{Travel} Thanksgiving 2013.

A little late, but here's our Thanksgiving 2013 adventure!

Typically we stay in Memphis, do two delicious Thanksgiving dinners, spend time with family, and generally enjoy ourselves. This year my family decided to celebrate Thanksgiving in East Tennessee since my brothers are super seniors at UT and won't be there next year. My dad rented a cabin on the Clinch River in Clinton, TN and convened upon it Wednesday night.

Before we did Thanksgiving though, Jake and I had our own little adventure. Jake had an interview in Knoxville so we drove to Monteagle for a night at a bed and breakfast (hoped to do some hiking but the weather was nasty) before spending two days in Knoxville.

In Monteagle we ate at a new-ish burger place in neighboring Sewanee. Our burgers were great - I hear the wings are awesome but didn't try them. It had a good beer selection on tap and definitely had a small town college vibe.

After Monteagle, we drove to Knoxville. The weather continued to be disgusting. Here is the road, which was even foggier than this picture shows.

Once we got to Knoxville we drove around campus a bit - still raining...

We visited the new sorority village and I saw my sorority's house. Super jealous!

We had lunch at OCI (well.. Goal Post Tavern but it is the same thing) and we saw this huge picture of Jake's grandfather's football team:

We were able to find Jake's grandfather - their names were typed on the picture:

The whole reason for the OCI visit was the cheese bings. They were as delicious as ever:

After that we walked around campus in the rain with no umbrellas or coats, which was pretty stupid. Then we checked into the hotel, dried off, and got ready for an amazing dinner at Naples, my favorite restaurant in Knoxville.

The next morning we woke up to snow - it wasn't so much that roads were bad, just enough to be pretty.

While Jake was in his interview I met Beth and Brad for breakfast (and Tori!). They were in town for Thanksgiving.

After breakfast I met up with my brothers and waited for Jake to finish his interview before heading up to the cabin. It was right on the river and made for great views.

Jacob and Lydia brought their dog, Ziggy. Jake said he doesn't like small dogs.. but note most of these pictures have Ziggy with Jake.

We did the Thanksgiving thing - ate a lot, watched a lot of TV/football, and hung around. The guys went fly fishing one morning with some local guides.

There was also some studying on my brothers' part, which made me grateful to be out of school:

Here's Ziggy again with Jake:

The whole fam hanging out:

Ziggy and Jake:

The last morning was so foggy -

Then it was time to head back home! A long weekend of doing absolutely nothing... and loving it.

I managed to read three books on the trip over the course of 5 days. I loved all three, which were very different. I read "My Sister's Keeper", "The Paris Wife," and "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore."

It was a great Thanksgiving - it is amazing how much quality time you get to spend with your brothers when they don't have anywhere else to go!

In turkey with family,