Okay, Day 19 was a bust, and Day 20 was hardly much better. But Day 21 was a BARN-BURNER. Well, not literally — that would be bad, because Dave and Tara do actually spend time in a barn. They also interact with sheep, turkeys, goats, peacocks, and people who say grace in restaurants. They check out the actual real Sunsphere from the 1982 World’s Fair (as seen on The Simpsons). And, best of all, The Atomic Tour finally makes it to The Atomic Museum! Kind of.
Listen to the podcast on this page
Direct Link to MP3
Want to add this podcast to your music player or mp3 player?
Right click and save to your computer.
Subscribe to the Series
You can download this episode or subscribe to the whole series from our iTunes page or if you are using a different program to collect podcasts you can point that program to this podcast feed.
Direct Link to M4A
iTunes not displaying the episode yet (it takes a little bit) or you want it manually?
Right click and save to your computer.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
Skyline Chilli is a local chain and they have vegetarian food. So does Gold Star, but their vegetarian chilli is not nearly as good as Skyline’s black beans and rice (and then you can get a vegetarian whatever cause you can order it in place of chilli).
Also, if you see this before you get out of the Cincinnati area, get some Graeter’s Ice Cream. It’s the best ice cream ever, and it’s all over the place in that area. United Dairy Famers (which is a chain of gas stations that are also ice cream parlors) is also good and even more ubiquitous.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Hey, Mike (you-may-remember-me-as-suggester-of-such-attractions-as-Devil’s-Tower-and-Musee-Mecanique) again. When you first reached the Meteor Crater right at closing, naturally I thought: bunching! So when that Episode 23 podcast (”All work and no play make… All work and no play make…”) sat for two days, the concern became… killer fatigue? And also, “What are you doing, Dave… ‘n’Tara? What are you doing Dave… ‘n’Tara?” Glad you’ve made it (a little past Little Rock, flying through Memphis) to the Atomic (“Daisy, Daisy…”) Energy Museum (“My God, it’s full of stars!”) and beyond.
Your endgame is also becoming more clear — bwahaha! — seeing as you headed north from Tennessee rather than east, pretty much in line with suggestions. Some recommended Philly (for its phourth of July phestivities), so I’m wondering if you plan to retrace your route across PA, but in reverse. If so, I can pass along a few more photo ops in the Atomic Tour vein.
Also, because someone is apparently on lunch break, here is “the difference between a Monument and a Park, anyway.” (But tracking down that uber-obscurey-obscure ash borer thingee earns someone the rest of the year off in my book.)
You must have checked in too late for those meh-but-free drinks/popcorn/stale chips at the Embassy Suites’ “Manager’s Reception,” but maybe you didn’t sleep in past the omelets-to-spec American Breakfast? (In more southerly locations, they also have pretty good breakfast grits and biscuits — with sawmill gravy.) Yes, Embassy Suites just repeats that carbon-copy-suites-and-courtyard-and-glass-elevators bit ad infinitum across the U.S., but their stock floorplan regularly strikes me as so thoughtful compared to how the averagey rooms Dave mentions at averagey chain hotels can have all manner of weird quirks. (Or pick-your-war-coming-or-going N.Y. apartments, for that matter.)
I mean like, you’re some big chain, you’ve built thousands of rooms in the past decade alone, so maybe figure out we prefer sinks/fans/hairdryers in bathrooms, or doors that don’t swing into each other, or blackout curtains, or open electrical outlets near desks/mirrors/bedstands, or tissues that don’t feel like sandpaper — and maybe just repeat that, mmm’kay? (Alright, taking a breath.) So, uh, I think Embassy Suites are generally an underrated value, is I guess all I’m sayin’…
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Aw, I’m glad you liked Tomato Head and the Museum of Appalachia as much as I told you you would!
I still remember watching that Simpsons episode the first time it reran (during the regular slot, before that ep was in syndication) - I was in college at UT, and a bunch of us were at a friend’s apartment. We all chanted “Knoxville! Knoxville!” along with Milhouse et al. and laughed our asses off at how busted they made the World’s Fair Park and the Sunsphere look. The Sunsphere is one of those things that everyone in this town loves, despite (and partly because of) the fact that it’s kind of cheesy and dated-looking, just because it’s such an iconic part of our skyline. That’s why they’ve included it in this revitalization effort, taken out the information booth that no one ever visited, and leased out space for offices and parties.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm
But no Sunsphere magnet? Come on, Knoxville!
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
haha - it’s true that the Tennessee Vols-related merchandise does tend to crowd Sunsphere memorabilia out of the market. I bet if you’d had a little longer in town, you’d have come across one, though.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Now THAT was a cartoony intro!
July 10th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Finally someone else who likes Monster’s Inc. more than stupid Incredibles or Finding Nemo. Cripes. Biggest problem I had/have with Wall-e was that Eve was obviously way out of his league, and in that way resembled a Seth Rogen vehicle. But I loved the short, and now my family and I (all of us above the age of 25) point to our mouths and make chomping faces when we are hungry. Classic.