The Gillespie Family Reunion was Saturday July 2nd in Scott County Virginia.

Before the reunion started we stopped at the Bush Mill which was right down the road.

 After the Bush Mill we made our way to the reunion.

Grayden was getting a little restless while waiting for dinner... so we snuck out to the playground right next door.



 Don had to show Grayden how to use the rope...

 Back inside for dinner... still a little restless...

And goofy!

 After dinner it was back outside to run it all off!

 There were large flocks of birds that kept flying over... Grayden was mesmerized!

 When we got home Grayden was out like a light!

We had a fun day!

Finally to Kingsport!!!

Friday July 1st

 One of the first things we saw was Pals.

There are a couple of them around, and everytime we saw one Grayden would  yell

"DOT DOG! HI DOT DOG! BYE DOT DOG!"

everytime... never missed one!

 We also saw the Indian outside.  Dad said that the store used to be a trading post and that there used to be horse stables behind there that he worked at as a kid. 

Tomorrow is the family reunion...

READY OR NOT TENNESSEE,

 HERE WE COME!

Friday July 1st

We stopped at the Lost Sea before making our way to Kingsport.

 Down the tunnel we go...

 Some beautiful cave flowers... 

 I can't remember what this thing was... but we got our picture with it. 

(The guy didn't know how to use my camera.. it is rocket science.)

 Dad, Don, and Grayden looking into the Devils hole.

They said that if you are a bad person you will see the devil's face.

 The Devil's hole...

 Me looking... I didn't see anything.

 The white stuff is Fungal mycelia.  They say that the Indians who used to stay in this cave used it to cure all sorts of things.

 This is the Bear Claw.

You are supposed to touch it for good luck.

 More Fungal mycelia... shaped like a fish!

Here are the boats for our tour of the lake.

 I don't have any pictures of us on the boat... my camera wouldn't focus because everything was so dark.

There were lots of fish and all of them are or will be completely blind and colorless becasue of the darkness in the cave.  The water in the lake stays at a constant 50 something degees. 

 Grayden got so rusty and dirty in the boat!

Look at this rust pattern!!!

After the lake we went to thier gift shops and took some time to look around. 

 This is the hand rail at one of the gift shops.  Dad told me that these are marks where worms or larvae moved around on the tree.

Cool huh?!?

 Some of us took this time to play around with some goofy hats...

Others took this time to play around in the water... 

 This is the gem mining area... we didn't mine for any gems... but Grayden certainly took atvantage of the water on a hot day!

 More funny hats...

 Grayden ended up getting this hat... it looked like Nemo.

We had a great time at The Lost Sea and plan to come back for an overnight tour! 

Now on to Kingsport!!!

Before we left for Tennessee I wanted to have Grayden paint some bird houses for Uncle Billy and Aunt Phyllis.  Here are some pictures... I have some video that  I will be posting soon.