--decide to go to Nashville--about 3.5 hour drive
--enjoy a sunset cruise on the General Jackson Showboat on the Cumberland River featuring dinner and a presentation of country music songs down through the years--Tammy Wynette is my personal favorite and brings back memories of a college dorm room resounding with “Stand By Your Man”. We’re not huge country music fans so some songs we knew but quite a few we didn’t. Had some great fiddling as part of the show which we thoroughly enjoyed
--stay in an RV park that was under 15 ft of water in some places during the May, 2010 Nashville flood--we had not heard about it at all
Monday morning we drove south towards Chattanooga. We had picked up a brochure about some major Civil War battles fought in that area in 1863 in what is now designated the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. A large promontory called Lookout Mountain, a confederate stronghold, was the site of a major victory for the newly appointed head of the Union army, Major General Ulysses S. Grant. It was a foggy day so the battle is known as the Battle Above the Clouds (such a lovely sounding name for an incredibly bloody encounter with 1,231 casualties). The Union army drove the Confederates off the mountain.
The next day, the Union army stormed the nearby confederate-held Missionary Ridge with orders to halt at the bottom. However, in the heat of battle, the troops surged forward up the ridge anyway and at a critical moment in the charge, an 18 year old named Arthur MacArthur races to the top and inspires…“his regiment by seizing and planting the regimental flag on the crest of Missionary Ridge…shouting "On Wisconsin”… Some seventeen years later he will father a son named Douglas MacArthur.
There is now an informative visitor’s center and park at the top of Lookout Mountain as well as a commercial venture that does a sound and light show with a three dimensional diorama using five thousand miniature soldiers--was very informative and even dramatic! But we were overdue for starting our 3 hour drive south to Atlanta and eager to see Benji and his parents.
Using our GPS unit is always interesting to me. At times, it gives perfect directions. At other times, Mark the map-reader is dissatisfied with the provided directions and does his own thing. At yet other times, it gives strange and constantly changing directions. The later is what happened on our way to Jon and Arianne’s house. Mark was driving to begin with and was obviously sure that I was doing something wrong. I recommended that we exit the freeway and switch places. However, Mark was equally mystified trying to read the GPS (to my secret delight, of course). We finally arrived feeling somewhat harried. Of course, seeing Benji totally cleared our minds!
11. Tennessee--Agriculture and commerce….I guess they couldn’t decide what nickname to use for Tennessee because the list goes on and on…Volunteer State, Big Bend State, Hog & Hominy State, the Mother of Southwestern Statesmen--take your pick, I guess
12. Georgia--Wisdom, justice, and moderation/Peach State
As Arianne says, "The newest representative of the Peach State!"
Love that smile. I think A&J should consider Benji in ads for the peach state--just kidding, sort of.
ReplyDeleteAnd does seem that AC is a recurring theme.
Barb