Summer Secrets in the Mountains of Kentucky

My family hails from a small town called Glasgow, Kentucky. During the summer of 1984, we went to Glasgow for summer vacation as we did every year. It turned out to the the best summer vacation of my life.

The town may be small and life slow, but the surrounding mountains and hills around Glasgow, Kentucky held secrets. My grandpa was the key to those secrets. He took me to see the old homestead where grandma gave birth to their first two sons. There wasn't much left of the house except ruins and a huge tree. Looking at my grandparents' faces, I could see the place as it used to look, including the tree as grandpa told me how much it had grown since then.



On a paved backroad grandpa pulled the car off to the side of the road. I looked around and he directed my attention to a fast-flowing stream. Grandpa knelt on the bank, then told me to take a drink. I stuck my hand in expecting tepid water at best, but boy, did grandpa have a laugh at my expense, the water was ice cold. There's no other water on earth as cool, clean and as good as the water I tasted from the stream that day. Melting snow gave it the chill that froze my hand, but felt so good going down on a hot summer day.



A couple of days later our whole clan gathered for a family reunion. I had to go potty and was led out back. The path ended at a small "building" I'd never seen before. Grandma told me this was called an outhouse. I wrinkled my nose at the smell coming from within. She told me what I needed to do to avoid splinters in parts you don't want splinters being in. I didn't relish the experience at the time, but looking back I can laugh.



I went camping at the Barren Reservoir with my family when our two weeks was almost at an end. That night a truly spectacular storm rolled in over the mountains. Seeing the storm light up the mountains as it rolled in was awe-inspiring. We spent the next day on the lake swimming and soaking up the sun.



I didn't know it then, but that was our last summer vacation to Kentucky. I had many more adventures during the best summer vacation of my life including milking cows, catching fireflies and riding a horse, as I did every year I was there. The memories of my grandparents showing me the summer secrets of Kentucky are the ones I cherish most.