Knoxville Christmas Train Ride And I'm Now A Geek

For the past two years, Eliza has taken her family on the Christmas Lantern Express and this year we went along.  The ride is put on by the Three Rivers Rambler- “The Three Rivers Rambler is an excursion train in Knoxville, Tennessee along the Tennessee River. The train is operated by the Knoxville and Holston River Railroad, a subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways.”

The 11 mile trip runs from near the UT campus to Forks Of The River where the Holsten and French Broad Rivers join to form the Tennessee River.  Unfortunately, the scenery is pretty bad and the best I saw was some shots of the river.

The train was well decorated and the staff was friendly and helpful.  

The trip price included hot chocolate and popcorn both of which were pretty good.  As expected, the trip was all parents and grandparents with their kids, most of which were too young to appreciate the trip.  On the outbound segment, the train stopped while a reader in each car read a Christmas story about the red lantern.

I’m glad we went and spent the time with family but we won’t need to go again – it’s a shame they don’t have some good scenery to pass by.

After the trip, we went just down the street to Silvia’s Mexican Restaurant for an early supper.  Not surprisingly, the place was pretty empty when we arrived around 3pm so we didn’t have to wait for much.

We started with a pitcher of margaritas and the usual chips and dip and guacamole made at our table and as usual, Eliza wanted to help.

Then ordered our meals - I only got pics of mine and Ralph’s.  I had the “ENCHILADAS SUPREMAS - Four rolled corn tortillas: ground beef, shredded chicken, beans, and cheese. Topped with cheese dip, cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream & jalapeños.  Served with rice and beans.”

Ralph had the “CHIPOTLE BURRITO - A large burrito with your choice of chicken, steak, or pulled pork with beans, lettuce, tomato and our own chipotle cheese sauce on top.”

I especially wanted a shot of it as it was bigger than his hand.

The food was all good but not as good as our local place in Vonore but it is obviously liked as the restaurant was pretty full by the time we left.

The New Geek

Where as most of the planet uses their phone for all communications, I basically use my PC on my lap while seated in my favorite chair.  So, I do as much as I can on the PC and use my phone for some calls, messaging, and as a camera but I recently had an ah ha.  I thought that since my pc and android phone talk to each other via Google (pics, emails, etc) maybe messages will as well.  So I did a little research and discovered that all I needed to do was use Google Messages and open a few things on the devices and it works so I can now send and receive messages from my pc.  Big deal you say - for me to make this happen on my own with no help whatsoever is like an earthquake occurring and I really like it.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/7/25 event dates