The Southern hospitality was flowing in Tennessee today! With everyone having a great home stay last night and a home cooked breakfast this morning we all knew this was going to be a great day. After the host families dropped us off at the town square, we hopped on the bus and journeyed over to the the Appalachian Museum. After a group orientation on the area, our host banjo player sang us a few good ol' mountain tunes including Rocky Top Tennessee. After branching off into small groups we took a tour of the grounds which contained many restored historic buildings to include homes, barns, and many other original community buildings which made up the small towns of Tennessee Appalachia. This area is steep in history with FDR's Tennessee Valley Authority. The town of Norris was founded when the people of the lower valley towns were relocated due to the building of the dam and the intentional flooding of the valley behind the dam. In addition to the buildings on the grounds we visited the museum which contained many artifacts of the Appalachian people. It is amazing what they created with the resources they had immediately at their hands. This part of the day would not be complete without mentioning the numerous peacocks and goats roaming the grounds with the grand finale being the great home cooked lunch of BBQ chicken, goulash, mashed potatoes, beans and cornbread catered by the museum and provided by our host CA. After a must visit to the gift shop it was back on the bus to see our favorite driver Lori and a half hour trip over to Oak Ridge to the American Museum of Atomic Science and Energy. Oakridge was a secret town containing a number of labs and industrial complexes built in the 40's to work on building the atomic bomb. We viewed a film which went into the details of this secret era before the gates of the town were open to the public after the war and then had fun playing with static electricity. We proceeded straight to the Norris United Methodist Church for our 7:30 concert. Prior to the concert we were provided with our 3rd home cooked meal of the day of salad, pasta and homemade meatballs. It was a bit hot in the church but our kids are pros and sang right through the heat. After another great performance we went home with our host families to get a good night's sleep before our next adventure begins.
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