Daniel Boone's Backyard

Cumberland Falls

I’ve finally cooled off from my trip to Tennessee and Kentucky for a family reunion. I don’t think it dipped below 75 degrees the whole time that we were there. The real problem however was the humidity. Us Pacific NorthWesters had a hard time handling the intense humidity, which lead to very little physical activity outside the occasional hike or trail jog. Note: trail JOG.

Rock Island State Park

Anyway, the fam and I flew into Tennessee last Wednesday night and proceeded to Rock Island State Parkin TN the next morning and eventually ended up in Kentucky’s Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. Rock Island State Park was a little oasis in the middle of Tennessee. The girls and I spent the afternoon sitting under waterfalls, swimming the river and jumping off rocks. We were definitely sad to leave and get back into hot rental car (the 2012 Ford Explorer had 44 miles on it when we got it and 700+ when we returned it) for another 3hr drive through the back roads of Tennessee and Kentucky.

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park (yes very wordy title) is Kentucky’s finest and most popular state resort park and hosts the nation’s 2^nd largest waterfall, only trumped by the Queen, Niagara Falls. The park was surrounded by miles of trail and the mighty Shelktowee Trail. Lodging included cabins, mini cabins, hotel rooms and campsites.

Eagle Falls

Maybe I should get a tan...

  The next few days included watching our relatives drink copious amounts of Milwaukie’s Best, while I tried my best to choke down the swill of the local Nashville microbrewery, Yazoo. Their intense hop flavor didn’t quite compare to the brews of the mighty PNW. But hey, gotta drink local and I was glad that there were local options to choose from.

The fam on top of a fire lookout

 All in all, the reunion was a joyous occasion with many stories both true and fictional. It was great to meet distant relatives and form new relationships. We bonded over line dancing, swimming, hiking and long humid nights under the moon.

After leaving Cumberland Falls, the fam spent a few hours exploring Mammoth Cave National Park. We descended into the dark depths of the caves and visited the underground flowstone waterfall called, Frozen Niagara. The tour was extremely crowded, but it was nice to get out of the heat for awhile.

 

Frozen Niagara

 After that we jumped back into the car and headed for the honky tonks of Nashville. With both sisters under 21, we weren’t able to visit many honky tonks, but it was still fun to walk the streets and hit all the tourist traps. We ate dinner at a local brewery and each had wonderful meals ranging from shrimp and grits to jambalaya.

On the final day of our trip, megan and I did a jog through Vanderbuilt Univeristy to get a feel for the college campus and stretch out our legs. That afternoon we drove out to the world famous, Loveless Café, home of the world’s best biscuits. We dined in the shadows celebrity patrons and feasted on some good ol southern soul food including, fried chicken, fried catfish, caramelized sweet potatoes, fried okra, BBQ peach pork loins, and BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. Needless to say that I was extremely full when I left.

I had a great vacation with the family. Good to spend some time with everyone. Now happy to be back in Portland with great weather and looking forward to hitting the trails hard over the next couple of months.

UNT

Bryan