Nashville Visit

We were in Nashville last weekend to visit Jessica, Mike and Maia. Maia was a little unsure of us when we arrived and stayed pretty close to her mom and dad, but that changed over the course of our visit.

You may have seen The Colbert Report recently when Ann Patchett was his guest. In addition to doing a good job of keeping Colbert in line, Ms. Patchett talked about the book store she recently opened in Nashville. Since Kathie and I are fans of her writing, we decided to visit the shop. Steven was impressed that Kathie had taken the time to stop by. We didn't buy any books, but we loved the way the store was organized and the fact that there were lots of display tags near the books that provided synopses and recommendations by store staff, many by Ms. Patchett herself. Alas, she was not there that particular day.

A new barbecue restaurant opened very near Jess and Mike recently, so we enjoyed a lunch there. Because that pretty much did in our allowed calorie counts for the day, we decided that supper would consist only of a trip to the also nearby ice cream shop. Maia was all over that idea.

The 50s and 60s music they played got Maia into a dancing mood too.

She must have her picture taken a lot, because she knew where to look when a camera showed up.

On Sunday, Mike and Jess suggested a picnic at one of Tennessee's state parks—Rock Island State Park, which is about an hour and a half east and a bit south of Nashville. The Caney Fork River runs through the park, which is dominated by some spectacular limestone cliffs. There are many rapids and falls, and the state has introduced sandy play areas and many picnic spots.

Swimming, playing in the rapids and jumping into deep pools is a favorite thing to do there, as long as you don't disturb the many fishermen who were there looking for panfish and bass.

A group of guys were busy trying to push a large tree trunk into the water. It took them awhile, and we were concerned that one or more of them was going to go into the water with it and get hurt. However, they eventually succeeded and then got into the water and rode the trunk as the current moved it along.

There was an interesting old cotton mill nearby, although it went out of operation in the early 1900s.

Across the road was this old tower that had at one time been part of a system to collect spring water for use by a nearby community.

We hiked down from the mill area to the river below.

Maia didn't have to hike.

She did get to go swimming with her dad for a little while.

Kathie thought someone should document the fact that I was there too.

Mike couldn't resist jumping into one of the pools. I guess the water was pretty icy, although the temperatures were in the mid-80s the entire time we were in Tennessee.

Our last evening there, we visited a cafe that we have enjoyed several times before. The food was outstanding. Maia flirted extensively with the wait staff. We definitely topped our allowed calorie counts that day! Next visit, I need to get Maia's mom in more of the pictures.