Cultured, Tennessee Style

In addition to seeing lots of friends and family, our 3.5 weeks in Tennessee were also a chance to dive back into southern culture, after a longstanding sojourn in Yankee territory. Though we both sound like Upper Midwesterners through and through, we found tons of things to enjoy. One of those was taking Maggie on her first hike. We stopped by Sewanee, at the foot of the Appalachians, and decided to take a brief hike down to Bridal Veil Falls, which weren't much to see, but the whole scenery was wonderful, and Maggie loved (most of) it.

Last week, Grammy and Grandpa Tim volunteered to babysit, so just the two of us went out for a night on the town, but being in Nashville that meant whole hog BBQ with a side of auto repair. We had heard from our friend Nato that this hole-in-the-wall BBQ shack was getting rave reviews nationwide, and so we had to partake. It was Dixie-proud to the bone-with delicious meat and sauces. And yes, they share the building with an auto repair shop, and I'm sure wouldn't have it any other way.

One important local part of Tennessee life is Eric's home for four summers, Camp Widjiwagan, a YMCA day camp, now with overnight camp as well. We got to go out to dinner with the director, and Maggie got to pose in her "Future Widjiwagan Camper". She matched her dad, since he chose an old camp shirt for the occassion, but has so many of them, odds were high he would have one on anyways.