beer cans in UT colors, but they do... I guess they bring it in from some "wet" county...
every tailgate we walked by offered us food and drink... we hadn't even left the airport in Atlanta and we had already been invited to a tailgate party...

I think like this though... wouldn't you want to remember what you were doing??? I guess I have never figured out the lure of alcohol.... in any situation, but especially when you have a once in a lifetime chance to do something... do you want to be able to remember it?

I do.

There are also tons and tons of these....
and this I really loved...

churches everywhere... I guess this is Bible Belt after all :)
This particular church had a rock roof and was just gorgeous.
There were also all kinds of wedding chapels & mega churches.

on another note they had this...

I don't know what it was for... and no I did NOT walk around the front...
I don't want to know how they roll in Tennessee! Notice the guy looking at "him" that discouraged me from walking around the "front" and now I will never know!

We also found this super cool general store called Masts... and it has been here in this awesome building since the late 1800's.... it was one of my favorite things... and this section of the store I loved...
The coke machines were still working... and have glass bottles in them, it was awesome!
They also had a couple green rockers in there for me to sit and people watch.

That is just a mini highlight of our trip...
I am saving a special post just for the game...
What a wonderful wonderful time :)