Ramblin' Thoughts--the Gone with the Wind version

Just wanted to say how much we enjoyed our weekend in KY visiting with Aunt Susan, Pete, Darrell & Joyce, Johnny & Peggy & Mike & Paul. The trips around the mountain were breathtaking especially watching Paul trip toe through the cudzu and practically over the side of one big honkin' overlook. What an adventure!
Visited the Number 31 Portal, again and listened to the mine saga revisited by Bob who was our guide 3 years ago. Many things have changed with regard to control of the tourist trade at the mine--the state is taking over the operation but hopefully will keep frisky Bob on as the tour guide. Saw a Columbus Coots memorial plaque at the site but according to the family historian, may not have been connected to our end of the bunch.
Learned many wise things like how to deter flies from entering your personal space with a ziplock bag filled with water and a penny; don't plan on asking flies why they find this contraption so offensive, they just do and it works; learned that Paul sings in the church choir with a full orchestra--they sound wonderful! Joyce beaned a poor suspecting lizard with a rather large rock (in comparison to his size) at Kingdom Come State Park--poor little guy may never recover his memory completely and will likely have to undergo years of therapy to recover from PTSD. We also learned that there are vandals who change all the signs to Raven Rock with various distances posted to confuse would be hikers and keep them wandering around for as long as no one finds them--Mike and Paul discovered this first hand. The saddest discovery of all was that our time together was way too short--yes, I WAS tearing up during goodbyes at Susan's house. Hope to be able to make the return trip in the fall for the changing of the leaves.