Another Mountain Trip

My favorite sister in law, Betty,

(she is my only sis in law) 

and her son's mother in law, Sue, came down from Missouri for a school reunion.

None of the rest of the family was available to visit,

 so we made the trip to Petit Jean Mountain to show off our local beauty. 

Here is the Legend of Petit Jean, and the name of the mountain's origin. Hopefully, you can enlarge the photo enough to read the Legend.

Standing on the bluffs and looking north, this is the
Arkansas River and farmland along it's banks.

We got buzzed by a small plane.

Just a small rock, near bluff's edge.

Looking down from Stouts Point, to the road curving through the valley, heading to the mountain.

It was a bit hazy so the forest isn't really good and clear.

Another lookout point, as you get ready to go down the other side of the mountain.  This is one of my favorite spots, 

the Bald Eagles use this area during February to catch the winds off the bluffs and soar across the treetops, it is amazing to see them.

We are standing on one side of the cliffs, and this is looking across to another point, about 1/3 mile away.

Fountains at the resting point where we got out and walked around, 

Sister in law in red, and her friend... and yes, I intentionally got them

with water spouting out of their heads.

I live in the valley to the east of the mountain, it has been our home for about 36 years.  In fact, I was born about 2 miles from where we are now living.

So you could say I know the area pretty well.

I got a chance yesterday, to give several people 

some of the history, and actually met some almost former neighbors, who now reside in KC Missouri.

There was a group at the Museum, where the water fountains are,

that was in for a huge family reunion.  2 of the men were standing in the shade while the rest were inside looking at the old cars.

They spoke when we walked by, so we stopped and spoke, and went on our way up to the building. It was pretty crowded with the reunion crowd, so sil decided to skip that for this trip.

On our way back, we spoke to the men, again.  As I started walking back to the car, a lightbulb went off in my head, the name on the shirts was one that I recognised.  So I turned around and walked back, and asked them if the family they were part of, had lived in the northern part of the county. Yes, I said then we probably grew up neighbors, as I was from about 3 miles north of that community.  Their eyes lit up, that I remembered their surname, from 55 years ago,  and we had a nice chat about that area.  One of them asked me to tell his son how to get there, it had been many years since they'd been to this area.  We all left smiling, and I hope they enjoyed the trip down memory lane.