Fireworks, Farragut and fireflies

Today was another search of towns and neighborhoods around Knoxville- we are trying to get a feel for towns and neighborhoods, and then look at houses to get an idea of costs. We then look for lots to see what land costs, with the hope that we could build exactly what we want, including a giant garage for the truck and trailer. We went to Oak Ridge to look at 3 different lots that I found online- 2 were super steep, so most of the land was unbuildable (is that a word?), and the third sold last year and should have been removed from the MLS. On top of that, Oak Ridge seemed a little remote. We looked a tiny bit in Farragut, but everything there was more expensive- but they do have very good shopping! We have found that Tennessee is VERY hilly, and a lot of houses are built on very steep land- perhaps with a walk out basement in the back yard, or the back of the house on stilts. I didn’t take any pics (what was I thinking?), but here’s one that might give some perspective- this is the stairs from the parking area up to the office at the campground:

There is hope: The real estate agent we met in Clarksville sent us links to a bunch of lots in middle Tennessee that were promising, but most were pretty rural, and we are leaning towards wanting to have neighbors fairly close. So we will keep looking…

They sell fireworks all year here in Tennessee, at places like this:

We may have to go check it out!

After dinner tonight I tried to get pictures of fireflies (lightning bugs)- those little suckers are very tricky! I found I just needed to keep taking pictures continuously in the hopes that one would flash- so I ended up with a lot of nothing! I deleted about 100 pictures that were of grass and dirt- not very attractive! But I did get a couple:

Yep- that big yellow ball is a firefly! Here are some others:

Perseverance Pays off

A boy and his dad were trying to catch fireflies (and were having some luck from the sound of it!), and the fireflies were taunting me and laughing as I tried to get their picture. Every time I put my phone down or moved where I was focusing, a group of them would light up- just where I was pointing my phone 2 seconds before! But I finally got a few, so I showed them, perseverance is key!