Our annual Cooper family group met, as we have for the past 10 years, at the Eagle Cove Resort on Dale Hollow Lake (pics) in North Central Tennessee. This year, Valerie and I incorporated the event into our road trip which began from Southern California on October 28, 2013. We arrived at the lake on December 4th having driven about 4,200 miles so far.
Lynchburg, Tennessee is home to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery (pics). Even though Jack Daniel’s is distributed around the world, every bit of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey is made here. The process used to distill Jack Daniel’s and to filter it through charcoal began here in 1866.
Even though I spent my first 21 years living just 100 miles north of Nashville (pics), this was my first time to visit there as a sightseer. We began our tour at the Tennessee State Capitol Building. Unfortunately, the building is closed on the weekend so we were not able to tour the inside.
We arrived in Memphis (pics), “River City”, to be met with a very brisk, very cold wind. We entered Memphis from the west so we crossed over the Interstate 40 bridge with a great view of the city skyline. We stopped into the Tennessee welcome center which is just at the bottom of the first exit after crossing the Mississippi River.
Siblings
Our annual family gathering took place this year between November 29 and December 2, 2012. As we have for the past 9 years, we met at Dale Hollow Lake in north central Tennessee. We occupied the same two side by side, 5 bedroom chalets. The weather was super nice, climbing into the mid to upper 70’s. All family members were present.
Some of the yummy food
From year to year our menu for the 3 1/2 days repeats in terms of the general plan for the meals. However, there are some old favorite dishes that we always look forward to as well as some new ones that get a try out for status as a repeater. In any case there is no shortage of lots of yummy dishes and desserts. Many of these are prepared using recipes from our Mother so it’s a way for us to honor her memory and the loving manner with which she feed us all.
We’re grateful to have this opportunity to all come together once again and, of course, we have made our reservation for next year’s gathering, our 10th.
Second Act 