On Saturday (November 19), we were proud to participate in a volunteer day at Better Days Dog Rescue (the location where we were staying). The owner, Savannah, had previously lived out west and run a successful mobile dog grooming business. She eventually sold her business and used the funds to buy 11 acres in Tennessee where she wanted to start a small dog rescue. We had met with her during the week and talked out a few issues and provided advice based on our experiences building fencing at our prior home and lessons learned from Angel’s previous jobs at a vet clinic and our mutual experience at Butternut Farms Sanctuary in Ohio where we had both volunteered for years. On Saturday, several volunteers came out and our goal for the day was to start work on a large privacy fence right off the barn so the dogs would have a safe outdoor space. John and Savannah drove into town to pick up an auger from the local rental store and thank goodness for that auger. The soil in the field where we were was thick clay and when they had leveled the land for the pole barn, it seems that the top layer of soil was just scraped back and left, pretty much doubling the layer of clay just below the surface. It took three men and the auger (catchy title for a movie perhaps?) about an hour to dig the first hole. The freeze line for Tennessee is about 12 inches plus the fence was going to be an 8ft privacy fence so we needed to dig deep enough to get the poles in and pour the concrete without the fence blowing over easily. Thankfully, after the first few holes we hit regular soil and things moved quickly after that. While the holes were being dug outside, work was also being done inside to put down waterproof mats in the stalls that had been built and then fuse the seams to make it easier to keep clean. We all worked for several hours and managed to get some work done inside in addition to digging the post holes and cementing in most of the posts. John also continued working off and on during the rest of our stay to finish hanging the stringers for the fence pickets.
On Sunday, we drove to the tiny town of Bell Buckle (which John has butchered the name of in every way possible – usually some combination of the words Blue, Belt, Bell and Buckle) on the recommendation of a friend who insisted that she had some amazing Fried Green Tomatoes at one of the cafes there. Unfortunately, fried green tomatoes are out of season in that part of Tennessee in November. Fortunately, it was an adorable little town with a handful of small businesses, including a café and a post office, arranged in a row opposite a railroad tracks (if you have ever seen the movie or read the book Fried Green Tomatoes – this town made Angel feel like she was in Whistle Stop which she pointed out several times during our visit). While we didn’t get our green tomatoes, we did order lunch from the café which came with one main dish and THREE sides each plus bread. We ordered the chicken pot pie with new potatoes, broccoli salad, broccoli rice casserole and cornbread and the pork chop with carrot casserole, sweet potato casserole, fried okra, and a dinner roll. Because we are also insane, we ordered the fried biscuits with apple butter as an appetizer (think homemade biscuit donuts).
After having lunch and spending a few hours in Bell Buckle, we still weren’t ready to head back home so, John chose to take us for a hike Short Springs State Park in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Unfortunately, John didn’t tell Angel that he planned some hiking so she wasn’t in the best hiking clothes or shoes and we were a little rushed because sunset was quickly approaching but we still managed to hike to Machine Falls and Busby Falls. The trails were fairly easy but very uneven and covered in slippery, fallen leaves so it was kind of slow going. Once we made it to Machine Falls, Angel decided it was best to not try to hike down the steep, slippery hill in tight fitting jeans and her Vans to avoid injury so she waited at the overlook area while John slipped, climbed and scrambled his way down the side of the ravine to see the falls up close. It was absolutely gorgeous and he spent some time just admiring the water cascading down the rocks and even laid on a large rock outcropping and enjoyed the sunshine while listening to the water. He then clamored back up the slope using vines and roots as climbing holds like he thought he was Tarzan or something and we continued the hike on to Busby Falls.
These were less impressive than Machine Falls but much easier to get to with a clear trail leading down to a wooden bridge over the stream. We stood and watched the water for as long as we could until we finally had to admit that we needed to head back to the trailhead to make it before dark so we played one game of “Pooh Sticks” (if you don’t know what this is then I suggest reading/watching more Winnie the Pooh), which Angel won, and headed back through the woods to the car.
We treated ourselves to McAlister’s Deli on the way home because we were WAYYYY too tired to make dinner and had definitely worked off lunch. Angel had the Black Angus Club with Mac & Cheese and John had the King Club with a fruit cup. We were amazed to learn that there was a McAlister’s in the Columbus area but our terrible friends had just let us go on living our lives without sharing this life-changing knowledge so we never got to experience this deliciousness until now. So good.
This year was our first Thanksgiving away from family and it was definitely different. Typically, we are rushing to go to multiple houses and eat at least two giant meals during the course of the day so we were utterly stumped about what to do with ourselves for an entire day. Thankfully, the weather had finally turned nice (70 degrees!) and John and his obsession with waterfalls (he seriously looks for them everywhere we go) saved the day so we loaded up Miss Harley Q, grabbed a camera and hit the road for Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park (try saying that three times fast – or even once for that matter!). We hiked the Enclosure Trail (1.4 miles) and part of the Moat Trail (.45 miles) and loved every minute of it. Most of the trailway was easy going and we were able to go right up to three different waterfalls- Step Falls, Blue Hole Falls, and Big Falls.
The sign at the entrance to the park let us know that this area was an American Indian hilltop enclosure from the early mound building period, which was very cool as we had both grown up near Mound Builder’s Park in Heath, Ohio. These mounds were built following the edges of the Duck River and Little Duck River and the enclosed area was a large, flat field covered in tall grasses. We were also able to find the remains of an old paper mill that we explored a bit.
The waterfalls were amazing and this was probably the most fun thing we have done on our travels thus far. At one set of falls we were able to actually walk out into the river and sit on a ledge right over one of the falls. John crossed the stream and explored a small cave and Harley even got in on the fun by charging straight into the unknown waters and falling flat on her face several times. It turns out that our dog, who is afraid of literally everything, has absolutely no fear of rivers of unknown depth or very high cliff edges. Or maybe she is trying to end it all and escape this terrible life of abuse and neglect. Who knows?
I feel like this writeup is super short for the falls but there really aren’t words to describe how incredible the experience was or how at peace we felt just sitting on rocks in the middle of the river, basking in the sun, with water tumbling down rock faces and into crevices all around us. It was breathtaking. We Facetimed as many of our family members as we could from some of the falls but it just wasn’t enough. I really wished I could just pluck everyone I cared about from their homes back in Ohio and drop them right where I was standing so they could really understand and appreciate the serenity of this experience. Of course, no offense to my family, but having everyone together on a rock in the middle of a river would probably not be very serene for long as I am sure that someone would manage to start an argument about something and someone would probably end up being thrown off of one of those picturesque cliffs.
We are sharing a few photos here in this post but if you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for posts on Thanksgiving for more pictures and video. Or better yet, go visit this beautiful park yourself. You won’t regret it.
We finally had to drag ourselves away from the park because, once again, darkness was fast approaching and we were getting super hungry for Thanksgiving dinner. John wanted to be in charge of dinner this year so while he was preparing the turkey and mashed potatoes, Angel laid out some snacks (goat cheese and jam with crackers, summer sausage, and deviled eggs) and we just grazed while dinner cooked and then enjoyed our meal. It was definitely a modest meal in comparison to the insane feasts that our families were having but we enjoyed it.
