Outside!

It’s official... I love Nashville! I miss Jeff, my family, and Clemson, but I’m really loving where I am now. When i first moved here I kinda wished I had found an apartment downtown so I could be in the middle of things. After exploring a little with Anne last weekend and some on my own this week I’ve decided that I made the best choice for me (and Jake). I live across the street from the Warner Parks. Edwin & Percy Warner parks combined are one of the largest city parks in the nation. I found out last week that they are building a dog park in Edwin Warner Park, which should be done in a month or so. So my plan of getting up at 5:30 to work out never materialized, but I’ve started a routine that I hope to stick to of taking Jake on a moderate 3 mile hike/trail run. I’ve been the past two days. It feels so good to be out and active again. Jake is finally a man. He lifted his leg to pee on a tree today for the first time in his 2 and a half years of existence. That’s my boy!

Last weekend Anne and I went mountain biking at Hamilton Creek, which is right by Percy Priest Lake. We had a blast. It was the first time I had ridden in at least 6 months and it kicked my ass to say the least. There were 2 loops, novice and advanced. Of course we decided to do the advanced loop. When I lived in Atlanta Anne came down to visit and go mountain biking once. We also went to a park with a novice and advanced loop. The advanced loop at that park was a joke, the one at Hamilton Creek on the other hand was not. It was a pretty sweet trail, a lot like Issaqueena but more rocky and less rooty. There wasn’t much elevation change, but the rocks made things quite interesting. There were plenty of drops and jumps. While Anne was here we also checked out the Natchez Trace Parkway. The northern terminus is on Highway 100 about 4 miles from my apartment. We drove a mile or so, but it was getting dark. The trace follows the path of an old indian “trace” 444 miles to Natchez, Mississippi. The Warner Parks have dozens of paved scenic drives and paved and dirt trails. Between the park and the parkway there are going to be plenty of places to work on being a roadie.