Last Saturday my Mountain Boy, my dog and I had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel in Manchester with my oldest son and his wife.
It is always good to see my son. I greatly missed him during my time away from Tennessee.
We are spending Thanksgiving with him, his wife, and our in-laws - heading to Murfreesboro this afternoon for turkey and stuffing and all the over-abundant and over-indulgent rest of it.
Last year on this day LC was in Alabama, one of my sons was in Tennessee and the other was in New Brunswick, my dog was in one of those doggie-jail daycare places in Juneau and I was on a ferry on the way to Sitka Alaska.
Cold and alone and tired and lonely and worried and overburdened and separated in many senses of the word.
I spent a very very good week in Sitka.
Had a wonderful time exploring that very beautiful Southeast Alaskan village, and ate a free Thanksgiving meal with friendly strangers in a bar...........
While we were in the Cracker Barrel Jamie stayed in the truck during breakfast but still managed to (as she always does) get a little of the typically Southern cooking that is the dominant menu at this typically Southern restaurant.
LC as long as I have known him has always wrapped a little bit of something in a napkin whenever we go to a restaurant and brought it out for our mutt.
James always stands on the console while we are in the restaurant, eagerly and excitedly watching the action around her and then eagerly and excitedly watching LC when he steps out of the restaurant knowing that he is bringing her something.
She looks so much bigger than she actually is up on that console, and her perceived size all but guarantees that no-one will mess with our truck while we are gone.
She in return becomes the eager recipient of left over whatevers.
With the day warm but obviously cooling, grey and threatening rain, we took a short walk after breakfast at Old Stone Fort State Park in Manchester before heading back to the house.
It is a hugely interesting place with a lot of history.
Although this link is dedicated to children's learning, I included it not only for information re: Old Stone Fort but also because it includes other links to other interesting areas in this region:
We did not walk the whole place because eventually it did rain, but we walked for a while and then I spent some time exploring the free museum located inside the Visitor's Center while LC and Jamie headed back to the truck.
I will head back to the park on another day to take more pictures and walk further and explore further.........
Located very close to the parking lot, the Visitor's Center is built entirely of local stone and partially buried into an embankment..............
A beautifully carved and very rustic canoe sitting on the grounds immediately outside the center...........
I have only been to this park once before, about a year before leaving for Alaska.
I have seen prettier pictures of the park at different times of year.
Right now Tennessee is in late Fall.
There are no more Fall colors. Rather we are now fully in the color of brown.
Bare, primarily hardwood trees.
Warm some days, cold others, grey skies, blue skies, ice, fog, rain, sunshine.
A never-ending and changeable weather adventure..........
The Big Duck and Little Duck Rivers both converge in this area.
The last time I was here the river looked gorgeous and everything was very green.
Instead of walking to the left (as the directional arrows suggested on the trail) we headed to the right.
Sean had already called me to tell me that he was hitting rain on I-24 as he headed back to Nashville.
I wanted to take pictures of the trails and the waterfalls that I knew we could easily access to the right before the rain found its way to Manchester..........
Waterfall pictures taken from on-high and still close to the Visitor's Center.
We headed down the right trail focused on working our way down to the water...........
Although the three of us were walking in an incredibly historical state park we spent our brief time there last weekend talking, quietly wandering, letting Jamie set the pace, enjoying our explorations outside.
History would have to wait for another day...........
Ten minutes onto the quiet trail Jamie suddenly veered onto the grass, sniffed the ground excitedly, bounced on all fours like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh in that way she has had ever since she was a young pup and began digging the ground.
She had definitely found something and wanted it.............
LC and I stood watching her dig and scratch and bounce and whine, laughing at our goofy dog, enjoying how animated and excited she was, and then we pulled her away.
As with the Vooshen Slashens at the house, it is cute when she chases but truthfully we do not really want her to get anything.
We moved on before she had the chance to actually get whatever it was that she was so focused on getting..............
Eventually we found our way down to the water.
Bare trees, grey day, and quiet water.
Not the makings of beautiful pictures, but the makings of a beautiful outing.............
And despite our simply taking a walk in nature we did happen upon some of the ancient stone walls of the fortress.............
A beautiful picture none-the-less............
After seeing these walls the other day I knew that I was going to have to come back here again soon.
There is history here beyond belief...............
Jamie (acting as Point Dog as she always does) led the way up the hill as we searched for a way to hook back up to the trail that we knew led back to the Visitor's Center.
She bushwhacked up the hill route finding as she went, and did indeed lead us directly back up to the trail..........
Two beautiful pictures of the falls as I was heading back up the hill, following my guy and my dog..............
I am not really certain how many people are actually reading this blog anymore but to those who are taking the time to read this - thank you and
HAPPY THANKSGIVING...........
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