Tennessee

When I flew to Tennessee for debate nationals, I was not expecting to see fungi nor so much wildlife. However, Tennessee rains far more than California, and we flew into the state in a thunderstorm. NITOC (National Invitation Tournament of the Champions) was held at Union University. We stayed in Tennessee from May 27th to June 6th.

I googled trails nearby and found out that there were bike trails created by Union University open to the public. So when I got knocked out of my third outround of debate, I went hiking with my dad and, to my surprise, spotted fungi. It was shocking how just outside the clean, neat university lived hundreds of different organisms–fungi, insects, plants, and more.

I hiked on a different trail the next day, a 1.7 mile loop, and I was surprised to find that nearly none of the species overlapped even though the Union University trail by the pond was close by.

After NITOC ended, we packed up out of the dorms and drove to Memphis, visiting the National Civil Rights Museum. Then we drove to Nashville. The next day we hiked at Edwin Warner Park and the Radnor Lake State Park. Too soon the trip came to a close and we flew back to California. All in all, it was a wonderful trip.

Posted on June 8, 2017 05:55 AM by libbing_life