Yesterday we spent the day in Knoxville--first scouting for tickets, then walking around the campus Mike loves, then watching the actual game.
Always the observer and note taker, I felt like an anthropologist studying a tribe unknown to her.
I had planned to dress up. I thought that's what one did. But as it turns out, Mike had orange jerseys for us both. The stadium was a sea of orange, the maple leaves all over the campus grounds were orange, and the band wore black and orange.
While I didn't turn into a die-hard fan of football, I had fun watching those who are and now I know all the words to "Rocky Top" by heart.
Tennessee won handily enough over Vanderbilt that we left after the third quarter to join the hundred thousand fans leaving Knoxville. We drove to Sevierville/Pigeon Forge--the Disneyland of Tennessee.
Our drive today through the Smoky Mountains was beautiful--the same drive in reverse we took eight years ago on the Harley. We photographed barns and rusty cars all morning, then visited with a woman named Shirley in a Cherokee gallery where I felt a kinship to my Cherokee ancestors. We bought a shaking gourd as a souvenir of our trip, even though in actual native dances, women are not allowed to touch these gourds.
It's been a wonderful weekend--great food, beautiful places to stay, and lots of photo ops!
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