Knoxville, TN - Girls' Weekend 2022

Well, guys, another Girls' Weekend is in the books! Each year, The Harris Sisters take a long weekend to ourselves to spend some sister time together (no kids, no husbands, and best of all, no responsibilities). This year, the destination was Knoxville, TN. 

We're in our 11th year of Girl's Weekends, and this is our third time visiting a location in Tennessee, having previously visited Pigeon Forge in 2013 and Chattanooga in 2020. You can read about all our other girls getaway trips in 10 Girls' Weekend Getaways in the South.

We arrived in town around 2:00 in the afternoon. And since our rental wasn't going to be ready until a few hours after our arrival, we spent the afternoon antiquing!

Antiquing and Treasure Hunting in Knoxville

Before we headed to our vacation rental, we stopped off to do some treasure hunting (which is a favorite pastime of ours). We visited:

• West End Antique Mall (7200 Kingston Pike)
• Vintage Treasures (5710 Kingston Pike)
• Bearden Antique Mall (310 S Mohican Street)
• Vintage Etc. (3006 Tazewell Pike)

Here are a few photos of some of the fun items we found in these stores. First up, vintage soda bottles galore!

Harris Sister Donna scooped up this Dr. Pepper bottle for her collection:

Do these ladies look familiar? They could have been The Harris Sisters in another lifetime! (You guys know how we love our Coca-Cola photoshoots!)

Next up, vintage toys as far as the eye could see!

Who remembers the California Raisins?

We found lots of Peanuts items on this trip!

And surprisingly, lots of Annie items too! 

And last, we were surprised at the number of vintage clothing items we found that would make awesome Halloween costumes. From 1950s prom dresses to 1970s jumpsuits, we found authentic clothing from many different eras. One of the best items we found was this vintage Campfire Girls dress, complete with patches. Don't forget to shop unique places like antique stores, your local Goodwill, and your local theater company for Halloween costumes (especially in the off season).

Where to Find the Best Murals for Perfect Instagram Photos in Knoxville, TN

We spent quite a bit of time exploring downtown Knoxville on foot, and we were delighted to find these beautiful backdrops for photos. Be on the lookout for these Instagram-worthy murals and photo-ops.

Strong Alley Graffiti Gallery
Alley between Market Square & Gay Street
Artists: Various (many pieces are signed)

There are beautiful murals in different art styles lining both sides of this alley. You'll have the opportunity to see a Dolly Parton mural, a Downtown Knoxville mural, a Save the Bees Rainbow Mandala mural, and many more unique pieces. Because this is a tight alley space, which will not be well-lit at nighttime, we chose to visit during the day and felt safe. 

Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial
Front of Market Square
Artist:  Alan LeQuire

The bronze sculpture honors the suffragette movement of the early 1900’s and depicts three women who were leading campaigners for women's suffrage: Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, Lizzie Crozier French, and Anne Dallas Dudley. The base of the sculpture features this quote by Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch: "All honor to women, the first disenfranchised class in history who unaided by any political party, won enfranchisement by its own effort alone, and achieved the victory without the shedding of a drop of human blood."

Windows to the Smokies
Corner of Wall Avenue & Gay Street
Artist: Megan Lingerfelt
This one is near the Strong Art Gallery on the side of the Lerner Lofts building. It features the windows of buildings in the Market Square area and the beautiful scenery of the mountains. 

Chippy Yellow Doors
West Jackson Avenue

This photo op was honestly a happy accident for us. You can find these colorful doors while walking down West Jackson Avenue (between the 300-500 block) toward Gay Street.

Glitterville

While also exploring downtown Knoxville, we found a whimsical store we'd like to share with you. This candy-coated confection of a store was fanciful and extravagant in all the best ways! (No wonder it has made one of Oprah's favorite things!) They sell unique holiday ornaments, decorations, and party supplies, and the entire boutique looked like an enchanting store-front window display you'd see while Christmas shopping in New York City. You can check them out at glitterville.com or follow them on Instagram for decorating ideas.

Take a Dinner Cruise!

Our plans for Friday evening included a sunset dinner cruise on a yacht. We set sail down the Tennessee River around 6:30PM for a two-hour excursion. This was a unique way to have dinner as well as see some of the river-front properties. 

Catch a Show at the Tennessee Theatre

On Saturday, our planned event was to see the Riverdance 25th anniversary show. For those of you who may not know, we have Irish heritage on our Mama's side, so we were right at home! 

We saw the performance in the historic Tennessee Theatre, which was built in 1928 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and honored as the Official State Theatre of Tennessee.

The show included traditional Irish dancing (known as stepdance), but it also featured Spanish flamenco dancing, Russian dancing, and tap dancing. In addition to the dancing, the show included songs and featured performances by a three-person band: a violinist, a clarinet player, and a percussionist. We sat close to the stage, and while I'm sure every seat in the theater was a good one, if you have a chance to see this performance up close, we would recommend that. (You can really see their feet fly!)

Tour a Garden

After the show, we toured one of three private gardens that were selected to be in this year's Dogwood Arts Featured Gardens. The properties are open to the public as a part of the annual celebration of Tennessee's natural beauty. We visited Savage Garden, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Dogwood Arts features gardens for one weekend each summer, so make sure to check if any beautiful spaces are available for a self-guided tour for the weekend if you're visiting Knoxville.

Explore World's Fair Park

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the 1982 World's Fair, which was held in Knoxville, TN. The 1982 World’s Fair ran from May 1 through October 31 with the theme “Energy Turns Our World” and would later become recognized as the last successful World’s Fair held in America.

These flags lined the streets in Knoxville to commemorate the occasion. 

Once we arrived, we found lots of fun things to see. There's a big splash pad that's perfect for the kiddos to play in.

And, of course, a few things that were originally from the 1982 World's Fair. The Sunsphere:

And the World's Largest Rubik's Cube. This is located in the lobby of the Knoxville Convention Center. It was closed when we were there (on a Sunday morning), but if the Convention Center is open, you can enter and see this up close.

One other excellent photo-op that we found was a beautifully painted bridge. The Clinch Avenue bridge in World’s Fair Park is painted in rainbow colors to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Fair.

You can either take a photo from the very end to get the full spectrum of colors (like these photos):

Or, you can take photos with each of the colors as a fun backdrop:

One of the prettiest parts of this bridge is the unexpected mural underneath the bright turquoise blue section. It features a flock of birds that "fly" overhead and up onto the ceiling of the section.

A plaque explains that this mural was added to the bridge in May 2021 to remember those who have lost their lives to COVID. The artist is Kelsey Montague (who also created the Angel Wings mural we found in Chattanooga).

And that's a wrap on our time in Knoxville.

We spent the rest of our time this Girls' Weekend hanging out, relaxing, and planning exciting things for the blog. So stay tuned!

And if you have a chance to visit Knoxville, TN, we hope you'll remember these things to do and areas to explore to make for a fun weekend!

Make sure to check out our other Girls' Weekend posts for our photos, recommendations, and reviews on the other places we've visited in previous years.

Vegetable Pancakes

Now that warmer months are upon us and fresh veggies are in season, I thought I'd share a vegetable pancake recipe that features a few different types of vegetables. These can either be straight from your own garden or fresh from the Farmers Market or local produce stand. However you come by your fresh veggies, you'll be glad you decided to make this savory veggie pancake recipe. 

And if you've got picky eaters at home, it's also a tasty way to get more vegetables into their diet. Vegetable pancakes are great for breakfast, lunch, a side dish for dinner, a vegetarian main dish, or even a party appetizer (because of their small size).

Vegetable Pancakes

3 large zucchini, grated and thoroughly drained

2 cups broccoli, grated

6 large carrots, grated

1 onion, diced and sautéed

1, 15 oz. can corn kernels, divided

4 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

oil for pan

green onions, thinly sliced (for serving)

sour cream (for serving)

sriracha sauce (for serving, if desired)

Grate & Drain Zucchini

1. Grate zucchini, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and set in a fine mesh strainer. Place a bowl or plate on top of the zucchini and weigh it down to help it release its liquid. 
2. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes - 1 hour. After it has drained, wrap it in a clean kitchen towel or a piece of cheesecloth, squeeze to release the remaining liquid, and set aside.

Mix Pancake Batter & Cook Pancakes

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, pepper, garlic powder, and breadcrumbs. Add zucchini, broccoli, carrots, onion, and 1 cup of corn, and toss to combine.  Make sure to break up the zucchini and coat everything with flour mixture. (Set aside remaining corn for step 8.)
2. Crack eggs into a small bowl, beat, and pour over the vegetable mixture. Mix to thoroughly combine.
3. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Using a scoop, drop the vegetable mixture into the hot pan, and flatten with the bottom of the scoop form a patty.
5. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, turning down the heat if they begin to brown too quickly.
6. Remove from pan to drain on a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet.
7. Repeat process with remaining vegetable mixture, adding more oil if the pan becomes too dry.
8. When final pancake has been cooked, roast remaining corn in pan for 1-2 minutes, or until kernels are lightly browned.
9. Serve pancakes garnished with sour cream, green onions, and roasted corn. If you'd like your savory veggie cakes spicy, serve topped with a drizzle of sriracha sauce.

Pancake Cooking Tips

• Use only enough oil to create a crisp, browned crust.
• Avoid crowding the pan. Leave at least 1 inch of cooking space between pancakes.
• Wait until first side has browned before turning. Check bottoms of pancakes before turning.
• Turn each pancake only once.

Notes:

You can use a regular box grater to grate your vegetables, but if you use a food processor, you can cut your prep time for this recipe considerably.

Zucchini is a very watery vegetable, so take care to drain it well so that your pancakes don't turn out soggy.

This is the scoop that I used for this recipe. A small ice cream scoop would work too!

You'll notice that step 6 says to drain them on a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet. Placing them on a paper towel on a plate will cause them to create steam and lose some of the crispy texture. 

If you'd rather bake these than fry them, bake them at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes. The finished pancakes won't be quite as crispy. 

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