The Underwear Capital of the World

My travels this week have brought me to the esteemed Underwear Capital of the World! Ok, maybe you know it as the Marble City. No? well me neither. Actually I had never had much of a reason to think of Knoxville. A little bit of research at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoxville,_Tennessee shows the city population is 173,000 and the metro has over 655,000 residents. This puts it in the category of big small cities.





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The airport is a few miles out of town but is an easy drive. The area is very pretty with a clean modern historic feel to downtown surrounded by Davey Crocket outskirts. The hotel I am staying at is right on the large Tennessee River where a couple paddleboats and yachts can be seen while crossing the bridge It also overlooks the park commemorating the 1982 Worlds Fair. Only a couple blocks away is a rather large federal courthouse complex built in period architecture, complete with a bellfry:

It sits directly across from a giant, old Baptist Church. It is neat looking, especially at night when it is lit up. You would never guess there is a 500 foot long urban style bus stop in front of it:

When traveling it is very important to discover the good places to hang out and who offers local brews. The hotel desk clerk recommended the Downtown Grill & Bar, which was about a ten minute walk away. If it wasn't 85 degrees at 9pm and 80% humidity the walk would have been better but it was well worth it! Take a look at the bar, a traditional bar with stamped copper surfaces and a number of drink offerings. If we come back here enough I may have to take them up on their mug sponsorship program. There was a local college kid musician, who resembled many of the kids you will find in Berkeley, CA, playing a guitar and harmonica. We didn't recognize any of the songs but he did sound good. After a while a patron helped him out with bongo drums.



All in all this was just a short two day/night trip and I will be back. The people are friendly and they say ma'am and y'all a lot, in nearly every sentence. I can't wait to come back to see more of the area. The University of Tennessee has a large campus and an even larger hospital. In fact I passed three large hospitals on the way to the hotel from the airport, including a childrens hospital.


When I do return hopefully another lunch at the Tomato Head http://www.thetomatohead.com/ a surprising find in Tennessee. It gets top marks from and from others as well: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g55138-d413843-Reviews-Tomato_Head-Knoxville_Tennessee.html

Well it is now late and my day begins early. I'll be flying to Kalamazoo in the afternoon.

Thank you for joining me since No road is long with good company!