u/6WaysFromNextWed

Add your suggestions and reviews or fight me in the comments! I am including local chains with multiple locations but not regional or national chains, and I am skipping paleterias/La Michoacana places unless they focus on ice cream instead of Popsicles, shaved ice, and fruit cups with a sad frostbitten case of ice cream at the end of the counter. (My kid and I are on a separate mission to find the perfect fresas con crema, but are in disagreement over the qualities we look for.)

I am listing shops by metro area and I'm arbitrarily rolling Smyrna into Murfreesboro because Nashville is ridiculous and I don't wanna drive that way. I have some additional places near Murfreesboro I'm going to try and will update later. I wonder if anybody in Knoxville or Johnson City can extend our road trip data up I-81.

Chattanooga
Don't miss: Clumpies for a bright and friendly local stop for traditional and quirky flavors

Also try: Milk & Honey for gelato at a place that also has Southern brunch and a mimosa bar

In a pinch: Kay's Kastles in Soddy Daisy, a cash-only mom and pop place that needs a makeover

Skip: The Ice Cream Show, which has nothing-special soft-serve ice cream and just has a big selection of mix-ins

Murfreesboro
Don't miss: Janarty's Homemade Ice Cream in Smyrna, for a tiny shop with a small rotation of amazing flavors plus tea, coffee, lemonade, and specialty cookies. Their waffle cones are excellent (and gluten-free, so I didn't expect to love them so much).

In a pinch: Karen's Kustard and Hamburgers in Smyrna, which is soft serve ice cream, not custard, at a fantastic drive-through dive with parking and covered picnic tables. Stop here for greasy burgers and filling fried sides, with a swirled raspberry lemon cone for dessert.

Skip: The Soda Bar by Van Horn's Cookies. They are relying on overwhelming, nauseating sweetness instead of flavor. I have a killer sweet tooth but I tried this place twice, with other people the second time, and none of us liked what we had.

What kind of jobs are there? I see pipefitters using the scaffolds I built to do rigging at nuke outages, and I did framing once at a college campus where the pipefitters were elderly sunburned men lifting heavy pipe into position alone by hand.

I do not want to lift heavy pipe by hand! Is there any commercial plumbing going on? Welding? HVAC? Or is the UA a career path to jamming pipe together?