What is great about Tennessee besides the people are the lakes. We used to go fishing all the time all over Nashville, my dad once lost the outboard motor to our aluminum boat. For some reason it fell off into the water - maybe he didn't have it bolted down far enough on the mount - as we were towing out, in about 6 feet of water! We were worried sick because he was underwater for what seemed like a minute and he amazed us when he came up with it. Mounted it back on the aluminum boat and off we went, 20 minutes later, to catch some crappie!!!

The valleys around Nashville are something incredible too, the rolling hills, some of the prettiest country in all of the U.S. and land the Cherokee Nation did not want to leave. They were forced to march to "Indian Territory" in what is now Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears and their territory in Tennessee was basically stolen from a backstabbing man who became president known as Andrew Jackson. I feel compelled to say something about this, why do we honor such a man by putting his ugly mug on the $20 bill?

I don't remember going there but supposedly Knoxville is a great little city with beautiful terrain and home of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, home of the Volunteers. They have some great sports fans in Tennessee and have what was known as the Houston Oilers, the Tennessee Titans who play in Nashville.

The city of Nashville has grown tremendously since we moved from there in 1965. Of course most people know it as the Country Music Capital of the World but it's a nice liveable city with friendly people and some nice weather. I know I wanna go back for a visit the next chance I have...

Memphis is a nice southern town too and home of Elvis "The Pelvis" Presley. Not to belittle Elvis or anything, I can't say I'm a fan or anything, the guy obviously had some talent - he could sing and dance - but in my opinion he simply copied black music and artists and adapted it to the commercial market. His sound was very much a commercial version of R & B as were other "mainstream" artists of that era.

Tennessee links:
Guide to the Incredible Smoky Mountains
Guide to one of my favorite places: Nashville
Smyrna, Tennessee - Actually we lived here which is a suburb of Nashville.

Sports
Baseball
Chattanooga Lookouts
Elizabethton Twins
Johnson City Cardinals
Kingsport Mets
Tennessee Smokies
Memphis Redbirds - Great logo and a great baseball town!
Nashville Sounds
West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx

NHL
Nashville Predators

NBA
Memphis Grizzlies - Need to change the name of their mascot, when's the last time a grizzly was spotted in Tennessee, the Ice Age?! Still it's not as dumb as the Los Angeles Lakers!!!

Universities
Austin Peay State University
East Tennessee State University
Lipscomb University - A private, Christian university which used to have a great baseball program, formerly known as David Lipscomb University.
Middle Tennessee State University
Tennessee State University
University of Memphis - The Tigers
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
University of Tennessee at Martin
University of Tennessee at Memphis
Vanderbilt University