I discovered Moon Pies last year. They originated in Chattanooga and they passed them out as finishers medals at some runs I did. Goo Goo Clusters are advertised throughout Nashville so I did some research as well as some taste testing. The Standard Candy Company began making them in Nashville in 1912 and the recipe really hasn't changed much over the years. The Goo Goo Cluster has 4 of my favorite food groups - marshmallow, caramel, peanuts and chocolate. If you see old photos of the Grand Ole Opry, you'll notice that they were a big sponsor. As for the name, the story is that it was selected because goo goo are the first words that babies speak. This way, everyone asks for Goo Goo Clusters from birth. The Standard Candy Company is still churning them out and you'll always find a few in my refrigerator. yum
Here's my assessment of water activities in middle Tennessee. They have got to exist but I have not seen a municipal pool since I moved here. There are a lot of lakes in Tennessee. I get the sense that most of them are the result of the TVA. Boating seems to be pretty big. The Cumberland River runs through town but it's mostly used for barges. I rarely see a personal boat on it. People go out of town for their boating fun. At the risk of sounding like a snob, there are not any spring fed pools here. sigh
I do my weekday morning runs in my hood. On Saturdays, I venture out a little bit. My house is a couple of miles from the edge of town and Clarksville is surrounded by farms. Some farms have already had a wheat planting this year. Now they are switching to soy beans and tobacco. Other farms have massive amounts of acreage committed to corn. My run is all on 2 lane roads and the corn comes within 5 ft of the road edge in some places. The locals say that corn should be knee high by the 4th of July. The crops were about 7 ft tall by then this year. So much for folklore. The corn's as high as an elephants eye. The good thing about being surrounded by corn is that no one can see how slow I'm going. giggle
When I moved to Tennessee, I was looking forward to the summers. I figured that since I was moving halfway to Canada, the temperatures would be a lot milder than they were in central Texas. Boy - was I mistaken. Tennessee doesn't have the long string of 100 degree days but it feels much more humid here. Maybe my disappointment is exaggerating the way it feels but the summers seem brutal. Nashville broke an all time high (ever) last week when it hit 109 degrees. The happy thought is that electricity is cheap here. I keep the AC between 78 and 80 since I'm such a tight wad but it still feels chilly compared to the rainforest outside.
