Knoxville's World's Fair Park and the Sunsphere

During our time in Tennessee, we took 3 days to visit the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg area. On our way, we stopped in Knoxville to have lunch and visit the Sunsphere. You're probably wondering "WTH is the Sunsphere?" Well, I'm going to tell you, just like I told the concierge at our vacation rental (it's a timeshare).

In 1982, Knoxville was the site of the World's Fair (why don't we have these anymore?!) and like all World's Fairs, they needed a gimmick, like Paris had the Eiffel Tower for theirs and Seattle had the Space Needle for theirs. The theme of this fair was Energy and what better way to represent energy than to create an homage to the Earth's greatest source of energy than the sun?

So, Knoxville built a 75-foot golden sphere, atop a 266-foot tall column where people could go up to the observation deck, inside the sphere, and see the whole city in 360 degrees. The entire outside of the sphere is golden glass, where 24k gold dust was used to create an opulent and unique landmark. It cost $2 per person to visit in 1982 and today it's barely much more at just $5 per person.

as you can see, the gold glass doesn't make for great pictures

Outside you can see the river, the whole park, and downtown Knoxville. The entire structure is enclosed and you take an elevator to the "top". Back during the World's Fair, this deck was a restaurant that served things like the sunburger and the sunburst drink, but not anymore. It's not big enough for any concessions, because the space not used for public viewing is commercial space and offices. At one point it was considered the headquarters of a basketball team, because it looks like a basketball!

Fun fact: You can actually see a huge basketball on the top of a building from Sunsphere, and it is home to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

Even so, there is a selfie station that doubles as tourist information, there are also Knoxville brochures there, a small gift shop, and an even smaller gift shop at the entrance that is basically the register and info booth, a wall with the story of the Sunsphere, a glass case with items from the World's Fair and construction of the Sunsphere, and a wall with fun art of the World's Fair with the Sunsphere in it. For some reason, there's also a miniature Mrs. Pacman arcade game, but at least two people played it while we were there, so I guess it's popular.

The employees of the Sunsphere are super nice and have a lot of helpful knowing the area. If you have time, you can pick up a walking map and check out some of the public art in the area. We planned to do it on our way back, but it was pouring, so we only stopped for breakfast and to visit a salt room (more on that later). Maybe we'll make another trip out there to explore Knoxville a little more besides seeing the university campus on our drive to get food on the riverfront.

It's not the tallest structure we've ever been in to see the city from above, but it's pretty unique and it defines the Knoxville skyline. Part visitor center, part gift shop, part time capsule, part museum, part tourist attraction, the Sunsphere and World's Fair Park is something different and interesting to break up a road trip or just see a bit of Tennessee's past in the present.

The park has a playground, a war memorial, fountains, an amphitheater, a festival lawn, a stream, walking trails, and a splash pad for the kids. You need to buy timed tickets, since only around 80 people are allowed on the viewing platform at a time (and it seemed crowded at one point with around 15 people up there). We were visiting on a weekday in the off-season, so we purchased tickets when we got there with no problem, but if you're going on a weekend or during the summer, plan ahead.

click to make this full-size to read more

Ever wonder what the heck they do with the other buildings and structures they built for the World's Fair when the fair is over? Sometimes they are torn down and sometimes they stay up at tourist attractions, but other times they get repurposed. Sometimes, like here, they take old buildings and breathe new life into them, and then they become even ore useful after the fair is over. So, not only does the World's Fair bring is a ton of visitors and money to the area, but it also creates opportunities afterwards. 

While America seems to have fallen off hosting World's Fairs, they continue on in the rest of the world. If you have a chance to visit one of the sites or landmarks, it's a fun way to learn history and see some cool stuff. 

Have you visited a special structure or building that was built for an event and now is just there for tourism? 

5 Tips for More Efficient Packing

Sometimes we overpack. Maybe instead of sometimes, you're an Always Overpacker™. It's okay. I've been there. Every once in a while I'm still there. I almost never regret taking less than planned, but I always regret taking too much. Like, last trip, I wished I had left some things at home and packed a second dress instead. I know that now and will remember that going forward. Let's look at 5 ways to pack more efficiently:

Stop the what-ifs with these tips, instead of living a "fear-based lifestyle" according to my husband Eric. Use these tips to create a mix-and-match wardrobe with minimal pieces for any length trip. And keep following here for how I packed for my trip to Tennessee that will have highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s and 60s, for both Eric and I, in a large carry-on roller bag.

What do you struggle with most when you pack?

Nashville Wish List

We're Nashville bound soon, but also splitting our time to go to the Pigeon Forge/Sevierville/Gatlinburg area. Why Nashville? Well, I simply looked at places that were still warm in September/October and where we haven't visited and that's how we landed on Music City. We also had been wanting to do Dollywood for a long time.

Photo by Andrew Sterling on Unsplash

As someone who was born in Tennessee, I always think about going back and immersing myself in that atmosphere, the people, the food, and the history. We aren't fans of country music really. I stopped listening in the late 90s and have not really loved most of that genre since. Because of this, we have decided to not visit the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Grand Ole Opry, but there are so many other things to do instead:

Photo by Josh Rocklage on Unsplash

National Museum of African American Music

Black people created country music, despite what you may feel about the industry right now. There have been some inroads made there, but the fact that even Beyoncé didn't even get into the running to win an award in country music shows that it's not enough. Anyway, the NMAAM is a one-of-a-kind museum that showcases all of African American music, which is so varied, and its historical significance. 

Photo by Thomas Le on Unsplash

Nashville Farmer's Market

You know I love a farmers' market and the Nashville Farmer's Market is open 7 days a week and into the evening. I imagine it's a lot like Reading Terminal Market in Philly, but I aim to find out. I feel like this is the place to find the real local foods and authentic meals. I also really love talking to people at a market and learn about their farms, animals, vineyards, and processes. They're always really happy to talk to someone about their work and gives you more perspective on the food you eat and the reasons behind the prices you're paying.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Cheekwood Harvest Festival

I've been listening to City Cast Nashville, like I did before going to Denver, and like I do every day for Portland. Their episode on things to do in Nashville in September gave me a few ideas, but the top one was the Cheekwood Harvest Festival. Cheekwood is an estate that you can tour that has a botanical garden, a Japanese garden, art, and more. The harvest festival brings in tons of pumpkins for photo ops (and probably purchase) and they even have a scarecrow trail, with unique scarecrows made by those in the community.

Photo by Mike Gattorna on Unsplash

Riverfront walk

You can't go to a city that has a river and not walk along it. I mean, there's a park to visit, but look at these views!

Photo by Katy Anne on Unsplash

City murals
We've been doing a lot of art walks on our trips, because most major cities (and even a lot of small ones) have a large artistic community that work to beautify a city through large wall murals on the public buildings. I've talked about the guided graffiti art walk we did in Denver, but this time we're going to be taking two separate self-guided walks based on city maps. I'd say to follow me on IG for a lot of free art shots.

Photo by Brian Morin on Unsplash

Parthenon

Nashville has the only full-scale replica of the Parthenon in the world. Once known as "The Athens of the South", Nashville took this to heart when they celebrated 100 years of statehood. They erected this replica of the Greek Parthenon and turned it into an art museum. It creates an affordable way for people to gain access to fine art, history, and education. 

Photo by Chad Morehead on Unsplash

Broadway St

It's clearly a tourist trap, but you can't go to Nashville and skip visiting the most popular street for honky tonk bars. Think of it of the equivalent of New Orleans' Bourbon Street. 

Photo by Blake Guidry on Unsplash

Nashville Hot Chicken

Gotta eat the local foods and Nashville brings the southern comfort foods and brought hot chicken to the people as their foodie contribution. I've only ever had hot chicken at home, so I'm interested to see what it tastes like where it originated.

Photo by Adam Kring on Unsplash

Dollywood

It's not Disneyland, but Dolly Parton has done so much good for her community that even if I thought the theme park would be bad, I'd still want to contribute to this amazing person. Each year, Dollywood unveils a new ride and right now they have a two-days-for-one ticket deal, so even if we don't spend an entire second day there, it's okay. They're having their own harvest festival right now though, so we'll be indulging in all the jack-o-lantern selfies and the harvest food specials. Plus, there's a train!

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

Astra Lumina

Astra Lumina is a "Celestial Pathway of Lustrous Light, Cosmic Vsions & Astral song." It looks similar in a way to the Forbidden Forest Experience that I have yet to get to. I found out that Astra Lumina was going to be in Seattle and put myself on the wait list to learn when tickets went on sale, but then I found out that they were going to be in Gatlinburg. We're already going to be 10 minutes away in Dollywood, and though we have to buy day passes to the adventure park it's being held at, it's still more convenient and cheaper than having to plan a separate trip to Seattle.

Photo by Stephen Ellis on Unsplash

Sunsphere
We'll be passing through Knoxville on our way to and from Pigeon Forge. They have a World's Fair Park that is home to the Sunsphere, a big golden sphere that was build for the 1982 World's Fair that offers 360-degree views of downtown Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains. 

We've got a few more things planned for our visit, but these are the must-do things we have on our list and many we've already bought tickets for. If you have suggestions for things we should do, see, or eat, I'd love to see them in the comments. 

Have you been to Nashville or are you hoping to visit?

Fun Facts About Nashville

Soon, I'll be headed to Nashville to take in the sights, eat some southern foods, and drive out to Dollywood. You'll be getting my wish list for that soon, but let's check out some fun facts about the city. I just learned about the Batman building earlier today when Eric asked me about it. You can't tour it, but it's pretty cool looking. 

photo credit: Puppet City Tours

Do you have Nashville recommendations for my trip? What should I see, do, or eat?

Denver Graffiti Art Tour

If you love art, but you're on a budget, you don't have miss out on some of the best art in a city. Even if you don't step foot into a museum, most cities have a thriving street art scene. Much of it encouraged by the city itself, even going so far as to have street art festivals like Las Vegas's Life Is Beautiful Festival and Denver is no different. They have started something called Denver Walls.

Kimchi Juice

While we were in Denver, we took a guided graffiti tour, because I wanted to learn more about the artists in the city. You can do it on your own, if you want, and can certainly see a ton of art all around the city, not just in the RiNo (River North) District. This is just where a huge portion of artwork is and where the tour focuses.

Collaboration by @weilworks + Eva Zimmerman

Decades ago RiNo had fallen into disrepair and become a place that was not a favorable place to live. Because of this, it was really affordable, and many artists moved into the area. They started creating art on buildings and beautifying the neighborhood. 

this was all done freehand with no base by Keya Tama (and team). Their mother also does
freehand on brick a few blocks away with a completely different style.

Shockingly, when the neighborhood started to blossom, developers came in and bought property and raised the rents, since it became more and more appealing to live and work there.  

Collaboration by @milestoland + @ChromaJ

The murals around the district showcase a wide variety of art styles and cultures. They range from whimsical to political to honoring people in both the community and around the world.

Collaboration by @ajdavisart + @jd.pruitt

We learned about what might be good and bad tagging of murals. Do they ruin the original art? Do they add something to it? The work you see above has a squiggly yellow line running through it and that's not part of the original art, but it also seems to complement it with a chaotic line that goes along with the work itself that's about life during Covid.

I really enjoy art that has a mix of style, like this that was done by a husband and wife, where they added the graffiti style over the more traditional art form. 

@c.bolsinger

This lion is on the side of a church, and the artist brought in so much of the Colorado landscape into it. You can see the Rockies, the forest, fields, the Platte River, the night sky, and even a huge tribute to the indigenous peoples.   

Collaboration between Casey Kawaguchi and @easeone_tx

You will find a ton of artists from other parts of the world and many that live in Colorado, too. Some you'll see here and then also be able to identify around town. I also identified some international artists that I had seen similar artwork from in other places, including Las Vegas and Portland.

@chrishaven

Some artists are extremely prolific, like Chris Haven, who creates these little triangle guys all over town. They're quick to paint, are fun, and easily recognizable. Art doesn't have to be big or elaborate to make a huge impact.

@_gusrey

There are even sports murals. We have some of those around town in Portland, but this one showcased Nikola Jokic, the center for the Denver Nuggets.

@obeygiant - Shepard Fairey

I was especially drawn to this Justice mural that focuses on two groundbreaking Supreme Court justices. All art is political in some way and this one just comes right out and shows it to you. Here's hoping Kentanji Brown Jackson continues the great legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and makes her proud.

@soulfulartnj

Any surface can be a palette, including brick, wood, and even cement like this. The average age of a piece of street art is between 2-5 years, depending on where it's placed and how it survives the elements and other artists/taggers.

You may even get lucky and see artists at work while you're walking around. These guys were doing fresh art over their older work. It's very impressive to see how clean their lines are with spray paint.

@caseykawaguchi that was commissioned by a private resident - You'll see his same artwork
around town with his signature Samurai Girl in muted colors

Even residents have murals and art on their property. You'll see it on garage doors, gates, and more, like this piece this person had commissioned for them from, what I assume is, one of their favorite artists. We saw several more Casey Kawaguchi pieces around town, too.

If you need a bit of a nudge on where to start looking at street art in a destination, many cities have websites dedicated to them, but you can also just walk around and then look up artists while you wander or use an app like Street Art Cities or GPS My City. If you do go on a guided walking tour, remember to carry cash for a tip at the end and try to engage with your guide. We were on a tour with two locals, so they had entirely different questions than we did and that was fun and interesting. 

Do you have a favorite art city? It doesn't have to be street art. We also love museums!

10 Ways to Save Money Dining On Vacation

Unlike some other things on vacation, like souvenirs and alcohol, you have to actually eat. Lots of us go on vacation without buying anything to bring home, but none of us travel without buying food. It's something you have to build into your budget, and there are many ways you can save on it, so it doesn't take up a big chunk of your overall budget. 

Just because you are trying to save money doesn’t mean that you have to eat fast food or sandwiches for every meal or can’t experience the best cuisine a place has to offer. Below is my top 10 list of ways to stretch your food funds.

Ask the locals where they eat

Odds are, people who live where you’re traveling don’t eat at the fanciest restaurant in town. You know who eats there? Tourists and people celebrating their anniversaries. The “normal” people eat at affordable dining establishments that are also delicious and serve food from the local area. They are going to want to point you towards some of the city’s gems and impress you because, unlike hotel staff, they don’t get paid for recommending the crazy expensive steakhouse down the street.

Look forward to lunch

You probably aren’t always frugal. While on vacation, it’s okay to splurge sometimes. If that includes going to a top-rated restaurant that you know is spendy, make reservations for lunch instead of dinner. The food will be just as tasty, but cheaper than at dinnertime.

Split an entrée

Most restaurants serve you at least twice as much food as you can eat. Don’t be weighted down having to carry around leftovers or feel bad about food left on your plate. Share a main dish with your travel companion. Most hotels will split an entrée for no fee, but even if you have to pay for an extra plate, it only costs a few dollars, which is cheaper than paying for a whole other meal.  

Order an appetizer for a meal

Most appetizers can be plenty to fill you up and can be as little as a third of the price of an entrée. This is also a great option for you if you like to try many different dishes. Order two to three for the same price as a meal.

Hit up the food carts

Food carts can offer a huge variety of different local and international foods, but can be half the price of (or less) than dining at a sit-down restaurant. With this kind of savings, you can try fare from several carts with no regrets.

Shop the farmers market

There’s no better way to experience local cuisine and interacting with residents than a visit to the closest farmers market. You will find a variety of food, including meats, fruits, vegetables and cheeses. Purchase enough for lunch and enjoy the afternoon having a picnic in a nearby park.

Rent a vacation home or stay in a hotel with a kitchen(ette)

This is my favorite way to stretch my food budget, because there are so many options. Renting can be a great value over hotel stays if you’ll be visiting for a week or more, plus it gives you the chance to check out the local grocery store. Make many of your own meals and save considerably. I don’t often like to spend money on eating breakfast out, so I love to buy new cereals and pastries I can enjoy in my room.

Sign up for Groupon

If you haven't been using Groupon, what are you even waiting for? Save 40-90% off food and more, meaning you can eat for way less than you originally planned, meaning you can splurge on a fancy meal, spend that money elsewhere, or actually just stay on budget. Sign up at Groupon for the destination of your next vacation (they cover many international locations as well as the United States) and eat for less!

Stay at a hotel that offers free breakfast

You don’t realize how much dining out can cost until you go on vacation. A reasonable breakfast can cost between $8-15 per person. If you multiply that by the number of people you’re traveling with and the number of days you’ll be staying, that number can be huge. If you find a hotel in your price range that offers free breakfast, you’ve hit a jackpot of savings.

Don’t order off the kids’ menu

If you travel with children, you’ll notice that most kids’ menus seem to have the same small rotation of foods. Obviously, little ones don’t just live on hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets and PB&J sandwiches. Not only do they charge an outrageous amount for these “staples” that cost hardly anything to make, but they offer hardly any nutritional value and your kids are likely to eat only half of it before declaring they’re full. Instead, order a meal that you both will eat and share. This saves you money and might get them to eat a vegetable or two.

While there are other ways to save on dining, these have proven to be the most useful for my travels and are my first suggestions to anyone asking how to cut costs on their trip. They are easy to do and will enable you to try a bigger variety of foods, too. You’ll experience more of the city and its people, giving you a greater vacation experience.

How do you save money on dining out when you travel?

Saving with the Denver CityPASS

Last week, Eric and I were in Denver for a quick 3-day trip before he had to attend a work conference. We had a few things we planned to do, so when we were offered a pair of Denver CityPASSes to make the most of our short trip, we quickly accepted and made a pretty ambitious plan of activities.

If you don't know, CityPASS allows you to skip some ticket lines, because you already have tickets right on your phone. Most attractions will scan your code and give you a physical ticket or wristband. There is a list of attractions you can choose from, so you pick what you want to do and then you have 7 days to use it from your first day of use. 

We were using a 5-attraction CityPASS, which means we could choose up to 5 things from the list of participating attractions. I love this, because you can always pivot and change up what you're going to do on each day and depending on what everyone in your group is interested in. The Denver CityPASS has entrance to the following activities:

• Denver Downtown Aquarium - $26.99/20.99
• Denver Museum of Nature & Science - $25.95/20.95
• Denver Botanic Gardens - $15.75/11.50
• Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus - $18.75/16.75
• Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum - $19.95/12.95
• Denver Art Museum - $22/under 18 are free
• History Colorado Center  - $15/under 18 are free

None of these required advance reservations, but if they did, your app tells you. Once you've used your "ticket", it will show as used on your app as well. So, if you want to return to an attraction, you will have to pay regular admission fees if it's on a different day or your entrance doesn't include all-day admission.

We started our visit off strong by heading to the Downtown Aquarium (it's not downtown, that's just the name of this particular strings of aquariums). We walked along the riverfront to get there, which was pretty and had good sidewalks, but if you're driving, there is a huge parking lot across the street. The aquarium has a decent selection of things to please everyone. There are birds, amphibians, a shark tunnel, sea turtles, manta rays, and some hands-on exhibits, like bat rays and even jellyfish. 

While there are also fish I've never seen in real life before, like the arowana, you'll find the usual suspects, like clown fish. There are some animatronics, a recreation of a flash flood, tigers (for some reason), and a lot of great information about everything inside. If you can't get enough of the aquarium, you can book a shark dive, a scuba with fish, or make a reservation for their restaurant that has a whole aquarium wall. We spent almost two hours there, but if you have littles, you could easily spend more.

Next up was the Museum of Nature & Science. I had heard that they  had a special exhibit on poisons, so I was pretty intrigued and excited to check it out. This dealt with poisons in nature, manmade poisons, mythological poisons, as well as antidotes, stories, and a short demonstration on how an old murder case was solved. It was as interesting as I thought it would be.

If you've been to a museum of natural history, much of this museum was that. Animals of the world in exhibits, dinosaurs, other historical things like mummies, and gemstones. There is a whole exhibit on space and astronauts that we spent quite a bit of time in, but mostly we were there to see poisons and dinosaurs. We both saw some things we hadn't heard of before and got to see some actual fossils that were in the process of being uncovered by the museum scientists. 

The whole place is fascinating, and you can sit on their terrace, or just inside, and look over City Park to take a break. You could easily spend half the day here. There's a café for when you get hungry, then you can go back and see even more, since there are 3 floors packed full of things to check out, read about, and even touch. 

After the Museum, we decided it was too nice to be inside and the Denver Botanic Gardens were not too far away, so we hopped on a bus and headed over there to see some flowers. Now, if you've been following me for a while, you know I never miss a chance to visit a botanical garden. I just love to see local flora and get ideas for my eventual garden. Each botanical garden offers something completely different from others and this was no exception. I learned about Steppe gardens, there were these lovely spirit animals dotted around the grounds, and a science building. 

While not the biggest gardens we've ever visited, it was nicely broken up into sections and easy to navigate. There was a wedding happening on part of the grounds and it wasn't hard to understand why anyone would choose that space. I especially loved the section that featured bonsai trees, but I equally enjoyed seeing the different kinds of drought-resistant plants, and ways to display succulents in terrariums. We had lunch at the café here and the food was better than expected. Don't miss the sensory garden before you exit through the gift shop. You're encouraged to smell and touch the plants there, unlike on the rest of the grounds.

The next day, we got up early for breakfast and to get to the Denver Art Museum right as they opened. We learned that it has 7 floors, which is a lot of art and might be overwhelming if you aren't prepared with a plan of action. 

We knew we were interested in seeing the Arts of Africa exhibit, the Islands Beyond Blue exhibit, and Indigenous Arts of North America exhibit, so we spent the majority of our time there.

Having a large art museum at home in Portland, we knew that this visit could easily have taken up most of our day, but we made the decision to put our time into looking at art that was quite different than what we have at home. Sure, we could have looked at European artists, like Renoir and  Monet for quite a while, but we have also seen those artists everywhere else we've been, so we focused more on the amazing African artwork and textiles, Indigenous clothing, oceanic collection like that giant floral jellyfish and a tattoo art wooden leg that may or may not have been part of a set that went on a bed or other furniture.  If you love all types of art, this museum can be your whole day. It spans two buildings and there's even art outside to enjoy, and the main elevators and hallways are even works of art. 

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Unfortunately, we ran out of time to get to our 5th place, which would have been History Colorado Center, but we had another thing we needed to get to and it took most of the day. Next year, Eric's work will probably have the same retreat, so we'll be renting a car and trying to finish this list with a new CityPASS, because I'd also like to return to the Denver Art Museum to see more of their permanent exhibits and what else has rotated in. I also noticed there's a Women's History Museum right next to it, and I'd love to visit that as well.

If we had paid a la carte for all 4 attractions, it would have cost us $90.69 per person (or $53.44 per child). The CityPASS for 4 attractions is $57/$46 and for 5 attractions is $64/$54, which means even not using that last attraction, we still saved almost $27 per person. You may not want to purchase a full pass for children in your group if you are planning to visit attractions where they are free. The CityPASS for Denver has a 3-, 4-, and 5-attraction option, so it can work for any length trip you have. 

I'll be doing more in-depth posts on these attractions, and you can also see more about them on my Instagram. CityPASS isn't just confined to Denver either. It's available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. That means, there are a lot of places you can save a lot on with CityPASS.

Have you ever used a CityPASS or other attractions pass on your travels?

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Disclaimer: I was gifted Denver CityPASS for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are my own. I have used CityPASS in the past and loved it just as much as I did here and highly recommend using it when you travel to a participating city. This post also includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I will receive compensation, at no extra cost to you. This helps me to continue bringing you great ways to save on all your trips, so thanks in advance for supporting me and this blog.