Hiking Adventure

This past Thursday my friend Matt and I decide to go hiking in Cumberland County, Tennessee. We started our day at the top of "Eagle Flight" cliff. The view was amazing and you could see for many miles.

We then started hiking down into the valley below. We traveled through a thick forest and climbed many large boulders.

 We finally made it to the valley and sate down on a flat rock beside a creek to eat our snack of an apple, orange, and a cliff bar.

This is the flat rock where we sat down to eat.

After we enjoyed our snack we decided to follow the trail down stream hoping to find a larger pool of water or maybe a waterfall since we know of two other falls in the same area. Before we knew it the trail had ended and something caught my attention im the corner of my eye. It was the mouth of a cave.

We traveled down into the cave and it was awesome. We talked to one of our friends that has hiked in this area many times before and he says that the cave goes for miles and at one point opens up to this huge cavern called "grand cavern". Unfortunately we had no head lambs or flashlights with us at the time so we have plans to go back next Thursday to travel back into the cave. Here are some of the shots of the cave that I have so far.

Me acting crazy.

We finished exploring the cave as much as we could and began the long 45 min hike back to the top of the mountain just in time for the sunset. The view was incredible and the sunset did not disappoint. Here are just a few of my favorite shots.

Matt doing a handstand "like a boss" on top of the cliff in front of the beautiful sunset.

We had a great day of hiking and I really enjoyed being outdoors in nature. I look forward to our next hike and we are making plans to go hiking at least once a week. It is great exercise, we enjoy hiking and being outdoors, and it will be a ton of fun. Check back for more updates soon.

Minister's Tree House

The final chapter of my Crossville, TN visit was so awesome and special that I had to write a separate blog post just for it. My friend Matt kept our last stop a secret from me. All he would tell me was “Trust me it's going to be awesome” which made me nervous because if you know my friend Matt, there is no telling what he is taking me to. As we drove closer and closer to the location my anticipation grew. Then finally through the trees a wooden structure appeared and I was blown away by what I saw. Let me show what I was looking at before I continue.

Yes, it what you think it is. A monster sized tree house! To be specific it is the Minster’s Tree House and it is believed to be the largest trees house in the world. It took Horace Burgess 14 years to build the tree house.  The structure stands 97 feet tall and it’s supported by six other strong trees.

Burgess says he started working on this giant tree house after he had a vision back in 1993. God spoke to him and said “If you build me a tree house, I’ll see you never run out of material.” And so he spent the next 14 years building God’s tree house using only salvaged materials.

I must say that this is a must see. With winding hallways and staircases it is a never ending world  of fun.  You can even go up a flight of  stairs to the top of the towers and ring the church bells, which are made out of old oxygen or argon tanks which have been cut in half. Here is a shot of the church bells with me beside them.

Here is the view from the top of the tower. As you can see in the grass a cross with rays coming off of it, an American flag, and Jesus in the foreground.

 As you walk through the tree house you will notice that some pathways lead to a wall or nothing, but that just adds to the fun of everything kind of like a maze. You can make your way to the middle of the structure and find where they actually hold church services every Sunday! There are 3 stories of balcony seats and floor level seats. This is a view from the pulpit in the church.

This is a hand carved wooden bible that the preacher preaches from. And on the left side of the wooden bible engraved on it is the word "His" and the right side "Word". 

 I talked to one of the caretakers of the tree house and she says it’s one of the only churches where bringing your pet is encouraged. I think that's pretty awesome if you ask me. As you walk outside you will notice a chair swing hung from the top of the structure that you can swing on and trust me it’s a ton of fun. This is a shot of the swing/chair and me just a swinging.

Another thing think that the Minister’s Tree House caretakers do is take in abused horse, 21 as of January 5, 2012 when we was there. The horses are super friendly and love people to come and see them. Here is the horse named "baby."

Here are some bonus shots of the Tree House

In conclusion, if you ever have the opportunity to stop by the Minister’s Tree House in Crossville, Tennessee I would definitely recommend it. It was a ton of fun but if you do stop by make sure you have plenty of time, like at least an hour, because it takes about that long to look at everything that is there to see. I have plans to go back this spring because the caretaker informed me that in the warmer months they allow people to walk out to the pond just beyond the tree house where wild flowers grow. Well this finishes up my Crossville Adventure trip but be sure to check back for new stuff coming soon.

Crossville Tennessee Adventure Part 2 of 2

After we left Grassy Cove Methodist we ate breakfast at a little local dinner called Edgewood. The food was very good and was extremely cheap. As we finished off our cups of coffee we planned where we wanted to go next. We decided to visit some local churches then head out to Cumberland Mountain State Park. I must say that there are a ton of churches in the area and I was only able to visit a few but I will show a couple of the bigger churches in the area.

This is Central Baptist Church. This church isn't an old church but I just love the look of it.

I apologize but I forgot the name of this Methodist Church but the is the new building which is connected to the original smaller church.

This is the original part of the Methodist Church.

After we stopped at these churches we continued on to beautiful Cumberland Mountain State Park. As we pulled into the park I was blown away by the scenery. The main attraction of the Park is a man made lake (or very large pond depending on how you look at it). The park also has many hiking trails that I plan on hiking this spring when all the wild flowers come out. Overall this is one of my favorite Tennessee State Parks that I have visited and would highly recommend it.

Here is the first picture of the front side of the dam.

Here is a shot of one of the many Canadian Geese that were on the lake.

This is a shot of the other side of dam.

Matt and I decided to climb up to the top of the dam just for fun and this is a shot of Matt at the top of it.

Of course I have to add a shot of me into the mix :)

Well that concludes most of my Crossville, Tennessee Adventure. I had a wonderful time and look forward to making a return trip this spring. A special thanks goes out to my friend Matt and his mom and dad for allowing me to stay at their house and for Matt driving me to all the locations. My last post about my Crossville visit will be posted Friday about the most unique church in the world. Trust me you will want to check this out! Until then thanks for stopping by.

Crossville Tennessee Adventure Part 1 of 2

My trip to Crossville, TN this past Thursday was a success. With the help of my good friend Matt we set out on an adventure to see some cool places in Crossville. The trip actually started Wednesday night when I drove up to Matt's House to spend the night. I enjoyed great food prepared by Matt's mom (Thanks Again) and had a great time hanging out and playing Modern Warfare 3. The plan for the next morning was to get up early (4:30 a.m. to be exact) and drive to Spring City Mountain and take some sunrise pics and boy was I not disappointed. We pulled up to the location about 20 mins early. In the distance you could see the nuclear cooling tower at Watts Bar Dam. A fog was laying over the valley below and far in the distance straight ahead you could see, what I believe to be the, start of the Smokey Mountains. It was a beautiful site and here is some of the pics from the morning.

The first shot is one that Matt took of me standing looking over the valley at the sunrise.

The second pic is of the sunrise soon afterward we had arrived. You can see in the background where the suns rays are just coming over what looks to be fog but actually that is the Smokey Mountains. We didn't realize it was a distance mountain until the sun was fully up and burned of some of the fog.

This is a shot of the Watts Bar cooling tower. I had to use my 80-300mm lens to capture this pic because it was a great distance away.

This is after the sun was almost fully risen and let me just say the picture does not do it justice to how awesome it was!

After we left Spring City Mountain we traveled right down the road to a small church that Matt's dad had told him about. The church is nestled in among cattle fields and crop lands.  The name of the church is Grassy Cove United Methodist Church established in 1803 and was one of the first churches in the Cumberland Plateau region. The land was given by revolutionary war hero John Ford, Sr from Virginia and original settler of the Grassy Cove Community.

Here is a link if you would like to know more about Grassy Cove http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassy_Cove

This is by far the oldest church that I have had the pleasure of seeing and here is some shots of the church.

This is on the side of the church

This is a view looking away from the church. Just thought I would show how beautiful the scenery around the church is.

Well that finishes up part uno of my trip to Crossville, TN. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories of these two places that I visited. Feel free to comment and be sure to check back for part 2 of my trip that will be posted Monday night. Thanks for visiting

Crossville, TN Photography Trip Coming Soon

My first photography outing of 2012 is set! With the help of my good friend Matt (Crossville native) as my tour guide I will be making the trip to Crossville Tennesse to take pictures of old churches and travel to Hinch mountain to take sunrise pictures and other nature pics. I am really excited to try out my new Canon Rebel T1I camera that I got for Christmas. The outing is set for this Thursday Jan 5 and I hopefully will have the pics posted on my blog by Friday or Saturday. I am super excited about the trip and it should be a blast. Be sure to check back for the pics to come.