Friday was the beginning of our derby experience. As I mentioned in the previous post, after we booked our stay in Louisville we realized we would be there during the Kentucky Derby. Totally unplanned. So about 3 weeks before the derby we researched tickets for the derby and found they were still available! Not only that but they had VIP tickets that included good seats and access to a clubhouse that included open bar, lots of food, and live entertainment….
Thursday was another rainy day so we stuck to more indoor things. We started out going to the Brown Hotel for lunch. They make a “famous” sandwich called the Hot Brown which was a runner up on the show “Best Sandwiches of America”, one of Jim’s list of things to experience on our journey. The Brown Hotel is an historic hotel built in 1923. It’s hosted many famous people here for the derby and the movie Elizabethtown was filmed here…
The next day we left Tennessee and headed for Kentucky. We had a campground booked that was actually across the Ohio River from Louisville on the Indiana side because it was the closest campground to Louisville. So I guess technically, we will have completed our trip without staying in Kentucky. Can’t win ’em all. Funny thing was, as we pulled in to the campground Jim realized we had stayed here before. We searched all over the blog to find out…
Sunday we headed for Gatlinburg, Tn and the Smoky Mountain National Park. We didn’t realize what a tourist trap that area is. Two towns, Gatlinburg and nearby Pidgeon Forge are full of amazing things to do. They have an incredible amount of attractions with things to do for both kids and adults. This is definitely a place we’d like to bring the kids and grandkids to in the near future. We bypassed Pidgeon Forge and went straight to Gatlinburg with…
After our down day on Friday, we headed out to explore downtown Knoxville on Saturday. Our first stop was for lunch at a German beer garden called Schulz Brau Brewing Company. It had a nice outdoor seating area and have a great beer selection. They make about a dozen types of beer and have won awards internationally. We had a couple of brats and some spaetzle and a good beer. Next up was Knoxville’s world’s fair park, where they held…
Day 2 in Knoxville was a trip to an attraction called the Lost Sea. It’s a set of caves that were discovered in 1905 by a 13 year old boy. But by the time he convinced people of his discovery the entrance was covered with water and they went unexplored until several years later. It’s been discovered to have been used by Cherokee Indians and civil war soldiers. The cave has a lake 14 stories down that measures 800′ long…
We arrived in Knoxville and set up camp with barely an hour left of daylight after driving 2 and a half hours from Ashville. That meant we got a day of rest the next day, right? Not with Jim playing tour guide. Thursday, I let Jamie sleep in a bit and we hit the road around 11am for the tail of the dragon. For anyone not familiar with this attraction it’s an 11 mile drive between Tennessee and North Carolina…
April 16, 2021. Over a year since we put our tour around the country on hold. And today we are finally back on the road again for what will be the final leg in this journey. We left Fort Myers for Knoxville, Tn with a couple of detours. One was to Myrtle Beach to clean out our owner’s closet in the condo we sold. The second stop was in Ashville, Nc to visit the Biltmore Estate. This home was built…