A Tennessee Sunday

This past Sunday, we drove 20 mins from the house to Long Hunter State Park to hike the Day Loop Trail.  The husband, kiddos and dog were going to hike just over a mile to a beach on the lake and back, while I was going to do my first ever trail run on the 4 mile loop and catch up with them at the trailhead.  I need all the practice I can get before doing the Ragnar Trail McDowell Mountain in November, plus I wanted to break in my snazzy new trail shoes!  It was a beautiful, sunny day so shorts and t-shirts were in order.  As soon as we stepped on to the trail, a family warned us that they'd seen 3 snakes - not such a good way to start your day!  

3 little Camelbaks

 

I started running with the older 2 kiddos.  We ran about a mile until we reached the beach, then turned around and ran back to meet up with the rest of the crew. The husband told me he'd seen 2 snakes, both entwined with each other (it's snake mating season apparently).  He said it was very disconcerting because they were moving around so fast that he didn't know where they were headed so he could avoid them.  Shudder!  So glad I didn't see that, but it made me a bit nervous for the remainder of the trail that I would be running on my own!

 

 
We hung out at the beach for a while, chucking sticks for Molly, wading in the lake and just hanging out in the sun.  There were a lot of boats on the lake and it was just a perfect, sunny day.

Molly cooling off

After a while, the rest of the family headed back the same way we came in and I started to run the remaining 3 miles of trail back to the trailhead to meet them.  The trail had a lot of rocks, roots and hills and it was a lot of fun, although the terrain made me slower than normal.  It was pretty nerve wracking running along the bluffs because if a snake had come at me from the woods, I would probably have just jumped off the bluffs which wouldn't have been good!  Luckily, I didn't see any of the nasty things.  But I also didn't see any other people either which was kinda creepy.  Although I loved the challenge of the trail, I wouldn't have minded seeing some other runners or hikers.  I was leery most of the way and jumpy at all the noises that I heard coming from the woods - snakes or serial killers?!
 

Mummy in 'action' :)

Off on my lonesome

I met up with the family just before the trailhead and the kids ran the rest of the way with me.  Molly was exhausted by now, poor old dog! Instead of going to a restaurant on the way home, we stopped at a gas station and got some corn nuts

Why did none of my friends tell me about these awesome things?!

(first time I've ever had this delicious, salty snack!) and beer to have in the back yard when we got home.  The perfect redneck way to finish off a fabulous day!  I LOVED the trail running (apart from being a scaredy cat) and I'm really looking forward to my next run in the woods.  But next time, I'm not running alone!  

Well and truly broken in!

A Tennessee Sunday

Most Sundays we like to load everyone (including the dog) into the van, drive someplace new, do some hiking and then reward ourselves with some good food and drinkies afterwards.  Because we're not from here, we still feel like tourists because there's always somewhere new to go!  This past Sunday we drove to Edwin Warner State Park near Nashville.  We were originally headed to Percy Warner State Park but we couldn't find the entrance (bloody GPS), so Edwin had to do.  Rain was forecast so we'd picked this place mostly for the tree cover, just in case.  It was a scenic and easy drive up there and the sun was shining.  We parked at the huge nature center, headed into the woods and hiked on some great trails for around 4 miles, stopping to mess around in the river and climb some rocks.  Happy kids and happy hund!   

We planned on going to the Loveless Cafe afterwards, just a few miles further up Hwy 100 and close to the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway.   It was almost 3pm when we got there and we knew it was likely going to be busy, but there was already a 1 hr 30 min wait!  We messed around outside, tried out the rocking chairs, played some cornhole and bought some bbq rub in the store to kill time.  The Loveless Cafe has been serving food since 1951 and is mostly famous for it's biscuits, preserves, ham and red-eye gravy.  It has won many awards and has even been visited by fellow Brit, Princess Anne :)  There are lots of signed photos of many of the celebrities who have visited in the entryway. 

 

The time passed quickly and we were led to our table.

The husband and me had been before for breakfast, so we were looking forward to trying the supper options this time.  I was excited to see Mimosa in a Mason Jar on the drinks menu, I can't say no to some champers whatever time of day it is and a mason jar isn't exactly small :)  Thanks to the husband who volunteered to drive home!  

We were brought our plate of free biscuits (kind of like salty, moist Scottish scones) and homemade preserves as soon as we sat down. The kids demolished those, the husband and me hardly got a look in. 

They were really excited to watch the chefs out back in the kitchen make the biscuits, they're served up all day long and absolutely delicious.

They sure don't get that excited watching me cooking at home of course!   I ordered the bbq turkey breast with corn pancakes, hash brown casserole and coleslaw

and the husband had the bbq pork chops with fries and coleslaw, it couldn't have been better.   A nice touch on the kids menu was that after they colored the pictures and turned them in to the gift store, they got a piece of candy.   Molly got some leftover pork and turkey, so she wasn't left out :) 

I'm going to head back to this Park to run the trails when I start training for my next Ragnar which is a Trail Relay in AZ.  I'd recommend today's day out to anybody with kids and dogs, Tennessee is beautiful, but even more so when the sun is shining!  So grateful that the forecast rain didn't appear.  Looking forward to continuing our Sunday tradition of hiking and eating our way round Middle Tennessee :)