Top 5 in Tennessee

Thanks to those who posted some interesting comments on my last post, it has already given me some new ideas for future topics of discussion.  However, I thought it might be nice to take off my philosopher cap for a while and catch friends and family up on what's been happening in Tennessee.  Here are my top 5 moments so far, in no particular order!

1) Frisbee golf: there is a gorgeous frisbee golf course in Oak Ridge.  What differentiates this course from the one I played in North Carolina is the sheer expanse of the area: nothing but rolling hills as far as the eye can see.  The fields are populated with majestic willows and oaks that are common enough to provide some challenge, but sparse enough to enable uninterrupted views.  So far I have played with Shanda, with our friends Andrew and Holly, and also with my dad.  There is something very relaxing about the whole experience, perhaps I finally understand the appeal of golf after all!  That being said, I think I will stick with the frisbee variation, as it seems to be much easier on the wallet and on the time.  Funny story: one day I threw an errant frisbee over a fence, only to discover this was no ordinary fence but a security perimeter for the Y12 nuclear storage facility!  Being older and wiser than I once was, I decided not to risk climbing it.

2) Dollywood: Shanda's sister Mandy and her husband Kevin visited us near the end of summer, and we had an awesome time at the Splash Country water park in Dollywood.  Apparently, Dolly Parton is so popular around here that she has her own theme park!  This was most likely the best waterpark I have ever been to, and we managed to go down just about every slide in the park.  My favorite was a fierce tube slide that was so intense that your back got a little raw by the end of it!

3) Shanda surprised me by taking me to the Museum of Science and Engineering in Oak Ridge.  We learned a lot about the history behind the Manhatten Project, which of course took place primarily in Oak Ridge during World War II.  Interesting fact: most of the workers operating the equipment that was enriching the uranium were in fact women.  Since this project was so sensitive and confidential, most of them didn't even know what the levers and buttons they were pressing were actually doing!  They only knew that the numbers on the gauges shouldn't pass a certain value, and to control the numbers by pushing certain buttons.

4) I have finally finished my last paper from graduate school at Duke!  As some may know, I have been working two jobs for the better part of the last few months, so it was a huge relief to finally be finished with my Duke paper!  I have already felt a lot more rested and balanced and am excited to finally be done with school and part of the real world!

5) The Lost Sea: when our friends Andrew and Holly were here, the four of us went to the Lost Sea in Sweetwater, Tennessee.  This is the largest underwater lake in all of North America!  First, the tour guide walked us through the trails of the largest, most expansive cave I have ever seen.  Then, near the bottom of the cave, we got to take a boat ride around the lake!  There were some trout in the water that were artificially introduced, it was actually quite unsettling since they seemed so out of place there.  Fun fact: during Prohibition there were Speakeasy parties held in this cave.  People didn't realize that the change in pressure would make it harder to feel the effects of alcohol, so they often drank past their capacity, and several hours later the alcohol would finally hit them so hard they had to get rolled out of the cave.  I would definitely be up for a party and live music in a cave sometime!


Thanks to everyone who has visited us so far and helped us get settled in Tennessee!  Thanks to Mary Clare for helping us move in and unpack, and thanks to everyone else for visiting and making it easier to forget that it takes time to make new friends after a move!