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Tennessee

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

13:47 / 25.05.06

So myself and my better half (by mass she is more like my better 2/5ths but I digress) will be relocating after she finishes her masters degree. Right know the University of Tennessee is looking like a good place for her PhD.

I have been googling to find things which are important to me, and they actually have game stores and comic book stores a plenty. I have never been there though, and was wondering if anyone here has any insight into that particular part of the American South.

15:39 / 25.05.06

Gorgeous landscape, very polite people. I've only really visited other parts of Tennessee (Nashville burbs, farm outside Johnson City), but I remember the gold ball over Knoxville.

You're from ABQ, right? It's a lot wetter and greener, but most places are closer together.

16:26 / 25.05.06

From what I've seen of Knoxville, it's a shithole. The Smokey Mountains are aces for outdoor activities, though. Beautiful scenery and Dollywood is nearby!

17:01 / 25.05.06

Heheheh -- last weekend, I was just reading RoadsideAmerica.com on Bear Pits in Pigeon Forge, TN. Right near Dollywood. Stepson's going to a Boy Scout camp in the Smokies.

They have fucking expensive cabins in the Great Smoky Mntns, compared to similar places in north GA.

(But Georgia has no Bear Pit.)

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

17:07 / 25.05.06

Is the Bear Pit like the Springfield Mystery Spot?

I am all about greener and wetter.

Dollywood. I had not even thought about that.

17:22 / 25.05.06

The Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area has the greatest concentration of miniture golf and go-kart businesses that you will ever lay eyes on. I'm not kidding. As you go down the main strip, it's mini-golf,laser tag, go-kart, mini-golf, go-kart, laser tag, mini-golf, go-kart, etc.

20:16 / 25.05.06

I really want to say, "Stay away! Once you enter, you'll never escape"; as evidenced by the fact that other than a 4 month stay in Missouri, I've been here for 14 years, but honestly Tennessee isn't all that bad.

Was there any particular information you wanted? I mean, other than sounding like a bad travel brochure, "Come to Tennessee, where we have a church on every street corner, stills in every rural backyard, and dogs that'll rip your face off as soon as look at you"; I got nothing.

01:18 / 26.05.06

I've never been to Knoxville, but I've been through Tennessee. Seemed like a pretty enough state, except for Nashville, which was the ugliest city I've ever seen. Two things come immediately to mind: fireflies and fireworks a-plenty.

My SO has relatives in Knoxville that she visited about a year ago. She says:

Cheese Priestess:
Nice weather in the summer... but some of the worst air in the country... residential areas are beautiful... downtown is okay... other parts, bit of an eyesore.
Rivers and forests are very pretty. Nearby mountains (Rockies I think...) are gorgeous
The Asian food isn't. And I didn't see any mexican restaurants, but I'm sure there's a taco bell somewhere...

lekvar:
Can I quote you?

Cheese Priestess:
Sure... as long as you mention that that is the perspective of someone who has only been there for a couple days at a time in a limited capacity... I do know that the air is bad... And the folk I encountered (again limited, but representative of the majority from what I've been lead to believe) are very conservative and none too tolerant.
I saw Mohawks in Houston, TX. I didn't see a single hair out of order, shaved head, pink, or otherwise colored hair in TN.