This morning rolled in gray and gloomy. Sometime before 7:00, Mike Witcher our local WBIR weatherman, flashed across the TV screen predicting ridiculous amounts of snow for much of the country. But here in the south, he says, we will see only cooling temperatures and rain. That’s okay, because for a brief few days over the weekend, winter took a pause and we had an incredible taste of spring.
We were out of bed early Saturday morning totally motivated to get out and enjoy the warm, sunny day. Our first destination was House Mountain for a quick 3 mile hike to the West Overlook. House Mountain is about about 20-25 minutes from our house and provides the opportunity to hike without taking up the entire day. a nice benefit when a person has other things to do.
Beverly and John at the trail head
The .8-mile hike to the rock outcrop known as the West Outlook is a nice climb with switchbacks. We noticed the quaint log fences that lined some sections of the trail in disrepair and in many places, replaced with red plastic barriers (above photo-right side).
The West Outlook was crawling with Cub Scouts so we stopped a little below the rocks to take a few photos. A stiff breeze blowing up the side of the mountain put a bit of urgency in our step as we hit the exposed rock outcrop. We barely paused before continuing across the ridge top, down the mountain and back to our car.
Ridge top trail
View from the West Overlook
Great Smoky Mountains from the Overlook
Sometime after lunch, I decided to go for a run. I haven’t been running much recently so I knew it would be painful….it was. I ran away from the house for several miles. Since I am not a fan of exercise walking I knew that I would run home from the turnaround point just to avoid walking. It worked, it always does. The run reminded me just how much I miss doing it on a regular basis.
Evening arrived and we had some decisions to make, movie and dinner or dinner and early sleep. Dinner and sleep won (although I really want to see The King’s Speech)!! We went downtown, parked in the Market Square garage and strolled the city streets. Everything was busy. Crowds were waiting to get in the Bijou and the Riviera Theater. Most restaurants had patrons sitting outside enjoying the nice weather, while others waited for a seat. Coffee shops were busy, people strolled hand in hand, groups chatted and laughed and everyone seemed to enjoy the beautiful evening in downtown Knoxville.
We stopped at Latitude 35 for dinner, our first visit there. Food, service and atmosphere were good. This was a pleasant ending to a perfectly beautiful day.
Sunday arrived, we were up very early for early church. Church, coffee, visit with my parents and lunch with the family and it was mid afternoon. We struggled with our afternoon activity and finally settled on a greenway ride.
John unloading our bikes in the parking lot across from the Lady Vols rowing center
An incredible number of people were out enjoying yet another spring day. We must have seen a hundred people (and some dogs) walking, running and riding bicycles. While we thought it fantastic that so many were out, it was hard to dodge and weave through the crowds. We rode from the waterfront to Bearden and back and returned home to get ready for the week ahead.
All good things much come to an end and this morning’s gray weather arrived too quickly. That’s okay though, it’s not time for spring yet, we are only 6 weeks past the winter solstice. But what a memory we will have of the last weekend in January when, just for a brief moment, we caught a glimpse of spring 2011.
