The county seat of Rutherford county, Tennessee, Murfreesboro is my current home. Murfreesboro was the original state capital of Tennessee, and is also home to Middle Tennessee State University. The city has grown substantially in the past 25 years, now boasting a population of nearly 70,000. I actually don't live within the city, but I live within a couple of miles of the city limits. There's lots to do in the area, including the Stones River and Lytle Creek Greenways (scroll down the page), which together span about 7.5 miles. Rutherford county is home to part of middle Tennessee's unique cedar glade communities, which are home to a large number of federally threatened and endangered species. A couple of good places to visit in the area to see this habitat are Flat Rock Cedar Glade and Cedars of Lebanon State Park, which is in Wilson county, to the north.

Woodbury is the county seat of Cannon county, Tennessee, and is situated at the eastern edge of the Highland Rim of central Tennessee. It's about 20 miles due east of Murfreesboro and about 60 miles southeast of Nashville. It's a small town with a population of around 2,500. I lived about a mile north of town on top of a big knob that had an eagle's eye view of Highway 70S. I lived here for about nine months after finishing my Ph.D at the University of Kentucky. However, commuting to Nashville became a major inconvenience, so reality set in and my wife and I moved to Rutherford county.

The second largest city in Kentucky, Lexington is home to the Universitiy of Kentucky, where I attended graduate school and earned my Ph.D. in Biochemistry in the fall semester of 2000. It's the county seat of Fayette county, Kentucky, and sits in the Kentucky river valley in the heart of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. This region of the state is home to Kentucky's signature thoroughbred industry. Lexington is home to Keeneland, which, in my opinion, is the most beautiful of Kentucky's horse tracks. Lexington is a very friendly city, and although it has a population of nearly 200,000, it is not hard to navigate and has relatively few traffic problems when compared to most other cities.

The largest city in Kentucky, Louisville is situated along the Ohio river at the Falls of the Ohio, which is a very unique geological formation that shouldn't be missed if you're in the area. I attended the University of Louisville while I was here.

Last, but not least, is my hometown. Paducah is the county seat of McCracken county, Kentucky. Paducah has a population of about 25,000, and is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, about 30 miles from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. There are lots of recreational opportunities nearby, including Land Between the Lakes, Whitehaven, and the Paducah riverfront, which is now decorated with a number of murals on the floodwall commemorating the city's history. Don't miss the Museum of the American Quilter's Society and the numerous antique stores in the riverfront area, either.

Sunrise over the Tennessee River	Old Train at the Paducah Floodwall
Downtown Paducah	Murals on the Paducah Floodwall