One week nearly down

It's Thursday evening. The first week of our stint at the University of Tennessee is nearly finished. I have had the opportunity of working with some really great people, from veterinary students to imaging residents and faculty I have met for the first time, to a couple of radiologists I have known for lots of years. I walk across this huge bridge to work each morning and back each evening. At noon, I eat at the vet school food place called the "munch box". A perfect place to find good, quick food, if you aren't too interested in decor. I can't talk about our locums without talking about eating out. Sunday nite, we went a couple of blocks to the "strip" which is equivalent to the CU "campus town". and ate at a Chicago style pizza place.... So original for folks from Illinois. Monday nite we venture on the Kingston Pike to find the Kroger store and someplace to eat. We found a Panera across from Kroger. I know, we have Panera at home, but we are just warming up. Then Tuesday we wanted to visit the "Fresh Market" http://www.thefreshmarket.com/ which we had been told about and find somewhere to eat. If you stumble onto a Fresh Market in the eastern US, be sure to check it out, but don't dare go in there if you are hungry. OMG what neet (and expensive) stuff. We couldn't figure out why there was such a line at Ben and Jerry's next door. I found out later that if you showed up with your "I Voted" sticker, you got a free dip of ice cream. As we left there trying to decide where to eat, I saw a sign ... "Bravo". If you read my blogs from Michigan State, you'll know that all I had to do was mention the Bravo sign and we were there. As ususal, it was a fantastic meal. For Wednesday nite we got a tip about Calhouns http://www.calhouns.com/ Mmmm good. Georgia said it was the best barbecue she's ever eaten. I'm prejudiced enough toward Lil Porgy's that I couldn't quite call it the best, but it was really good. Tonite we were invited out. We spent the evening as guests of 4 veterinary radiologists at the Tomato Head http://www.thetomatohead.com/ which is an Italian place in the "Old City". The Old City is a downtown renovation project that is becoming a really neet place. The Tomato Head has apparently been there for several years. Again, a fantastic place to eat. We got to eat outside under an awning with colored lights strung around the edges... Think Georgia enjoyed that????? To top it off, One of the radiologists, a former faculty member at the University of Tennessee and another, a former faculty member of the University of Florida, have a business, reading images for practicing veterinarians. They both are pilots and fly back and forth between their homes in Florida and Knoxville. He was a Georgia veterinary student when we first went to Georgia in 1969 and became a radiologist after graduation. Well, we told stories. We reminded each other of past shenanigans of each other and other people. It was also really neet because all of the radiologists there had some kind of connection to many of the people we were discussing. It was a really great time, with or without the really good food. Now we are trying to decide what to do with this weekend. It seems that this is the last weekend for the fall colors in the Smokys and we are only about 40 miles from Sevierville (Dollywood) and Pigeon Forge. We are hoping to find a pleasant place to visit without waiting in long traffic lines. We'll see. This weekend is Homecoming Football just down the road, so hopefully we can get out of town before that hits.