Knoxville Tn.-Hendersonville tn.- Williams

Thur.   We both woke up early so we started our day.  As we were doing our bible study the sun rose for another nice sunrise.  We drove 30 miles short of Knoxville (Danridge).  We ate then washed the car and the rig top to bottom to get all the sea salt off.  The picture is our trip here, we went through tunnels  and crossed  a bridge to get here.

Fri. We drove into Knoxville to the visitors center.  Just two blocks away they were having the Dogwood Festival in market square. The first outside business we came to was a coffee shop so we stopped and watched folks.  We noticed a tent across the street to find out they were having a "Diva Dinner."  Three of Knoxville lady chiefs were cooking.  There was only six tickets for fifty people left.  We bought two and I will tell you more about it later.  In and around the square were many statues, arts, and live music.  Middle and bottom left two pictures is the federal court house. Bottom middle Sara Palin came here when her e-mail was hacked into and testified.   Bottom right picture is Darrell Scott and Scott McMahan singing at the welcome center which was also the radio station 89.9.  They were having what they call Blue Plate Special where artist come and sing live on the radio.

As we walked around town we went outside the Sunsphere of the 1982. World's Fair (which Linda and I took the kids to).  They have many parks, fountains, and the Tennessee River.  Many of the trees and plants here are in bloom.  We were to late for the dogwood in bloom.  They had many driving trails to see them going through many elaborate neighborhoods.  We drove in one of them that had many large beautiful homes.

Top left is outside the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. This is where we were going to when we went to town but got side tracked and never made it.  We are going back to see it and many other things around town someday.  Now back to the "Diva Dinner". As we entered the tent were given candied bacon and a Pickled beet deviled egg and they were paired with two different wines. On the right top our first course Knox Whiskey Works Gin Cured Gravlax, Celery Root Salad, Beetroot Creme Fraiche, Brown Bread Crisp paired with Simi Chardonnay.(fancy words for Salmon something) As you can see Linda and I were outside the box.  All I can say is the food was delicious.  For the main course BBQ Chicken and Grilled Shrimp with Bacon Chutney paired with Mondavi Private Selection Heritage Red Blend (I know what the food is but not the wine) with the food we had smoked Leek Grits, Seared Asparagus, and Hen of the Woods Mushroom Confit with Summer Radish and Blueberry.  (As you know we are plain folks so all this description of the food means nothing to us).  Now for dessert we had Chocolate and Balsamic 3 ways: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Balsamic Sauce, Dark Chocolate Balsamic Ice cream, Chocolate Balsamic Truffles paired with Ruffino Prosecco.  All in all we were very happy that we got tickets and stayed.Middle picture is us seated at dinner and first course. Bottom is the three chiefs and bottom middle one of the chiefs with us.

Sat.  We drove to Hendersonville after we got set up Jenny and the girls took us to "Chocolate Covered Strawberry(top left) Restaurant"  for our Mother's Day and Father's day present.  The restaurant was from an old house.  2nd picture we are posing next to a water fall on the side porch. Top right our dinning table. Middle left the girls and I waiting to be seated.  When we got to Jen's house Katie and Linda made an owl cake and decorated it(decorating items she got for Christmas).  We went  shopping and at Fresh Market the girls got to pick out candy(bottom right picture). Katie came and spent the night.  It was late so after making cowboy coffee cake we watched a movie then bed.

 Sun. After church we ate and for our Christmas present they took us to "Breakout Plan".  We are put into a room where we are given hints and we try to break out.  It took us a half hour to get out of the first room to the second.  We were two locked boxes away from getting out. It was a lot of fun. At Jen's we had Katie's cake and ice cream.  We played Clue then came home.  As we left we found a turtle so we put in into a box and released it by a creek.  Just as we got there it was raining and God gave us a beautiful double rainbow.

 Mon. This was to be the first morning to sleep in! At 6 I woke up!  We went through our mail and got caught up on the blog. This is Betty and Fred’s Ann. and we were able to celebrate it with them by going out to a BBQ for lunch.  We did some banking since our banks are here in Hendersonville.  Then to Jen’s for dinner and cards “phase 10”

Tues.  It was a rainy day but we still got a lot of thing s done.  We got a boat for Christmas so we filled it with air.  Betty picked up Katie from school and the two of us went on it’s first ride.  Katie did a great job rowing and I did a great job relaxing.  We started a fire and enjoyed s’mores.  We went to Mckenzie softball game.

Wed.  For Lunch we met Betty and Fred at Liz’s.  Linda and I had catfish and they had chicken.  The sides were wonderful.  We went shopping then to Jen’s.  Katie helped Linda with dinner.  We had celebrated Mackenzie 16th birthday.  We played cards with her. We finished the evening off with ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.