Thursday, May 01, 2008

Mountain therapy

While home in the East Tennessee hills, I took time for one of my favorite diversions: running various trails through the East Tennessee hills. The Greenbelt in Kingsport has always been a favorite location, due to it being close to mom's but also just for its serenity, some of which is captured here. And the Greenbelt has been part of my life for over 20 years since it first opened and is home to many treasured memories.

Spring was in full bloom, this past weekend. There were a multitude of wild flowers all over the path. After running the path, I took time to grab my
camera and walk the first portion. Sitting on a bench, up in the hills, and very much alone with the birds, mountain air, and the natural sounds of the surround, I thought to myself, now this is therapy. Tennessee is a place that refreshes the soul somehow.

The creek that flows along the path is named Reedy Creek. While my father had a rather creative story for how the creek was started that had to do with a certain attribute of my grandfather, the truth is my branch of the Reedy family didn't move into the area until the middle 20th century. The name
was given to the creek by a early Reedy settler in the area going all the way back to colonial days when Kingsport was actually a small trading port on the Holston River.