Knoxville Basketball Tournament

Day 1: Smokey Mountain National Park & Navitat Ropes Course

Kaylee and I flew to Knoxville along with a few of other teammates for her last basketball tournament with the Jupiter Jaguars. We arrived a day early and so had some free time for which we decided to go to Smokey Mountain National Park and do some hiking. We did a five mile hike to a waterfall. The hike was challenging for us Floridians used to flat terrain. This hike had lots of hills and it was one of the hottest days of the year in Knoxville. Thankfully the trail was shaded and ended in a waterfall so we could cool off. Unfortunately, Kaylee wore some Chacos that she hadn't worn in a year, so ended up with five blisters., which wasn't the best since she was there to play basketball!

After hiking, we had a nice lunch and then headed to Jodi's house. We cooled off in their pool while catching up, had a nice spaghetti dinner and then met up with the team for a ropes course. The ropes course was amazing! We did it at night, so the course was all lit up with beautiful white lights. The course was very challenging and tons of fun!

Day 2: Basketball & Team Dinner

We spent the day running errands with Jodi and the girls. It was great catching up with my dear friend. Kaylee is so good with her girls and enjoyed her time playing with them. We had our first game and lost to a really great team. We ended the night with a nice dinner on the river.

Day 3: Basketball & Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Two more basketball games today. We won one and lost one. Tournament was frustrating, as Kaylee didn't get the playing time she usually does. Not fun traveling 12 hours to sit on the bench. Thankfully, we had fun with Jodi and her family and each other. We toured the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, which was really interesting. One of the girls highlighted was Kelly Jolly, who I remember playing against at my AAU Nationals back when I was in middle school. She ended up playing for University of Tennessee. 

Day 4: Church, Basketball and Father's Day Dinner

Our game wasn't until mid day, so we had time to go to church with Jodi and her family. We then went and played two more games, which again were quite frustrating for Kaylee, but the team made it to the finals. We ended the day with dinner at one of Jodi's friends' homes. She made us an amazing Korean dinner. We had a great night with friends.

Day 5: Paddle Boarding and Flight Home

Our flight wasn't until 6 pm, so we had time to go out to breakfast with Jodi and Hannah and then went paddle boarding. It was a great morning.