Jen's Visit

This past weekend, my niece Jenni and her two kids, Ben and Rachel, came from California for a visit. We haven’t seen them for over a year so it was a real treat. They were only here for a 4 day weekend so we spent a lot of time visiting one another rather than the sites. I think our old home movies were the hit of the visit, at least for Jenni.
We did make it to Franklin though for a look at Carnton Plantation and the downtown area. Franklin was founded in 1799 and has kept its charming downtown area with brick sidewalks and townsquare. The streets are filled with unique shops including local crafts, clothing and restaurants. We ended our walk through town with lunch at the Mellow Mushroom for delicious pizza.



Franklin During the Civil War
The Civil War brought skirmishes, spies and the burning and raiding of homes. On November 30, 1864 came the bloody and tragic Battle of Franklin, where Confederate forces charged entrenched Union soldiers near the Carter House and died by the thousands. The five hours of fighting resulted in Confederate losses of more than 6,000 and Union losses of more than 2,000.
Carnton Plantation was built by Randal McGavock in 1826. It was inherited by Randal’s son, John, who lived there with his wife Carrie. It became the largest Confederate field hospital as many wounded were brought in for treatment. This story was immortalized in Robert Hicks’ bestseller
The Widow of the South. 2 acres of land was designated a final burial place for confederate soldiers that died during that battle.

Breast Cancer Walk

Saturday, October 10, was Nashville’s Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure, for breast cancer research. The race was a 5k walk or run in Brentwood. It was a cold and wet day but we headed out around 9, all wearing our pink t-shirts a friend had made for us. Instead of running the race, we visited the booths and observed the end of the walk. When they announced the survivors I lost it. It was exciting to see so many women, men and children of all ages participating. There were pink capes, hair, t-shirts and even a pink goatee. We then headed over to Radnor Lake to participate in our own 1.4 mile walk. It was decided that instead of donating $35 each to run in the 5k we’d rather donate some money to my dear friend Cindy Athon. Cindy is an almost 4 year breast cancer survivor. She’s a good friend, a sister in Christ, and a sister in the fight against breast cancer. Cindy came over right away when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2007. I was devastated, but she was there for me. (Jim was at work, Carey was in TN, Cory was in Madagascar, my sister and mom were in Hawaii, Caleb was in L.A., Charley was there with me.) She will be walking 60 miles over a 3 day period in San Diego to support the Susan G. Komen breast cancer research fund which provides research, education, screening and treatment. She has been training with her friend Jessica and they each need to to raise $2,300. Cindy is about 82% to her goal. So, our family decided to do something different. Instead of each of us paying the registration fee for the Nashville walk, we had our own walk at Radnor Lake. We will then all donate to Cindy’s walk. As we walked our 1.4 miles along the trail, I thought of Cindy. She loves to hike and backpack. In fact, I’m a bit jealous. She and her husband, Don, and sometimes her daughters, take trips quite regularly into the Sierras and other remarkable places. They recently hiked over Mono Pass at an elevation of 12,000 feet. Amazing! Hope you enjoy the pictures of our walk around the lake. If you think of them, remember Cindy and Jessica on their 60 mile walk to help erradicate breast cancer.

Soda Pop Junction!

Soda Pop Junction, in the quaint town of Lynnville, is a darling old fashioned soda shop. They specialize in steaks, sandwiches and are known as being home to the #1 hamburger and #2 milkshake in the state of Tennessee. (They couldn't tell me who makes the #1 shake.) The chocolate milkshake was delicious though and the BBQ was great too. A few hours after the Ham Festival, Charley was ready to play guitar for Kelsey at the Junction. It was a lot of fun and Cory and I were glad we went. We've been wanting to go for a while now to see another friend play. That's coming up in a couple of weeks so we'll have to return and take the rest of the family. Discovery Channel's Globe Trekker has also filmed one of their shows here.
Lynnville was named for Lynn Creek which was named after the linden (or linn) trees that grew along its banks. Lynnville was a flourishing town before the Civil War, then was burned and destroyed during the war. In 1860, the Central-Southern Railroad was completed and now the train depot has been restored and made into a museum. An antique steam locomotive is on display.