(gentle music) - [PBS Announcer] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

"Wish You Were Here", produced under an agreement with the Upper Cumberland Development District and made possible in part through support from the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration.

(soft piano, orchestral music) - [Program Announcer] In the heart of Tennessee, there's a little slice of heaven you've just gotta see.

(music continues) Oh, man, wish you were here.

(jazz music) - Hi, I'm Katelyn Steakley.

Welcome to "Wish You Were Here" adventures in Tennessee's Upper Cumberland.

Are you ready for more adventure?

I know I am.

Join me as we explore the Upper Cumberland.

But first, let's grab a taste of New Orleans style cuisine right here, in downtown Cookeville.

(jazz music) I'm here today with co-owner of Crawdaddy's West Side Grill, Blue Hensley.

Blue, thank you so much for having us.

- It's wonderful to have you guys here with us, too.

- The atmosphere here at Crawdaddy's is truly spectacular.

- Well, it's all about friends and family.

We take care of people just like as if you would have them over your house or something like that, or a family member over.

And it's really just a family atmosphere.

And where people can have fun.

Everybody's welcome, everybody fits in.

- I think that's what people love about Crawdaddy's and that makes it a favorite amongst locals.

Can you tell us about the rich history of the buildings downtown a little bit and about this building, specifically?

- Well this building here is a little over 100 years old.

It was originally a warehouse for the railroad, the train depot itself, which is what Cookeville was basically created and founded upon back in the day.

It's very special and close to my heart to be a part of the revitalization of this entire area of town.

You know, growing up here and seeing how it was lost for a certain point of time, as businesses moved around the town and moved away from here.

But as it came back and the city has supported it so much, it's been very special to me.

We feel the same way about all the other businesses in this area, all the other restaurants.

We support them.

There is so much business around here for everybody.

It's close to my heart how the city has embraced it and how it has come back, and how it's thrived.

- I love visiting this side of town and I love eating on this side of town, and that is what we came to do today.

So we are going to enjoy some dishes and try some things that you have prepared for us.

Can you tell us what we're gonna be having?

- It's a New Orleans style restaurant, but we found a combination of slightly New Orleans food mixed with also Southern food.

That's why we came up with the fried green tomatoes with the cream crab lump sauce, which is a very common thing in the New Orleans area.

After that, we'll be moving on to our citrus glazed salmon which has a delicious orange ginger sauce on top of it with goat cheese.

Do like the goat cheese quite a bit around here.

We use it in quite a few dishes.

And also, we'll be moving from that to a 22-ounce bone-in ribeye.

It is one of our biggest specialties that we do around here.

It is a large steak.

And that some of the combination how we would blend it in normal food from the southeast with the New Orleans style food.

We have Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes and then roasted red potatoes and green beans.

- [Katelyn] Those all sound amazing.

Those are some of my favorites, too.

- Then we'll be going to a Pink Flamingo Cocktail which is one of my personal creations.

It uses a passion fruit vodka in it which is kind of a signature thing that we use around here with the passion fruit, as far as our cocktails go.

We use it also in Sangria and a few other things.

And it's just one of the things that I feel like makes us unique.

- I'm so excited to try the dishes that you have for us.

Thank you so much again, for having us today.

- Thank you for comin'.

(upbeat jamboree music) - Let's see what rocky adventures our field correspondent, Rafferty Cleary had when he visited Fall Creek Falls State Park.

- Thanks, Katelyn.

We're here at Fall Creek Falls today taking a rock climbing workshop.

(soft rock guitar music) I'm here with Park Ranger rock climbing expert, Ray Cutcher.

Ray, thank you for letting me take part in your workshop today, your rock climbing workshop.

I'm super excited about it and can't wait to get going.

- I'm glad y'all are here.

- [Rafferty] Ray, we're at Fall Creek Falls State Park today, Buzzard's Roost, Copperhead Rock, long-time destinations for top roping and repelling.

How long have you all been doing workshops here?

And if you could, tell us a little bit about what folks can expect in those workshops.

- Simply what you can expect in our workshops, it's like a two and a half day workshop.

We'll meet Friday evening and go over some things indoors, talk about climbing technique and equipment, and knots, and bling technique.

And then we'll meet out on the cliffs all day Saturday and Sunday, and climb.

Everybody practice what we've talked about and discussed.

And we'll also set up a repel and the people will learn to repel, as well.

- [Rafferty] Copperhead Rock, good location to start out if you're a beginner?

- Yeah, I think it is 'cause there's a little bit of everything here.

There's some routes that are easier and works on up to moderate.

There's some tougher things here, as well.

So whatever peoples' abilities are, there's a little bit of something.

You can climb anytime of the year.

And you go on our website, TNStateParks.com to register, letting us know where you're gonna be climbing and getting a permit, basically.

And that way we can keep up with numbers and that can help us with management on into the future with knowing who and how many people are using the area.

And as far as the workshops go, we do this one here, at Fall Creek twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.

Typically, it's in May and September.

Sometimes the fall one can be in October.

We also do two at Black Mountain through Roan Mountain State Parks where you register.

And one of theirs is a women's only workshop.

Copperhead's probably roughly 50 to 60-feet high.

And Buzzard's is, the longest end of it, It's about 150 and the other sides are about 75 feet.

So it's a little longer, a little longer climbs than here, a little higher up.

This area's got trees growin' all around you, you're in the shade.

You don't feel a lot of exposure.

Out at Buzzard's Roost, you feel a tremendous amount of exposure because it's up real high, there's not a lot of trees around you.

And you look down in the valley and it's 500 feet down there.

So the feel of it, you feel like you're way, way up even though it's 75 feet to 150 feet.

You feel like you're four or 500 feet up.

(soft rock music) - [Program Announcer] Copperhead Rock is a popular roping and repelling location year round.

Rafferty is eager to get started, but first let's get a lesson from rock climbing expert, Anthony Ladd.

- So left-hand usually people put it up here.

Don't grip it, just let your had slide down the rope.

This is your brake hand, your right hand, so you never wanna let go of that hand, - Okay.

- No matter what.

If you lose your balance, use your left hand to catch yourself, but always keep your right hand on.

And if you do lose your balance, just grip it and pull backwards with the right hand.

That'll put your brake on.

- [Rafferty] If I let go and-- - Yes, absolutely.

Any point down the repel, you wanna just stop, just put your brake on and hold it.

And when you're ready to go, you're going.

Now I've got you on delay, so even if you let go, you're not going to fall.

But I'll let you go as fast as you'd like to go.

- All right.

- All right, so if you're ready, step more to your left, on this repel.

Straighten your right knee, or left knee out.

There you go, and so now just ease on down till you get horizontal with that ledge.

Okay now come back to the right.

There you go.

- Ha, I love it.

That's so sweet.

(music continues) Woo.

(Rafferty chuckling) (soft rock music) - [Program Announcer] With over 56 miles of hiking trails, waterfalls, and overlooks, Fall Creek Falls State Park remains an outdoor recreation destination for people from all over the world.

(soft rock music) - Our field correspondent, Shan Stout recently visited Button Willow General Store in Smithville, Tennessee.

Let's join Shan at Button Willow as she works on her barista skills.

(upbeat fiddle music) - We are at one of my favorite places.

It is the Button Willow General Store in downtown Smithville, Tennessee where there's lots to see, there's lots to shop for.

But one of my favorite things is to order one of your delicious drinks.

And today, I've talked Angela into showing me one of my favorites.

Now this drink is?

- The Almond Joy Frappe.

- This is the Almond Joy Frappe.

And is this the one that I order sugar-free?

- Yes.

- So you can get it sugar-free folks.

Today, we're gonna have a little sugar.

So okay, now I'm being trained here.

I wanna add drink master to my resume so we're gonna see how I do.

All right, so we're starting out with our espresso base.

- Yes.

- Now what's next?

- Okay, next you need to put the ice in there.

- Okay, let's see how I do.

- Very good.

- So far, I'm a natural.

I'm a natural (Angela chuckling) You should hire me.

- Yes.

- All right, then we're gonna put the milk in there.

- We're gonna add the milk, okay.

♪ La ♪ Here we go.

Look at that.

- Very good.

- Okay, I'm great.

Okay, to the blender.

(upbeat violin music) - [Angela] And then just pour it in the glass.

- So this requires real training.

C'mon, I got this.

Here we go.

We're doin' it.

It's not as pretty as yours, but it's gonna do.

- There you go.

- All right.

Look at that.

Okay, now we're not done yet.

- We're not done yet.

Okay, now you're gonna take the whip cream.

You wanna do it?

Try to swirl it around.

- See, she doesn't trust me, I can tell.

- That's good.

And you're gonna take the toasted coconut that we make, sprinkle that on top.

- That's beautiful, look at that.

How's that?

How's that?

- [Angela] That is perfect.

- That is an Almond Joy Frappe.

But now for the best part, wish you were here.

It's time for the taste test.

All right, Angela, we'll see.

You know, I never order the sugar, but I'm very excited.

This is a beautiful moment.

Oh, I am talented.

- Delicious, isn't it?

- It is so good.

It is so very good.

All right, now that we've had fun and you know, I get to add this to my resume, it's time to go shopping.

(music continues) Joe, tell us a little bit about how you've expanded to help people see this as a place they can hang out and have a good time, and just kinda go back in time and decompress a little.

- Sure, well we recently did a remodel in the store and we didn't have quite enough seating for everybody to enjoy sitting around and talking.

So one of the things we did is we created more seating in the front of the store with these decks.

And it's turned out to be really good because people enjoy just hanging out and having their coffee, and conducting business or whatever it is they're here to do.

(upbeat fiddle music) Tiffany Martin was baking from her home for many years and had a great following.

And she was looking for a brick and mortar.

And we had this space available and she approached us about it.

And we said, "Sure, we'd love to have you."

And she has some fantastic items.

(upbeat fiddle music) - [Shan] So you have a booth called the Rusty Crow.

Tell us about that.

- [Joe] We do.

Well, that section is created by our general manager who works for us.

She's also an artist.

She has some really awesome works of art in there.

One of the things she's done is she has gotten some vintage suitcases and turned them into works of art.

And she's painted on the front of those suitcases album covers from the '70s.

(upbeat fiddle music) We had a contact through Charlie Daniels' estate.

When he passed away, we had the opportunity to purchase some of his personal items.

And this chair was actually in his recording studio.

He sat in it to record and play songs.

And then we got this shadow box that has a commemorative photo of him and the fiddle and the words to the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".

I've always been a big Charlie Daniels fan and so that was pretty special to us to be able to get a hold of that.

- [Shan] It's been so much fun today.

We appreciate this wonderful tour, Joe.

- [Joe] Thank you so much.

(upbeat fiddle music) - I wonder what shenanigans Rafferty got into when he visited Sunset Marina on Dale Hollow Lake.

(upbeat music) - Life is good as we say hello from the pristine Dale Hollow Lake at Sunset Marina.

Tom Allen is the owner of Sunset Marina, he joins us.

Tom, I cannot think of a better way to spend this summer day.

- Well, Dale Hollow is very beautiful and we're very blessed to have a marina located on the prettiest lake in the Upper Cumberland.

- I'm thinkin' about buyin' my own boat.

I'm not quite there yet.

So in the meantime, tell us what my rental option are in terms of boats here, at the marina.

- Sunset Marina has a fleet of 50 rental boats and they range in size and shape from a 74-foot house boat down to a personal water craft or Wave Runner.

We have all types of craft in between.

We have all types of water craft for people to come to Dale Hollow and have a day or a weekend, or a full week on the lake.

- So if I have too much fun on day one and I wanna make it two, three, maybe a week long stay outta this, what are my lodging options here at Sunset Marina?

- Well we have 26 rental cabins on the property.

And they range from one-bedroom units, two-bedroom units, up to three and four-bedroom chalets.

So you can come with two people or you can come with 12 or 14 and choose one of the cabins that mostly fits your family's needs.

- I think it's well-known, fishing is premier on Dale Hollow, but is it not true that more trophy small-mouths are caught out of this lake than any other body of water?

- This lake boasts the largest three small-mouth bass in the world and bass fishing has really grown in popularity because of the abundant population of large-mouth bass, small-mouth bass, spotted bass, as well as crappie, blue gill, and walleye.

So it's very popular for all fresh water species.

- The day on the lake is winding down.

What better way to spend it just here, at the dock, enjoying some food?

What are your favorites?

- Sunset Restaurant by the Steel Coup is located on our main dock here, and we're blessed to have the Steel Coop running our restaurant.

They have a very wide-ranging menu.

We've got three of their best appetizers that are my favorite here with us on the table, pulled pork egg rolls, the pulled pork nachos, and the Steel Coop Shrimp.

And you can come get you an appetizer, get you a main course, just a very wide ranging menu to enjoy lunch or dinner right at water's edge with the beautiful view of Dale Hollow Lake and the evening sunset in the background.

(upbeat music) - A lot has happened at this marina, I understand.

Is it true this was a backdrop for music video, perhaps?

- Absolutely, just a few years ago a country music sensation, Luke Bryan, chose Sunset Dock to film one of his single songs called "Sunrise Sunburn Sunset".

He filmed it right here at the marina and lots of people still come today to get a photo of themself where Luke Bryan filmed the country music video.

We see a lot of folks that we suspect are celebrities.

Sometimes we're wrong, sometimes it's look-a-likes.

But yes, there are are celebrities that come through our marina and most of the time we let 'em have their family fun and try not to make a big deal out of it.

But we're blessed to have a lot of celebrities visit our marina.

- Tom, how many visitors do you think you get here?

- Well, Dale Hollow Lake is a very large lake.

It spans five counties, three in Tennessee, two in Kentucky, and has an annual visitation of close to five-million people.

So it's very hard to tell how many of those five million come through Sunset Marina but a lot of 'em do.

(upbeat music) - All right, Tom, so I think I wanna give some sort of watercraft a try today.

You think you can hook me up?

- We can hook you up with any boat you'd like, but I'd suggest you start out with something slow and safe like a pontoon boat.

- We can do that.

- Okay, let's get you fixed up with a pontoon boat and get you out on the water.

- [Rafferty] Sounds good.

- What are you doin'?

Whoa, what are you doin'?

Where are you goin'!

Rafferty!

Rafferty?

(rock music) - Let's join Rafferty on the green at the pristine Bear Trace Golf Course at Cumberland Mountain State Park.

(rock music) - Today, I'm in Cumberland County, the heart of the Cumberland Plateau.

I'm gonna be roaming Bear Trace Golf Course at Cumberland Mountain State Park.

Kelvin Burgin is with us.

He is the golf course manager here, at Bear Trace.

Bear Trace, where does the name come from?

- We're designed by Jack Nicholas, you know, probably the greatest golfer of all time and Jack's known as the Golden Bear.

The Trace part came from paying homage to the Natchez Trace Parkway.

- This golf course does a tremendous job of maintaining just the natural beauty that's within the Upper Cumberland.

- Yeah, we're really lucky.

We're part of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

And so one of the things that we became a part of was the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

And that's a program where golf courses take the environment and habitat and marry 'em up, work with programs to reduce chemical usage and really support the habitat.

And that is all in line with the mission of the Department of Environment and Conservation and Tennessee State Parks.

So that's something we're proud to be a part of.

- Is this a rumor or is this fact?

Golf capital of the state of Tennessee, right here in Crossville.

- That's it, it is a fact.

We're being known as the golf capital of Tennessee.

We have a lot of golf packages where folks come to this area, play golf at all the golf courses here.

We get a lotta travelers from the Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois region that make their way down here on those golf trips.

Wonderful place to visit, we got great restaurants, great golf courses between Lake Tansi Village and Fairfield Glade, there's great condominiums for people to stay in.

We've got 37 cabins here, at the State Park, ourselves, so it's a wonderful opportunity for people to stay and play and recreate.

(upbeat music) - Kelvin, you offer here, at Bear Trace, a ton of classes, ton of opportunities for folks who are wanting to learn the game of golf from youth up to university courses.

Can you kind of go through some of those and what's involved with those courses?

- Absolutely, we've got several junior programs here that involve the youth.

We've got PGA Junior League, that is one of the largest growing junior programs.

And then starting next month, we're actually going to be called the First Tee of Tennessee Upper Cumberland, which is a great opportunity for the youth and for the kids to get involved with the game of golf.

It teaches 'em about ethics and just everything in general about life, not just golf.

So that's something we're very proud of.

And, you know, it's not all just about youth golf out here, or college, or any folks that come in and play, high school kids, you know, we welcome all ages.

So anyone that needs to learn the game, we've got several PGA professionals on staff that can help.

- All right, so Kelvin, so here shortly, I'm gonna go test my limited skills out, so just keep that in mind.

I don't even know if rusty is the right word because I'm just not very good.

I don't know what I'm doing but hopefully that'll be all right.

- That'll be fine.

As a PGA professional, we work with training all golfers whether you're a beginner or a seasoned veteran.

So we'll get ya straightened out.

(upbeat music) - [Program Announcer] After a day on the green with Kelvin, what tricks of the trade has Rafferty picked up?

- Hey, what're you doing down here, buddy?

- I'm trying to read the green.

Line this up for me, pro.

- Looks pretty straight to me.

I mean, you can study it all you want, but it looks pretty straight to me, bud.

- There's this anxiety on this putt.

- Well, that's okay.

You know, you've got to stand up to putt it though, right?

- Just let 'er rip.

- Let 'er rip.

Straight back, straight through.

Watch it roll in the hole.

You've got this.

- All right, all right.

(upbeat music) - Crawdaddy's Grill in Cookeville, Tennessee, cajun classics paired with an exceptional New Orleans atmosphere, right here in our beautiful Upper Cumberland.

Join us next time for more Upper Cumberland Adventures in Tennessee.

Don't you wish you were here?

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - [PBS Announcer] "Wish You Were Here", produced under an agreement with the Upper Cumberland Development District and made possible in part through support from the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration.

(gentle music) This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.