Saturday, August 1, 2009

made it to Nashville

We completed the final 200 miles of the trace on Friday bringing us to Nashville late Fri evening. The big hits of the day were the vistitor center that gave a nice video of the trail, stopping for ice cream in a SMALL town called Collinswood. We had to go to the corner Hasti Mart which was the corner gas station and eatery. The girls quickly picked up that it was the town gathering spot with everyone greeting people by name as they entered. It was a neat glimpse of how small town USA is. Another side trip and highlight was to Tuscumbia, AL, the hometown of Helen Keller. It was a great site with her orginal house and most of the furnishings inside. The museum there was also well done with so many of her items and pictures. One thing that we learned was that she is buried in the National Catherdral in Wash. DC. Even though we have been there a few times we never knew that and were told that they don't tell people that fact often unless you ask about it........They told us there was a great town park we could picnic at so we headed there before making our way back on the road. Expecting a plot of land with a few trees was not what we should have been thinking. It was a huge amazing area with a lake filled with swans and geese, a water fall, a big playground, a merry go round and a train that circled the open picnic areas. How fun. Lauryn fed the geese the crust off her sandwhich feeling bad that she didn't have enough for all 75 or so geese!! Back on the trace, at our next stopt we hiked to a creek hoping to see beavers but saw nothing except a park ranger. We told her what other stops we were making along the trail and she said that she would be making a presentation at the next one. It was the Meriweather Lewis memorial site where he died and was buried. Four years ago when we drove out west we learned about and followed at times the Lewis and Clark trail. It was nice to have that background when visiting here. From here we drove on a part of the original trace and found another hiking trail. This time not only did we see a beaver dam but the beaver as well. What a treat. Our last stop was the Jackson Falls which was a steep 900 foot hike down to peaceful and beautiful falls. Quite a kodak location. Wildlife that we saw today, besides the beaver, was deer, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, skunk and 2 dogs (both that belong to people living along the trace - not strays) We have been amazed how few people have been traveling on the trace - we would be the only car for miles on end and the only people at the stops along the way. At the visitors center we did see two other people!! The last 20 miles or so we were all done with the trail and eager to make it to Nashville.

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