Hubby and I are back from traveling. We have family members who moved to Tennessee, so we drove up Friday and spent the weekend there, coming home Monday. It was a beautiful drive up, and when we stopped just outside Asheville to get something to drink, I got hit in the face with a gentle blast of that cool mountain air, the likes of which I haven't felt since I was last in Alaska. I was doing this, mind you, while holding a Moon Pie and a bottle of Cheerwine. (Yes, I'm a Southern girl. I cannot deny it. Bliss to me is a Moon Pie and an RC Cola. And, oh, did I miss Cheerwine back in the day when I couldn't find any.)
The rest of the drive was gorgeous. Some of the views along I-40 headed into Tennessee are breathtaking. At times it provoked a certain latent longing of mine, that if I could I'd happily pull up stakes and move to the mountains of North Carolina. Unfortunately, as we drove, here and there I could see that some of what happened to Colorado has happened to North Carolina. It's been "discovered" and domesticated and has become trendy. If I live in the mountains, I don't want to live in the same sort of development I could find anywhere else, only with rolling terrain. Nope, if I live in the mountains, it's gotta be at least two dozen acres and an honest-to-goodness mountain-type home, out where I'm not bothered. (Oh, well. There's reasons why we live where we do, and why we did what we did for housing and property. We don't have mountains, but we have just about everything else I'd wanted.)
Anyhow, on into Knoxville. It'd been more than ten years since I'd been in the Knoxville area, and more than 13 years since I was in Knoxville proper. Even then, it was just the University of Tennessee, to give a paper at a conference. We didn't go downtown then. I saw the Wigsphere from the highway, but didn't get anywhere near it. This time, though, I did. On Saturday we drove downtown to Market Square, had lunch, and then goofed around. Knoxville's downtown is neat, and the way it's being redeveloped reminds me a lot of Charleston's downtown, with a lot of neat, funky shops.
And hands down, my favorite stop was Mast General Store. It's like a general store used to be, where you can find just about anything. There's a big clothing section up front, mostly with outfitter-type stuff. There's a housewares section (if you need Fels-Naptha or Colgate Octagon, you're set) and a big selection of store-brand preserves. Believe it or not, you can buy something called Moonshine Jelly there. Over along the left-hand wall, there's a big toy section...which is also where the big barrels full of candy, mostly sold by the pound, are. Yes, we were like kids in a candy store. My sister-in-law (who's cut from much the same irreverent cloth I am) was really having fun there, and hubby and I accepted their invitation to throw in a few items for our own. Wow. Then from there, off a few miles to a neat used book store, one that could about rival the vaunted Title Wave. Sunday, we went out for lunch at a neat brewery/restaurant place.
Most of the time, though, we stayed around the house, watching a lot of the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. I found myself sucked in by Whale Wars and a marathon of The Deadliest Catch. Of course, we also watched a good bit of football on Sunday, and though I never have been a huge football fan I do find it fun to watch (especially when bizarre things happen, like the high winds in Buffalo skewing field goals and swaying goalposts). The main point of it all, of course, is spending time with the family. Our family's a bit spread out at the moment, so any time we can all be together, it's good. I especially enjoy being with my sister-in-law, since we have much the same sick sense of humor. It gets interesting.
It came time yesterday to come home, and though it was good to be with family, there's also the relief you feel when you're back home and the travels are over. The drive home was nice, with the exception of a few drivers who had trouble controlling their speed-demon tendencies on curvy mountain highways. Then, finally, home at blessed last. I never really breathe easy until I'm there. The mighty tiger was very happy to see us, too, and spent the evening catching up with us. It was a good trip, but it's also good to be back.
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