NORRIS DAM STATE PARK

Wednesday, October 5 - We vowed to take it easy this week at Raccoon Valley and not do any excessive sightseeing. We've succeeded fairly well with this goal. We've enjoyed relaxing around the campground, sharing time with fellow Escapees, meeting new friends, working on our hobbies, and “veggie out” in the wonderful fall weather.

One thing we have discovered is Knoxville is a pretty cool city, and there is quite a bit to see in this area. We look forward to returning when we are in a more “touristy” frame of mind. We've already added several sights to our “to see next time” list. Things like Cumberland Gap, Alex Haley Statue, WDVX Blue Plate Special live radio show on the square, Bush's Best Beans, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge Nuclear Museum, and the Museum of Appalachia.

We went up to Norris Dam State Park today to enjoy the area and the fall colors. The trees are just beginning to change......getting beautiful. Norris Dam, what a wonder area. We're disappointed we didn't find this area earlier. This 4,038-acre park, located on the Norris Reservoir, began in 1933 as the first Tennessee Valley Authority project. They have tons of hiking and walking trails, a Grist Mill, picnic areas, and a campground. We would be a little tight getting into most of the campsites, but smaller units would have no problems. We saw deer grazing in the woods next to the campground.

Views of Clinch River.

Miles of trails.

18th Century Rice Grist Mill.
 

The Trigonia Elm was declared to be the largest American Elm I the U.S. on page 39 of The New Yorker magazine for July 15, 1961. It was way taller than either of us.

Can you see the little one reaching up for leaves while mother looks on?

Don't miss this great area! You can hike a different trail everyday for a week.

We spoke to a gentleman that was volunteering at the Dam Visitors Center. He worked on the crews that built most of the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) Powerhouses in the area. What a great guy and a wonderful source of knowledge.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the nation's largest public power provider. The TVA completed Norris, its first dam, in 1936. By the end of World War II, the agency had build 16 more.The Norris Dam is 1860 ft. long and 265 ft. high. 

Clinch River that supplies the water.

Norris Lake on the other side of the Dam.

Here comes Paul over the Dam.

We did have a scary experience on the way home. Driving down one of the back mountain roads, we came upon a boy and dog running in the middle of the street. The boy, about eight years old, was completely naked and appeared to be chasing the dog in and out of traffic. It was really scary. We thought for sure they were going to be hit. Amazing, people weren't stopping! After stopping and trying to talk to the boy, we discovered he was autistic and couldn't really communicate with us. After several other motorists stopped, we were able to get him to put on a ladies sweatshirt and got him in the back seat of our car. We called the police and waited about fifteen minutes for them to arrive. They luckily knew the boy and have had similar problems in the past. Evidently his parents are not very caring, and it's a bad situation. Child Protection Agencies are involved so hopefully he will receive some help. What a sad situation. We were both very shaken up over this.

A quick comment about our last blog's title…BELLA IS IN HEAVEN IN THE WOODS! We knew perfectly well what we meant by the title BUT can now see we should have reworded it to BELLA IS IN HEAVEN WHEN IN THE WOODS. We are sorry we caused undue worry to several of our readers. We appreciate the concern for Bella. She is alive and doing super. Also, she enjoyed another day in heaven WHILE taking another walk in the woods today.

NEW…Thanks to Bob's comment and help from Rick of Rick and Paulette's RV Journal, you can now click on any graphic, and it will enlarge for better viewing. At least it is suppose to work that way!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

MISS BELLA IS IN HEAVEN IN THE WOODS

Tuesday, October 3 – We are trying to relax a bit while here at Raccoon Valley RV Park. They have three trails that wind through the woods just behind where we are parked. This is our third time here, and we think Bella likes this place the best of all the places we have stayed. As soon as we let her out of the MH, she heads for the woods. She enjoys walking on the path and off the path.

She always has to get a drink out of the icy stream.

And of course, leaving her scent is mandatory. She wants to make sure all the other critters in the woods know she is here.

After talking with several people at the Ice Cream Social last night, we decided to take a drive to Melton Lake. It is only five miles west of the campground. It is a peaceful three mile one-way waterfront trail along Melton Hill Lake. It is great for biking, walking, running and skating. Paul rode his bike, and Marsha walked the trail. It was a beautiful day for activity.

The leaves…they are a changin'.

Views of the Lake.

It was nice to see this sign when we returned to our car.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

DEJA VU

Friday, September 30 – We drove into Knoxville this morning to visit the Sunsphere.

This unique Knoxville landmark was built for the 1982 World's Fair. During that time, it served as the symbol to the Fair. It was also home to a full service restaurant and a great 360-degree view of downtown Knoxville Observation Deck, which cost $2.00 for the elevator ride up for a visit (free today).

Looking waaaaaay down. These pictures would turn out a ton better is they would wash the windows!

This is the field that a ton of the 1982 activities took place upon.

Outdoor theatre

This isn't the first time we've visited the Sunsphere. Twenty-nine years ago, we were here visiting that 1982 World's Fair on our HONEYMOON! At the time, we weren't overly impressed with the city of Knoxville and were a little disappointed with the World's Fair. And to make matters even less enjoyable, Knoxville was a DRY community back then. We thought we outsmarted them and packed a handle of Black Velvet. WELLLLLLLL, when we went to get the bottle out of the truck, it was broken and all our valuable beverage was gone! So we only spent two days here before changing plans and heading to Myrtle Beach.

To add a little humor to that honeymoon in Myrtle Beach, upon arriving the only room available in the hotel was the honeymoon suite. How appropriate! The humorous event was it was equipped with a round bed....LOL. Fun…but not very comfortable. It was a thin foam pad on a plywood base. But we were young and adventurous and had a wonderful time. Myrtle Beach was a different city at that time too. We recall the city was not filled with nightlife as it is today. We remember saying they rolled the sidewalks up at sunset. Ahhhhh, how times have changed!

I wish we would have had the picture we took 29-years ago at the Sunsphere. It's back in Canton, OH stored at Marsha's dad's house. We could of compared the two and you would have been able to see that we haven't changed a lick!

 

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!