That is right: all caps because this day deserves it. Bucket list check mark acquired!
Talladega was a great time and with everything having worked out so well, we knew there might be a letdown at some point. Fortunately, today was not that day. We had planned on making this a drive day in order to get to Gatlinburg before heading to the Smoky Mountains on Tuesday. Thankfully there was plenty to do along the way including a highlight in Knoxville.
Our first stop this morning was the Russell Cave National Monument. It was barely out of the way and was another stamp so it seemed worth going. It's pretty small and is mainly a boardwalk to a large cave opening. You can't go in there (for safety or archaeological reasons) but they did have a nice visitor's center that had some of the artifacts that they had previously recovered. It was a decent enough National Monument, though I think the highlight may have been a dog that was hanging around outside their owner's motor home that enjoyed laying in the shade and getting pet.
After the cave we headed up to Chattanooga. I knew virtually nothing about it but since it was lunchtime, we looked up a recommended place on TripAdvisor and headed into the City. It ended up being right next to the Terminal Station which was cooler than we thought it was going to be. After a good lunch, we headed over to the Terminal Station which is now a hotel and meeting center. The building itself is kind of nice inside with some high ceilings and an old railway switchboard from the 40's (which Kevin used and presumably caused a massive collision). Outside there was a train that you could walk around and it looks like they have some cars that they still use for a restaurant. I had never heard of the the Chattanooga Choo Choo but Kevin and Jess seemed to know the song that they claimed was famous. I consider myself an expert on 1940's music and if I never heard it, it probably wasn't that popular.
The next stop was the most important - Knoxville and the Sunsphere. It's a beautiful tower with a golden sphere built for the 1982 World's Fair that has been recently renovated with office space and the observation deck is free for the public. It was vacant for a long time and was the subject of a 1996 Simpson's episode which is why Kevin and I wanted to see it (well, that and we love towers and the World's Fair). In fact, the only other two people up in the observation deck with us were there for the exact same Simpsons reason. One of the informational panels even made mention of the episode where Bart takes a car and drives to Knoxville to see the World's Fair (not knowing his AAA guide was from 1982) and the empty sphere has now been used to store wigs. The Wigsphere definitely did not disappoint. Even Jess had her expectations met, albeit because they were so very low to begin with.
We ended up having dinner in Pigeon Forge before getting to our hotel in Gatlinburg. It's basically Myrtle Beach in the mountains but maybe somehow worse. Kevin and I went out to the Gatlinburg Space Needle and while two towers in one day was great, this was probably the worst tower we've ever been to and I don't think it's even close. We walked around for a bit, probably ran into a grifter who quickly moved on to an older couple nearby and marveled at the how much of a tourist trap this place is.
Tomorrow is our first trip Great Smoky Mountains National Park so it should be a nice day of scenic drives and some hiking.
As they say on graduation day at the University of Tennessee, "May your career reach heights as great the Sunsphere." Note: No one says this.
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