One of the reasons I enjoy working from home is the flexibility that it provides. Two weeks ago, while a teacher friend of mine was on fall break, we spent a weekday morning hiking at Machine Falls, a trail southeast of Nashville.The trail is in the middle of nowhere, and when we arrived at 8am, we were the only people there. (We were both glad that we hadn’t gone alone.) The Machine Falls Loop is only 1.6 miles, although we ventured onto a few offshoot trails.
We came across a few smaller waterfalls before arriving at the main attraction.
Machine Falls, the largest waterfall along the trail, is what everyone comes to see. When we arrived, we sat down to enjoy a snack while taking in the beauty of the falls.
On our way back to the parking lot, we came across an old foundation, probably from a cabin of some sort.
On the same day, we also stopped in Murfreesboro at the Stones River National Battlefield. Now a beautiful park, it was the location of the Battle of Stones River, one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Civil War.
With Major General William S. Rosecrans commanding the Union forces and General Braxton Bragg in charge of the Confederate forces, the battle began on New Year’s Eve 1862 and lasted until January 2nd, 1863. Although just a three-day battle, there were more than 23,000 casualties.
Mr. Handsome and I had visited the battlefield once before, and my favorite part was walking through the trenches that were used by the soldiers. Although they are not nearly as deep as they were 150 years ago, they are still very visible.
These photos aren’t great, but I’ll share them anyways. In the first picture, I am standing in the trenches. The yellow lines in the second snapshot show where the trenches are.
