Spring 2010</tite></head> <body> <h2><center>Spring 2010</center></h2> Well, we're more or less settled into our place in Tennessee. The weather has finally moved on from unusually cold to pleasant spring, so we are getting out a bit more to explore the area. <br><br> We have been disappointed by the lack of parks close in to the city; we were spoiled by Ithaca. We're gradually finding some nicer places though. <hr> We went to the <a href="http://www.knoxfriends.org/book-sale/">local book sale</a> which was big, but ended up not getting many books. <br><br> In an unexpected turn, we bought a new (at least to us) car. <hr> One Friday night the doorbell rang, and we got a suprise delivery of 12 pounds of theses (no jokes about what that sounds like). It's nearly 400 pages (though it's only printed on one side of the paper). Here it is with a swiss army knife for scale:<br> <img src="1365_vince_thesis.jpg"><br><br> Here's a closeup of the cover:<br> <img src="1364_thesis.jpg"><br><br> <hr> Yard sale season starts early here; we went to one in Farragut which is the next town to the west. The further west you go here, the fancier the houses get. Farragut is named after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut"> Admiral Farragut</a> (of "Damn the Torpedoes" fame); he was born nearby. <br><br> On the way back we stopped at Concord Park. We were spoiled by the parks in Ithaca; the ones here are tiny and not very interesting. One of them is mostly a "trail" that runs wedged between I-40 and a shopping mall. This park was a little better, it had a playground, a beach, and a short trail (the park was built by the TVA). <hr> Later we made another attempt at finding a decent park for a walk. We tried Lakeshore Park, the biggest park that is near us. This particular park has a 2 mile trail that, no joke, is on the grounds of a working mental hospital. It also has a stretch next to a sewage treatment plant, and most of the trail is inside of a barbed wire fence. It was a nice sunny day though, and lots of people were out walking there. If you frame the picture right, you can't tell what an odd park it is. Here's a view of the River/Lake, you can see the Smoky Mountains in the distance:<br> <img src="1385_northshore.jpg"><br><br> And here's a GPS track of our walk. The baby actually walked at least 1/4 of it all by herslef (albeit slowly).<br> <img src="northshore.jpg"><br> <hr> One Saturday it was supposed to rain, so we decided to get our walk in early. We went to <a href="http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/parks/sequoyah.asp">Sequoyah Park</a> (named for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah">person</a> who was born near there, and not for the tree). <br><br> For the first part we actually walked the Sequoyah Greenway. It's a gravel trail in the median of the really wide Cherokee Boulevard. It ended up being a pretty walk; it's in an expensive neighborhood with fancy homes. We were apparently there during prime jogging time. I was pushing the umbrella stroller, which was only barely up to the task, especially on the uphills. The baby impressively slept for part of the trip, despite it being a very bumpy ride. <br><br> The trail went over an ancient Indian burial mound:<br> <img src="1393_burial_mound.jpg"><br><br> On the way back we dodged into the park, which runs along the river:<br> <img src="1396_sequoyah.jpg"><br><br> Here's a GPS track of our trip. I forgot to turn it on at first, and then I forgot to turn it off when we got in the car to drive away, so you have to use your imagination a bit:<br> <img src="sequoyah_park.jpg"><br><br> <hr> Moving south has definitely turned us into weather wimps. We are ready for Spring, or at least for non-cloudy days. There's hope; the daffodils are finally blooming:<br> <img src="1413_daffodils.jpg"><br><br> <hr> On Saturday we drove north to Kentucky to look for geodes with the <a href="http://www.discoveret.org/kgms/">Knoxville Gems and Mineral Society</a>. This was the first time I'd been to Kentucky; now I've been to <a href="../travel.html">43 different states</a>. We left at sunrise and got home at sunset, since it was the Vernal equinox this meant we were gone exactly half the day. <br><br> It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to the location, which is just south of Stanford Kentucky. There were geodes everywhere; pretty much any roundish rock in the streambed had a chance of being one. The guy who organized the trip could tell if it was a likely geode by how heavy it was; I wasn't that skilled. There was an easier method; if the rock rattled when you shook it that usually indicated it was a good one. Then came the fun part, smashing it open with a hammer. <br><br> Here is a poorly arranged representation of our findings:<br> <img src="1446_geodes.jpg"> <img src="1445_geodes.jpg"> <br><br> Here's a gps plot of the first two sites we were at; the GPS's batteries ran out after that:<br> <img src="geodes.jpg"><br><br> On the way home, we took a side-trip to the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/biso/index.htm"> Big South Fork National Recreation Area</a>. Our goal was to find a natural arch, as this part of Kentucky and Tennessee has lots of these scattered around. After getting through the endless shopping strip that is Somerset KY and then taking progressivey smaller back roads (eventually stopping some guy on horseback for directions) we came to Split Bow Arch.<br><br> Here's the view from under the arch:<br> <img src="1437_under_arch.jpg"><br><br> And the arch from the front:<br> <img src="1438_k_e_arch.jpg"><br><br> You could climb back under and see the small waterfall responsible for all of this:<br> <img src="1440_splitbow_falls.jpg"><br><br> Back at the parking area there was a sign saying that it was 0.3mi to the Bear Creek Overlook. Would it be worth it? Until now there was not a soul around, but some people who looked like locals wondered up, and they said the view was pretty. So we went, and we're glad we did:<br> <img src="1442_bear_creek_overlook.jpg"><br><br> And looking the other way, with some cool cliffs:<br> <img src="1443_bear_creek_overlook.jpg"><br><br> Here's a gps track. I had to switch out batteries with the camera so it's not complete. Green is our hike to the arch, red is the hike to the overlook and back to the car:<br> <img src="split_bow.jpg"><br><br> <hr> We planned a hike at House Mountain, a natural area north-east of Knoxville. When we woke up it was barely above freezing, but we decided to trust the weather forecast and go anyway. <br><br> It was a steep hike to the top of the mountain. There were some cool looking rock formations along the way:<br> <img src="1456_rocky_cliff.jpg"><br><br> The baby was asleep by the time we got to the top, but woke when a whole pack of cub scouts hiked by. Here's an attempt of a panorama, looking West toward Knoxville. To the far left the really tall mountains are the Smokies (hard to make out due to haze). Knoxville is in the center behind the trees, to the far right is the Cumberland Plateau:<br> <img src="west_overlook_panorama.jpg"><br><br> Part of the mountain is private property, though they allow hikers. We walked along the ridge to the other edge of the mountain. Here's a panorama looking East:<br> <img src="east_overlook_panorama.jpg"><br><br> We then walked back and came down the mountain. Going down is almost harder than going up, especially with a baby on your back. <br><br> This wouldn't be a spring hike if I didn't bore you with wildflower pictures. Here are some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houstonia_%28genus%29"> bluets</a>:<br> <img src="1485_bluet.jpg"><br><br> We passed a spring with water gushing out:<br> <img src="1488_spring.jpg"><br><br> And after 5 miles and lots of elevation changes, we made it back to the car (where we narrowly avoided someone trying to give away free puppies). Here is our GPS track:<br> <img src="house_mountain.jpg"><br><br> On the way home we stopped at <a href="http://www.knoxcounty.org/parks/harvest_park.php">New Harvest Park</a> to have a picnic lunch, and more importantly, so the baby could play on the playground. As unlikely as it might sound, there was a wedding going on at the park while we were there.<br><br> Not only are flowers blooming here in Knoxville (Forsythia, Grape Hyacinth, and Jonquils now) but our grass is growing too. At first it was just wild onions, but the rest of the lawn started to catch up. So for the subset of readers who enjoy the idea of me doing yard work, here are some pictures. Our yard seems to much bigger when you have to push the mower all over it:<br> <img src="1494_v_mowing.jpg"><br><br> <hr> Now it's easter time. We've confused the baby by having her help decorate eggs and make toothling pasta. <br><br> I had off work on Friday, so we took an adventure to <a href="http://www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/FrozenHead/index.shtml"> Frozen Head State Park</a> (no, as far as I know, there was never a cryogenic facility here). <br><br> The park is about an hour from where we live, to the north-west, past Oak Ridge. We tried to get an early start as the weather was supposed to be summer-like. We made it there in good time (even after being stuck behind slow traffic), and managed to plan a reasonable-length hike despite the not-very-helpful employees at the visitor center. <br><br> This was a Spring hike, so beware, I will post wildflower pictures! (This park is the site of the annual Frozen Head Wildflower Pilgrimage; it happens next weekend).<br><br> Here is some Halberd-Leaf Yellow Violet, followed by some Bloodroot:<br> <img src="1512_halberd_leaf_yellow_violet.jpg"> <img src="1517_bloodroot.jpg"><br><br> We started on the North Old Mac Trail, which gained altitude at a steady pace. Each bend in the trail had a tiny waterfall. Here is some hepatica and some carolina spring beauty:<br> <img src="1525_hepatica.jpg"> <img src="1526_carolina_spring_beauty.jpg"> <br><br> We opted to stop climbing when we met up with the Panther Branch Trail (we could have continued up to a fire tower), and started downhill along the scenic Panther Branch. <br><br> We then took the trail to Emory Gap Falls. I was about ready to rest at this point, the baby is pretty heavy. The trail to the waterfall was half a mile back up the mountain and I wasn't sure if I'd make it. We did though. <br><br> Here's a panorama at Emory Gap Falls:<br> <img src="emory_gap_panorama.jpg"><br><br> We then continued back down the trail to DeBord Falls:<br> <img src="1553_debord_falls.jpg"><br><br> We had a nice picnic lunch, then let the baby swing on the swingset indefinitely. She also liked wading and throwing stones into the freezing cold water. Here's a different kind of Hepatica, and then we found the only blooming trout lily in the whole park by the playground:<br> <img src="1534_hepatica.jpg"> <img src="1560_trout_lily.jpg"><br><br> Here's a GPS track of our trip:<br> <img src="frozen_head.jpg"><br><br> And here's our altitude over time:<br> <img src="froz_head_alt.png"><br><br> It turns out the head of our team at work has some land near the park, and he invited us to stop by. Our car survived his steep "driveway" (it was even more exciting going up on the way home). He owns his own personal waterfall:<br> <img src="1562_terpstra_falls.jpg"><br><br> They also have river access there, giving the baby one last chance to sit in some water and require a diaper change. <br><br> By now we were totally exhausted, so we went home for some well-earned rest. <hr> We had an enjoyable Easter. The baby was surprisingly good at finding Easter eggs. <hr> We next had a continuing set of visitors. First Marie visisted, which was fun. <br><br> A few days later my parents visited. We obtained a pinball machine from then, which K took in a surprisingly good-natured fashion. <br><br> On Saturday we went to <a href="http://www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/NorrisDam/"> Norris Dam State Park</a>. Norris Dam was the first dam built by the TVA back in the 30s. Here's a panorama of the dam site, K likes the hills to the far right. <br> <img src="norris_dam.jpg"><br><br> We first hiked a steep trail along the lake. We then had a picnic lunch at a playground. Then we overlooked the Dam before moving on to a different part of the park where K and I hiked and my parents watched the baby. <br><br> There were a lot of trails here, but only three parking spaces! Luckily not many people were there. One of the trails supposedly went around a sinkhole, though it wasn't really clear where the sinkhole was. The other loop took us down to the level of the lake:<br> <img src="1636_lake.jpg"><br><br> Here's a GPS map of our hikes; before lunch is to the lower right, K and my hike to the upper left.<br> <img src="norris.jpg"><br><br> After my parents left we went to the <a href="http://www.ijams.org">Ijams Nature Center</a>. They have a boardwalk that goes right along the river:<br> <img src="1647_e_v_riverwalk.jpg"><br><br> We then walked through the park and then across to Mead's Quarry which is an old marble quarry maintained by the park. There's apparently a semi-large system of caves in the area, but they are all fenced off to keep people out.<br> <img src="1651_v_e_quarry.jpg"><br><br> There were wildflowers out, but I'll spare you any pictures. We thought the trillium wasn't blooming yet, but it turns out we were seeing mostly yellow trillium (which doesn't grow north of Kentucky) so in fact it was just blooming in a way we didn't expect. <br><br> We took one last trail to walk around a pond. The redbud was blooming, which made for a pretty picture. The baby kept wanting to climb into the water.<br> <img src="1668_e_k_swamp.jpg"><br><br> Here's a GPS track of where we went:<br> <img src="ijams.jpg"><br> <hr> Later in the week, Katrina briefly visited, taking a break on her tour of the South. It was nice having another adult around to play board games with. <hr> We were supposed to head to Germany for a week, but the Volcano in Iceland spoiled our plans. <hr> On Saturday we went to the <a href="http://forestry.tennessee.edu/arbpage.htm">UT Arboretum</a> near Oak Ridge. <br><br> They had a bald cypress tree there, which I thought looked cool, especially with the "knees" poking up through the water:<br> <img src="1870_bald_cypress.jpg"><br><br> Here's our route:<br> <img src="ut_arboretum.jpg"><br><br> Elena's Aunt Laura was semi-nearby for the 2010 Day of Rememberance at Virginia Tech, so she came down and visited for a day.<br><br> On Sunday we decided to go back to Frozen Head State Park. We took the same route we did two weeks ago, but it was a very different hike due to the leaves being out on the trees. <br><br> Despite being only two weeks later, the wildflowers were very different. Here's some yellow star grass:<br> <img src="1893_yellow_star_grass.jpg"><br><br> We took a side trail and overlooked the valley:<br> <img src="1896_frozen_head_view.jpg"><br><br> Various kinds of Trillium were blooming (purple, white, yellow, pink):<br> <img src="1901_purple_trillium.jpg"> <img src="1894_white_trillium.jpg"> <img src="1895_yellow_trillium.jpg"> <img src="1900_trillium.jpg"><br><br> There were also a lot of butterflies around. Here's a tiger swallowtail:<br> <img src="1902_butterfly.jpg"><br><br> Here we are at Emory Gap falls again. I'm there up above, Elena is cavorting down below:<br> <img src="1915_v_e_emory_gap.jpg"><br><br> Here's some Yellow Lady's Slipper:<br> <img src="1905_yellow_ladys_slipper.jpg"><br><br> And here was our route. The GPS cut out at different places than it did last time:<br> <img src="frozen_head2.jpg"><br><br> <hr> <hr> Our Germany trip was delayed a week, but we did get to go in the end. <hr> <a href="../index.html">Back to main pictures page</a> </body> </html>