Carter Caves

We just returned from a 36-hour vacation to Carter County, Ky. It's quite the vacation hotspot. We stayed in Grayson, Ky which is only about 20 miles from Ashland, where I was born and lived until I was 13. I should probably write about embracing my Appalachian roots vs. running from them, but I really only wanted to say that our cave tour guide was named Kenny McCoy. Someone asked him if he was the "real deal," to which he informed us that he indeed was a direct descendant of the McCoys from the Hatfield-McCoy feud. He then told us that a Hatfield worked with him at the park. "The feud was settled many years ago," he laughed as he moved on to explaining the difference between a stalagmite and stalactite. (T for tite = T for Taller. They come from the top of the cave down. Kenny didn't teach me this. I made this up as he was talking because I am a hopeless nerd.)

There is a great lesson about healing when you know that a Hatfield works everyday with a McCoy just a few miles from where they used to shoot each other. I'm not sure what the great lesson is, but there has to be one...