Land Between the Lakes

In April we went on a camping trip with my parents to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.  My wife had scouted out the area ahead of time and found several good campgrounds in the area.

Access over 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline, 200 miles of paved roads, 500 miles of trails, and 170,000 acres of forests and open lands.

As part of America’s great outdoors since 1963, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area manages over 170,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and open lands on a peninsula between Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Western Kentucky and Tennessee. The family friendly recreation area offers one of the largest blocks of undeveloped forest in the eastern United States.

With 300 miles of natural shoreline, lake access provides idyllic settings for camping, picnicking, hiking, fishing, boating, wildlife viewing, and water sports. Licensed hunts for deer, turkey, squirrel and other small game animals occur throughout the year.
--from Land Between the Lakes NRA website

We stayed at the Piney Campground in the southern portion of the area.  It sits on the lake just south of the Kentucky-Tennessee state line.

There are a number of lake-side sites in the campground.  We scouted the area out in person before selecting a site.

We saw a rather interesting camper as we drove around.

Ultimately we settled on this site.  It had some shade, but also plenty of sun (nice in the cool spring) and wasn't too far away from the lake.

We had two tents to set up as my parents have gone back to tent camping after selling their fifth wheel camper a number of years ago.

Our humble tent.  Once we started camping with multiple tents we upgraded to a larger tent that could accommodate our sleeping bags, a pack and play, and space for more kids.  Yet it isn't so large that it takes up too much space.

It really was a beautiful campsite.

 We enjoyed several beautiful sunsets.

We had a number of fires and even did some cooking over the fire.

The sunrises next to the lake were also beautiful.

While driving around one day we drove by the site of an old blast furnace.

I always read the signs when I see them and then photograph them so I can read them again later.

While only the stone is left the furnace used to be a decently large operation.

We may not have ancient ruins in America, but it is cool to see stone structures from the past couple hundred years.

Looking at it now it is hard to imagine how hot this chimney once was when active smelting operations were underway.

We also spotted some bison while driving around.  Though we ended up seeing quite a few more later.

We also went to several places in and around the area that I'll blog about separately.  The general photos from the Land Between the Lakes are in this album.

~Matt

Mongolian Grill

My in-laws took us out to lunch before we leave town. We came to Genghis Grill.




Your waiter brings two bowls to your table then you go to what looks like a buffet and add things in the above order.




I loaded up on meat (knowing I wouldn't be adding any vegetables).



There were also several "recipes" that you could follow if you wanted.



This is my bowl.



Don't confuse it with Amy's, ;-).



All of the meals are cooked on a large grill.



You include a paper card with your bowls that has your name and table number.



After a few minutes tasty hot food is delivered.



I even used chopsticks.



The signs around the place are also quite humorous.



~Matt

-- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
(c) 2013 iWolff Ltd.

Billings Tour

After leaving Yellowstone we drove towards Billings.  We were to see my Uncle Jim there.  It is nice to have family around the country that you can visit and stay with when making a trip.  When planning out our trip itinerary I also realized that this would make a short day for us--leaving time to explore the rest of Yellowstone in the morning and get into Billings before it was too late.

One highlight of the trip was that we'd get the opportunity to see my grandma.  She was in her apartment at my Uncle Jim's house at the time.  We'd gone down to Tennessee to see her a couple months before when she'd been staying with my folks, but it was nice to see her again.  I remember frequently traveling to Tucson as a kid to see her and my granddad.  Since she left Arizona and I left California I haven't had the chance to see her as often.  Also, she is the only grandmother that I've ever known as my dad's mom died before I was born.
My mom's maiden name is Yeley, so she can say she went from one frequently mispronounced name (Yaley, Yelley, etc... to another (Grubner, Grabner, etc...)

They have a beautiful back yard.

After dinner we went on a drive around Billings.  We stopped by my cousin's house to see he and his then pregnant wife (since then their son was born).
The first place we stopped was the old Boot Hill Cemetery that served the town of Coulson, a settlement on the river that was later absorbed by the fast-growing railroad town of Billings.  I read somewhere that people aren't entirely sure who is buried where, but the crosses look nice.

The Place Where the White Horse Went Down

In 1837-38 a smallpox epidemic spread from the American Fur Trading Company steamboat St. Peter which had docked at Fort Union.  The terrible disease for which the Indians had no immunity eventually affected all Montana tribes.  A story is told among the Crow of two young warriors returning from a war expedition who found their village stricken.  One discovered his sweetheart among the dying, and both warriors, grieving over loss of friends and family, were despondent and frustrated because nothing could alter the course of events.  The young warriors dressed in their finest clothing and mounted a snow-white horse.  Riding double and singing their death songs, they drove the blindfolded horse over a cliff and landed at what is now the eastern end of the Yellowstone County Exhibition grounds.  Six teenage boys and six teenage girls who were not afflicted with the disease witnessed the drama: they buried the dead warriors and left the camp.  Great loss of life among the tribe followed in the wake of the epidemic.  Although time has reduced the height of the cliff, the location is remembered even today as The Place Where the White Horse Went Down. 

--from cemetery sign

The cemetery is located on top of a small hill and completely surrounded by the city.

Historical Significance

Fact, fiction, or legend?  Coulson Hill Cemetery, as it was originally called served the residents of the free-wheeling river town of Coulson in the late 1880s and is now the only visible reminder of the once thriving burg.  Gunfighters, Indian tribesmen, soldiers, railroad workers, lawmen, women and children were all put to rest in shallow graves here, although the number of people buried is uncertain.  The deaths were caused by disease, accidents, suicides, and murders aplenty.  A typical burial would consist of the corpse being thrown over a horse and hauled out to the cemetery where it was laid to rest.  After a brief moment of silence, the mourners got back on their horses and raced back to the aloon.  most of the time the mourners left the boots on the dead bodies, giving the cemetery the nickname "Boothill."  The name was widely disputed until Luther S. "Yellowstone" Kelly, a well-known scout in the area requested being buried in Boothill.  After his request the cemetery's identity was solidified as Boothill Cemetery and it has maintained its unique flavor that keeps the Old West alive today. 

--from cemetery sign by the City of Billings

This memorial is quite prominent on a corner of the hill.

There were several flowers to enjoy on top of the hill.

After leaving the cemetery we headed up on top of the "Rims" or the Rimrock.  These are a series of cliffs that separate the lower from the upper city.  There are only a few ways up on top even today--though in years past some of the paths were cattle paths.  The airport is located on top of the cliffs.  We also stopped by a place for ice cream (that was quite delicious) somewhere in the evening (I don't remember the exact order of events).

I took these pictures the next morning since I wasn't in a position to take pictures the night before.  Here you can see the cliffs.

This is the road up the top that used to be used driving cattle.

The top is quite flat.

You can get a great view of the city from this elevation.

After leaving Billings we headed towards South Dakota and Mount Rushmore, but with a couple stops along the way that I'll talk about next time.

~Matt

Back Home

Yesterday we drove home from Tennessee. Amy and I spent a very relaxing time (Nov 1-10) with my parents at their home near Nashville.

Some of our time was spent relaxing, which was nice. I had vacation days that I needed to use before the end of the year or they would be lost. Knowing that the time around Christmas would be busy at work I figured November would be the best time for a long vacation. Tuesday wasn't the best night with election results being what they were, but the rest of the time was great.


We also got to see several family members I haven't seen in a while. Catching up with them was wonderful!


We walked around the Opryland Hotel (expect a post on that later) and I spent several hours interviewing my parents. I want to edit a DVD of their experiences in life.



We also enjoyed plenty of good food. My wife is an excellent cook, but it was nice for her to relax also and not have to wiry about preparing meals. My parents were also kind enough to send us home with some food, including some bread my mother baked yesterday morning. We enjoyed it as toast for breakfast today.


~Matt

-- Posted from my iPhone
(c) 2012 iWolff Ltd.

Location:Highland Ave,Fort Mitchell,United States

Brookside Cemetery

After visiting my grandpa's farm I got directions from my dad to the cemetery where my grandparents are buried.  Since we were living in California when my grandpa died I didn't actually go to the funeral.  My dad was there and some of my siblings I think.  I might have been by the cemetery at some point in the past, but I'm not sure--I certainly don't remember taking any pictures there.

It is interesting to think that family plots are oftentimes a thing of the past due to how often and far people often move.  Do you still live in the same town as your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents?  I know that I don't even live in the same state as any of those ancestors--though I do live much closer to where my parents and grandparents grew up than I did when I was a child.

The cemetery isn't that far out of town and so it was fairly easy to find once we headed out of town to the south.  Notice the roads on the map above.  Amy finds it strange that so many are laid out in a grid--it is certainly different than the roads in Kentucky or Virginia that seem to follow streams or hills.

The grave markers were fairly easy to follow based on my dad's instructions.  Cutts was my grandmother's maiden name and these were her family's plots.

Dorothy was my grandmother and Stanley (Steward was his middle name) my grandfather.

I tried to clean some of the lichen off the stone, but I think it really needs to be blasted off with a pressure washer or something like that.

This was Aunt Helen, who was my grandmother's sister.  She also died before I was born, but my siblings remember her quite well.  Her house was located right across the street from the farm where my dad grew up.  Her house was the house where my dad was born.

These were my grandmother's parents.  John was the son of Jesse who was the first in the family to own the farm that my dad grew up on.  The initials JFW used to be on the silo next to the barn.  The story I've heard is that he was almost named "John Frank William Jesse David Cutts" but instead he was only John Frank William.

Annie was John's mother, my dad's great-grandmother.

Jesse was John's father.  He bought the original 160 acres that started the family farm.  Before it was sold it was a one time a Michigan Centennial Farm since it had been in the same family over one hundred years.

This GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) insignia is next to Jesse's grave indicating that he fought for the north in the Civil War.

I thought the gravestone was rather interesting and deserved some detail shots.  I was quite surprised to learn that it was over a hundred years old.  It doesn't look very weathered, but must have been there since at least 1909.

I think my parents have a good bit of information on various Cutts family members going back well into the 1800s.

This nearby marker wasn't family (at least not that I know of), but it is a style that I like showing the date of marriage for the couple along with their birth and death dates.

Family history can be quite interesting, and I enjoy opportunities to check it out.  Someday I look forward to telling stories to my kids about our family.

~Matt