Ending Beginnings: Rocky Top

One of Brad's Christmas presents was a trip to Knoxville for a Tennessee basketball game. He is a huge Tennessee Volunteers fan, but we normally only make trips up for football games. Brad had never been to a basketball game so I decided to surprise him with tickets.

This past Saturday was the game! After receiving the tickets, Brad decided he'd like to make our visit into a weekend trip, so we booked a hotel in downtown Knoxville and headed up after work on Friday. Unfortunately there were several wrecks on the main interstate we would have taken and our GPS decided to direct us down backroad highways. To say it was the most terrifying trip I've ever taken is an understatement. We ended up on crazy dirt roads and on dangerous mountain roads in the dark. My palms didn't stop sweating until we finally made it to the hotel.

Thankfully our trip was awesome and helped make up for our crazy ride there! We didn't get to Knoxville until almost 11 PM Friday night, so we went to sleep early for a day of sightseeing the next day.

We ate breakfast at Pete's Coffee Shop Saturday morning and barely made it inside before the line starting wrapping out the door. Luckily it moved quickly and the food was totally worth all the hype. I can only imagine what it's like to try and eat there on a football game day. After breakfast, we got ready to spend the day walking around the UT campus. I let Brad spend way too much money on Tennessee gear at the Vol Shop (aka campus bookstore) and we wandered around school until the basketball game that afternoon.

The last time I was on campus in Knoxville was almost 2 1/2 years ago and the construction site looked exactly the same.

Brad is trying to convert me from an Alabama fan to a Tennessee fan and bought me tons of gear at the bookstore. The conversion is not quite complete.

I didn't plan for Tennessee to be playing Alabama the weekend we went, but the only Saturday game available happened to work out they way. It was a very low scoring game, but we had great seats and were near the student section which made the experience really neat. I have to say, I was actually disappointed that Tennessee didn't win and may have sang "Rocky Top" one too many times. I was also bummed that we just bought a brand new Canon Rebel T5i and recording devices/cameras are banned at college sporting events. Boo!

After the game, we did some more exploring and ate dinner at Calhoun's on the River near Neyland Stadium where the Volunteers play their football games. Calhoun's is a chain restaurant native to TN so I wasn't super impressed with the food, although I'd eat there again. However, the experience was pretty neat. During the football season, the Vol Navy parks all their boats at the marina and sets up a cheering section here at the restaurant. Since Tennessee is right on the river, many sports fans get to the stadium by boat. They also record their radio show here live every week.

We had to head back home Sunday afternoon but not without stopping for breakfast and enjoying a few more walks through downtown. We ate breakfast at Trio Cafe in the really neat Market Square area and my breakfast was out of this world. I had the french toast casserole which is only available on weekends. This picture doesn't do it justice at all! It's french toast made from biscuits and smothered in caramelized pineapple (although the fruit topping changes based on the day) and cinnamon sugar. It also comes with candied pecan bacon. It's like monkey bread for grown ups and I could eat this every day, but then I'd die from diabetes.