Knoxville. Home of the Vols and one of my college roommates/ best friends.
Knoxville has always had a special place in my heart since I visited it for the first time last year for the USC v Tennessee football game. I always have the best time with food, drinks, and of course, my best friends. One of my best friends moved back to Knoxville to work her post-grad job and since she moved there, I have been going on and on about how much I wanted to go back and visit her. I also have been a part from all of my friends since moving back home and was really starting to get homesick and lonely. We all decided to self-quarantine before to ensure COVID safety and as an additional disclaimer we did not go out to any bars, wore our masks when we were in public and outside, and tried our best to social distance from strangers. I am so thankful for the chance to visit my friends and spend time with them. Today I will be recaping my trip and giving you all some special tips if you are considering visiting Good ole Rocky Top anytime soon.
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Eating
In my eyes, Knoxville has some of the best food and drink deals part of that may have something to do with the fact that it is a college town, but it is still so good. We started the trip getting sushi for dinner Thursday night at
Nama Sushi Bar for their happy hour sushi specials. We went there after a cycle class so we were ready to grub.
The following day we made a homemade brunch and set out to spend the day exploring. We got lunch in the center of the downtown strip,
Downtown Bar & Grille. We all split appetizers and it was basically a fried food fest. Whenever we are all together, it's not about having a certain number of fruits or vegetables, but the good food that reminds us of the memories we have made.
BALTER BRUNCH!!! Balter was my favorite discovery when I went to Knoxville last year. Their happy hour specials are unmatched, but this time we returned for their BRUNCH! Starting it off with DOLLAR MIMOSAS!?!? Hello? Say less. Of course I had a couple, but also I had this amazing breakfast bowl that was essentially everything but the kitchen sink. It had potatoes, sausage gravy, eggs, bacon, tomatoes, green onion, biscuit crumbles. You think of a breakfast food- it was probably in there. I was delish and I ate every single bite of it!
Shopping
Their "downtown" area could easily be compared to Asheville or even Columbia. They have a lot of small businesses, but also some "shopping center" type clusters. We spent the majority of our Friday downtown shopping at various vintage and thrift stores. These were no Good Wills or Salvation Army's. These were true vintage stores. I personally have such an affinity for vintage stores because there is always a story behind the item. One of the stores literally had a basket of old pictures of random people and places. I though it was so beautiful to see all of these complete strangers share parts of their lives with other strangers. I ended up buying a vintage Knoxville post card and a pack of pictures of New York from the 70s. It was a great day of exploring and embracing the small quirks of the city.
Activities/ Travel
Starting with the basic- travel. Knoxville is about 7 hours away from me and since my car is about 20 years old, I decided to fly because the thought of being stranded on the side of the road did not sound fun to me. I did however take a very roundabout way to fly to Knoxville (because it was way cheaper). On my way to Knoxville I flew from Northern Virginia to Philadelphia to Knoxville and the turbulence was a little alarming. On my Philadelphia flight, the plane I was on was dealing with "mechanical issues"- not a very comforting things to tell a passenger without any follow up detail. This resulted in us turning around halfway through flight to go back to the airport and switch plane. An originally 2 hour flight took about 4.5 hours total, but at least I am still alive to tell the tale.
Once I got to Knoxville, my friend Jade was so excited to introduce us to her cycle studio she has been going to since moving there, CycleBar. We got to take a couple classes and meet one of her favorite instructors, Jordan. It has been a while since I had taken a cycle class or just done a workout that was completely cardio-based, but it was so much fun and the music was so hype. I love group workout classes and we kept our distance and wore our masks when we were not at our marked areas. 11/10 would recommend checking out Jordan's CycleBar classes if you ever find yourself in Knoxville!
The flight home. An early flight home, also a roundabout trip. I flew from Knoxville, to Chicago, to Northern Virginia. I fell asleep on my first flight at 7:30 and then woke up when we were about to land at 7:00. I was very confused but then realized the time change and stopped tripping out. I also woke up to look outside my window and see a city skyline and thought I accidentally was in New York and was going to have a Home Alone 2 situation. I did not, was very much in Chicago. I then had an hour layover- so no, I was not able to see the bean ( I was really bummed about it). I did buy a post card and now have decided that I will visit Chicago in the near future. I then got on my plane and found that I could get free movies during my flight so I watched half of 500 Days of Summer, which so far was a really funny and interesting movie. The way they bounced back from the different points in the timeline of their stories was something I haven't seen done before. I landed, grabbed my luggage and waited for my dad to pick me up. The trip was officially over.
Outfits
Possibly one of the most fun parts of this recap. As a disclaimer, I only have a couple pictures of my outfits throughout the weekend, but will still describe to you all what I wore!
Thursday
I always liked the idea of dressing up for the airport and it definitely gives off main character vibes. I wore a graphic tee I bought from Chelsea Market, my Old Navy jean jacket, my cropped flair black jeans from 7 of All Mankind, and my checkered platform Vans. When I was at cycle I wore a Lululemon Set and just used the shoes they had at the studio.
Friday
The day started with cycle, where I wore another Lululemon set and used the studio's shoes. We showered and got dressed for the day. I was going for a simple and comfortable outfit for me to walk around in. I wore my army green overalls from Amazon, a white striped shirt from Lululemon and one of my favorite bralettes from Aerie. I finished it with my checkered Vans and my everyday jewelry and was ready for the day!
Saturday
This day I kinda popped off. We were going to brunch and I was determined to look nothing less than fabulous. I wore a pink striped sweater from Aerie, my leather leggings from Nordstrom Rack, and finished the look with my black leather Steve Madden booties and my everyday jewelry. Since it was also Halloween, I dressed up as a "Blue Moon" and my best friend, Gabby, was the orange slice. We decided to keep things a little lowkey because none of is really wanted to spend a lot of money on costumes for us to all sit at home. I wore my Blue Moon shirt and my black flared jeans from 7 of All Mankind and called it a night.
Sunday
This was a total rest day. My friend and I watch Law and Order for 10 hours and did not move from the couch. I just wore my Lululemon yoga pants and a random sweatshirt.
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Well here is my first trip recap! I probably won't be going anywhere else anytime soon, but I liked writing this, so I hope you all enjoyed reading this. If there was anything else you wanted to know, write it in the comments below and I will include it in the next trip recap! I am hoping to be posting more regular for the rest of the month and have a lot of things planned as we get closer to the holiday season.
Stay UNIQUE,
Sara Anne
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