2015 STL road trip

8/19-9/10: road trip to St. Louis by way of Daytona, Edisto, and Knoxville.

 
When Ken agreed to rent an apartment in S. Florida for the year, he also claimed he was going to go back to St. Louis every 4-6 weeks.  So it came as a bit of a surprise to me when it was almost 3 months before he decided to head back for the first time.  His good buddy and x-work contact was going to be in St. Louis the beginning of September and had rented party rooms at 2 Cardinal baseball games and invited us to one.  That was enough incentive to even get me to come back to St. Louis for a "vacation"!  So on Aug. 19th, we jumped in our car and started our long trek back.  

The day after the food trucks we headed off on a road trip that took us to a night at the Wyndham Ocean Walk on Daytona Beach; the Wyndham King Cotton Villas in Edisto, South Carolina; 3 nights in Knoxville at our son and daughter-in-law's house; 2 weeks in St. Louis;  2 more nights in Knoxville; 2 more nights in Edisto; and finally back to Coral Springs.  Just a few pictures to highlight that trip---

2015-8-19 so long Coral Springs  

 

2015-8-20 on to Edisto    

 

2015-8-21 on to Knoxville

 

2015-8-22 Knoxville

 

2015-8-23 Riding around West Knoxville

 

2015-8-24 on to St. Louis

 

2015-8-25 MOBOT   

 

2015-8-28 and 29---visiting with friends and family   


2015-8-30---St. Louis Zoo 


2015-8-31---kids'  old house

 
2015-9-3---Butterfly House


2015-9-5---Cardinal game with Bailey's  


2015-9-6 to Knoxville and Boomsday celebration


2015-9-8 to Edisto


2015-9-9 Botany Bay


2015-9-10---on to Coral Springs


 It turned out to be a fun 3 week trip.  Even though at times I felt like we were back in the dark ages---no cable tv, just digital antennae; no computers, just a phone; no ac for the hottest part of the trip!  Was great seeing Tim and FAith and all our friends and family in St. Louis.  Am I ready to move back there---not hardly!!!

2015-9-6---to Knoxville and Boomsday celebration

 Next day we were invited to go to the final Boomsday celebration in Knoxville with Tim and Faith.  So we loaded up the car and got an early start.  Made it without delays.  WEnt to dinner in downtown Knoxville.  Did a bit of walking before we found a place without a 2 hour wait!  For watching the fireworks we ended up in the parking lot Tim parks in for work.  There we saw a spectacular fireworks display!

 It'll be a shame if this really is the last Boomsday!

After spending that Sunday and Labor DAy with them, we were on our way to Edisto again.

2015-8-23---riding around West Knoxville

 Next day we drove around a bit looking at locations they hope to buy a house in when their lease is up.  Now that both of them have good jobs and their house in St. Louis sold, they can't wait to buy a home.  Along the way, we stopped at another park.  This one actually had people swimming in the lake.  I put my foot in the water and was surprised to find it wasn't cold.

 Tim even became the Pied Piper of ducks.

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2015-8-22---Knoxville 

  They took us to Tupelo Honey Cafe for breakfast the next day.  Here Faith's enjoying a Bloody Mary while I enjoyed a Mimosa.  Our meals were excellent, too! 

 The mall downtown turns into a marketplace on Sat.s, so we wandered around the mall a bit.

 Some of the many local items.

 There are even performers there.

 Tim and Faith heading down the marketplace with the Federal courthouse Tim works at in the distance.

 Tomato jam!

 A look back at Tupelo Honey Cafe on our way back through the "mall".

 The World's Fair was held in Knoxville in 1982 so we walked to the area where most of it took place.  The Sunsphere was the symbol of the fair.  After the fair, it closed to the public.  It was used for short periods of time until 2005 when it was scheduled for renovation.  The 4th level is the observation floor, 5th level is a restaurant, and other levels are businesses.  Best of all, it's free!

 View towards downtown from the observation floor.

From there we walked towards the Worlds Fair park passing another water feature along the way.

 and a Chocolate store, but for $15/lb, I passed on buying any.

 Another city sign.

Now it was time to find a little nature.  So many parks to check out around Knoxville!!!  This time we went to Ijams Park and hiked around a bit.  

 even saw some snakes

 love all the wild flowers growing throughout the park

 down to the Tennessee River.

 House with quite a view.

 more wild flowers

 walkway along the river

male eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly

female eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly missing part of it's tail.

hoping to someday be a butterfly, but these fall webworms will end up as moths.  I believe the big webs we saw all over the trees along the highway were webs caused by colonies of webworms.

Back at Tim and Faith's place, I even saw more colorful wildlife in their back yard.  They even have hummingbirds, but I never was able get a good picture of any of them.

 That night we headed back to Gatlinburg to dinner at a brewery on our way up to Clingman's Dome for sunset.  Had a good laugh at this mobile home!

 Dinner was great, as was the company.

 Sunset, though, was not so great.  It clouded over by the time we got up there.

 Coming back down we did see this bear, but I had my settings all wrong on my camera.  He didn't stick around for me to correct them.

 Back in Gatlinburg we got a kick out of this boat/car.

It was a funfilled day!