Nashville, TN - February 8-9

We decided to make a quick trip to Nashville, knowing we would be back for future trips and so not feeling the need to do everything, especially considering the long week we had and so could really use some downtime.

We drove up Saturday and took a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN.  It is really interesting that such a well known distillery is actually located in a dry county!  So don't expect to go out for drinks at the local bar after your tour, you won't find a local bar or a restaurant serving drinks.

The distillery is located in a small town but clearly that town thrives on tourism and gets a lot of visitors.  The next open tour wasn't for a couple of hours so we went and wandered the town (which is really just a square surrounded by shops) and found some barbeque for lunch.

The tour takes you to the various buildings on the property.

Our tour started with this view of many of the distillery buildings

This where they make and store the charcoal which is so unique to Jack Daniels whiskey.

Pallets of wood are stacked just right to burn so they make the maximum amount of charcoal.

Here are two fire old fire engines; below is the "REO Speed Wagon."

The spring from which is the source of all water for the whiskey process

Jack on the Rocks

Jack Daniels' office

Another view of the water source

The outside of the office building

The distillery building we toured - they do not allow photos inside.

The tour was a pretty neat tour that ended with samples of some of their best whiskey.

We spent the evening relaxing in our hotel.

Before heading home on Sunday, we decided to visit Andrew Jackson's Hermitage.  Andrew Jackson purchased this property prior to the war of 1812 and then lived there again after his presidency.  After his death, his heir (an adopted nephew) inherited the property.  Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), his heir quickly found himself in deep debt and the property went to the state within about 7 years.  It has been in the government's possession ever since and so has been preserved amazingly.  A visit to the mansion gives you a chance to see it exactly how it was when Andrew Jackson lived there including all the furniture, beautiful hand-pained original French wallpaper, etc.  It is one of the best preserved presidential homes in the US.

Trees lined the path to the mansion

The mansion which was built after Andrew Jackson was a key general in the War of 1812

They didn't allow photos inside the mansion but I was able to get this photo and the next lookin in windows - here are two examples of how the rooms were furnished.

The cabin of the most prominent slave who ended up making money by giving tours once Andrew passed away.

The burial sites of Andrew Jackson and his wife, Rachel

The original cabin Andrew Jackson built which he lived in prior to the War of 1812, while he lived there the inside was covered in wallpaper - Rachel loved wallpaper.  It later became slave quarters which is how it is set up right now.

Just a cool looking barn on the property

This weekend gave us a chance to get just a taste of all that Nashville has to offer and we hope to come back soon

Wheeler NWR and North Alabama Wine Trail

Knowing that early January was a great time to see waterfowl in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge and wanting to avoid next weekend when a million people descended there for the crane festival, I was really hoping to go this weekend but rain was in the forecast for Saturday.  Fortunately, my wonderful husband woke up this morning before 6:00 a.m. and thought to check radar to see if the rain had passed through and it had!  It didn't take long to get ready and we were on the road.  We drove through a little rain (that wasn't even showing up on radar) but blue skies had appeared by time we arrived and it was still the tail end of the golden hour.

We started at the parking lot near the fishing pier.  Our first surprise was a flock of cedar waxwings high up in a tree right next to the parking lot.  They didn't stay too long but they are a beautiful bird and so much fun!

Then in a field right off the parking lot were so many sandhill cranes.

Here are a few other birds we saw in this area.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Great Egret

Carolina Wren hiding in some branches

Flock of red-winged blackbirds

We then drove across the street to the Visitor's Center which has a hiking trail, open view of the lake, and an observation building.  There were even more cranes here.  Here are some views from behind the Visitor's Center.

They had some bird feeders that were getting a lot of attention while other songbirds hung in nearby trees.

A feeder full of house finches!

Females on the left and males on the right! 

Eastern Bluebird 

American Goldfinch

We then took the short hiking trail that started out as a board walk.

There were so many cardinals and more than one was enjoying breakfast on various floating logs!

We found another field of sandhill cranes!

An American Kestrel is perched on the post in the midst of these sandhill cranes.

Then we checked out the observation building which has indoor viewing areas on two levels.  These next photos are all taken through glass.   There was a microphone outside and speakers inside so we could listen to the bird calls.

Several Whooping Cranes were also present

Update:  I received a comment on my Instagram account about the whooping crane above.  It appears this may be one of the ones released in Wisconsin that was taught the migratory route through the ultralight airplanes program.  The odd thing though, is its appearance in North Alabama as the migratory route takes them to winter in Florida.  You can read more about the International Crane Foundation's work regarding these cranes (and other crane species).

I'm not expert but her band colors seem to match female whooping crane #14-15.  Assuming that is her, you can read her history here.  #14-15 seems to regularly migrate with sandhill cranes and comes to Wheeler NWR in North Alabama every winter and returns to Necedah NWR in Wisconsin each spring.

Whooping cranes are an endangered species with only a little over 800 in existence worldwide so it was so cool to see them in the wild.

female American Wigeon

Ring-necked Duck

I think the group in the water are mostly Northern Pintails.

Someone said this is an eagle, maybe an immature bald eagle.  A nesting pair lives on the refuge.

 As soon as the eagle arrived, the ducks quickly scurried away.

But it didn't take long for them to come back.

Blue-winged Teals

Sandhill cranes, Gadwalls, and Northern Shovelers

Whooping Crane

Tufted Titmouse

 On our walk back to the car, I caught this view of more sandhill cranes through the trees.

What an amazing morning of birding and everywhere we went there were other birders and photographers with a wealth of knowledge.

We then decided to finish the North Alabama Wine Trail (and pick up our free wine glass) on the way home.  Each of the three wineries we visited had some great wines and I brought home a case.  Today's visits included Jules J. Berta Vineyards, Wills Creek Vineyard & Winery, and Maraella Winery & Vineyards.  We had visited the other three wineries a few months back.

The day came full circle when at a late lunch, a flock of European Starlings and Common Grackles filled the tree across the street.