Atomictumor

While we live in Oak Ridge, and (sometimes grudgingly) love the dumb little town, the fact is that GAC is an old school Norris-ite (well, Andersonville-ite, but that doesn’t sound as cool) we spend the 4th out there at Norris Day when we can. This year was a bit disappointing because there really didn’t seem to be much going on.

Seems like in past years it’d start up all heavy in the morning, and slack off a bit in the evening, but there’d still be booths and tons of people. When we showed up in Norris it looked like any other day.

Now I’m going to digress here. Norris is freaking awesome. It’s like what Oak Ridge would be if it were founded by elves. Its a little village carved out of a big assed forest, which for the most part is still intact. It was built as a TVA town back when that meant something, as Norris Dam was TVA’s first big project, and has remained essentially unchanged since the 40s. You drive through the little windy two lane roads past homes that, while rustic, still have a contemporary feel into the town center, complete with drugstore, mom and pop grocery store (with a bitchin beer selection), pizza shack, and massive open field, and it feels like going home, even if you grew up in a city. It’s small town without being hick.

Its the perfect town to visit, which means it probably would get old living there. Anyway, I’m convinced that eventually I’m going to shrink the entire town down and keep in in a bottle somewhere to remain save from the hazards of time (and the hazards of proposed nearby asphalt plants and rock quarries).

Anyway, Norris Day, we were there at 5:30, and it was completely dead.  They had the drag across from the commons blocked off, and there were maybe two booths up for a school soccer team and a church or something, but no food, no rock climbing wall, and no people.  Evidently it was really big in the morning, and surely rain must have scared the sissies off, but it was still a bit of a letdown.  So, we wandered over to GAC’s alma mater, Norris Elementary School, so Pigpen and MastaG could do some playing.

Did I mention that Norris was a big assed forest?  It feels like some kind of Brothers Grimm story wandering around that town.

Yesterday, after a meal of altogether too much steak, chicken and sides, we waddled out to Norris for their annual fireworks extravaganza. Well, not so much an extravaganza as half-assed, but whatever.
And, as it does every time I visit there, I was reminded of how much I love Norris. It really is the definition of a quaint little town.
We got there around 5, which we found out is too late for games and too early for fireworks. So we wandered around. We took the kids to the playground at my old elementary school. We went to Archer’s grocery store to get some snacks and were totally shocked at their wonderful (and reasonably priced) beer selection. Much better than you can get in Oak Ridge, for sure. Actually, for a mom and pop grocery store, everything in there was reasonably priced. I would have loved to belly up to the new soda fountain in Hoskin’s drugstore, but unfortunately they were closed.
Norris is like Oak Ridge’s more talented and attractive sister that doesn’t put out. Wide open fields to play in, good schools (elementary and middle at least), pretty landscaping, roads you can bike on without fearing your life, well-kept sidewalks throughout the city, friendly citizens, a decent (and decently-priced) housing market and virtually zero crime. Sure, there’s not much to do there, but so what? You can be sure your kids are safe walking around town and you can sleep with your doors unlocked.  From what I understand, Oak Ridge used to be like that.  It’s a shame it isn’t still.