On the third day of summer I set out into the woods.  Driving east of Nashville, we tallied six girls intent upon swimming at Burgess Falls.  The ride was filled with conversation and country music as we passed fields of cows, horses, goats, and old buses.  We walked the path along Falling Water River, (which offers the most waterfalls in the shortest distance!) spotted the old bridge from the mills that used to inhabit the forest, proceeded past a pre-existing Hansel and Gretel trail of spilled granola, and arrived at the 130-foot-tall horseshoe-shaped Burgess Falls.  We discarded clothes, shoes, and lunches and got into the water and swam, surrounded by the most picturesque views.  Absolutely. The swim trip was capped off with a Tennessee peach milkshake and an exploration of a bus graveyard on the way back to Nashville.

That night we ventured into the heart of “NashVegas” and with the help of our truly most gracious host at Robert’s Western World there was a great deal of dancing and even a little two stepping.  The following day was filled with exploring Nashville and eating our way through it. My last meal in Nashville was divine.  Following a friend’s recommendation we went to the newly opened Barista Parlor (which felt oddly like my apartment with its garage doors, cement floors, and unexpected vastness).  I had a buttermilk biscuit with bacon and cheese.   The buttermilk biscuit was most scrumptious and made me re-evaluate my entire flavor framework for biscuits. I’d been ready to live with Bisquick biscuits? Ludicrous!  My taste buds saw the biscuit light.

Later, I was kicking myself for not ordering the PRB biscuit sandwich (whose acronym I couldn’t wrap my head around that early in the morning. PRB simultaneously jumped off the menu as Pabst Blue Ribbon and peanut butter and jelly- which now sounds like a very nice’n’easy to-go lunch but did not quite make breakfast sense last Sunday.)  Feeling that I missed out big time, I got to work on buttermilk biscuits.  I followed this straightforward recipe for the biscuit, cooked a breakfast sausage on the stove top, and slathered some raspberry jam on the fresh out of the oven biscuit.  The sausage and jam sandwich made a delectable meal, but the beauty of the PRB sandwich at Barista Parlor is its synthesis of local products.  There, the breakfast combines a  Porter Road Butcher sausage patty, Hatcher Family Dairy buttermilk and Delvin Farms strawberry jam.  By using the varied comestibles sold by their neighbors, community is created and local individuals benefit.  This same thing happened on my megatrip to Nashville.  With five girls traveling by Megabus, each person brought something unique to the group dynamic, distinct contacts in Nashville, and a whole gamut of recommendations for the trip. It all came together like the PRB buttermilk biscuit sandwich, everyone pitching in ideas and talents for the collective benefit and making the trip an exciting, collaborative, and positively delicious long weekend.