Scenes from the Gap (no, not the mall)

Here are a couple of snapshots from the trip to Cumberland Gap. I tried to upload more but either my PC is acting funky or I just don't know what I'm doing... You can guess which one is more accurate (hint: the latter choice!). The top photo was taking from Pinnacle Overlook. On a clear day (I was told, and I had to take Mary's word for it) you can actually SEE the view that the handy little info sign shows. It was not a clear day. It was an interesting experience in itself to look out over the railing and know that the mountain goes rolling down and that you are pretty high up there --- all with eerie white clouds closing the view. At times we couldn't even see more than 3 or 5 yards out beyond the overlook. The bottom pic is me showing off our home sweet home. At least that's what we thought at the time. That was before the rain. And the leakage. And the knowledge that out tent was less than camping-worthy... What you can't really see in the picture is the moderate twist our tent was sporting and the fact that we pitched it on a slight hill. Hey, it was my first time camping! I'm blaming it all on Mary ;-). It's pretty funny actually. After Mary turned in for the night I was cleaning up the campsite (with visions of black bears sniffing out my empty Capri Sun pouch), and I noticed the way the tent was...uh, kinda leaning. I tried to kinda straighten it out but made no progress and really didn't feel like trying all that hard. Plus I didn't want to seriously disturb my comrade who was sleeping inside. I did secure the plastic (no, we didn't have a tarp, and no, we didn't secure the plastic correctly) a little more snugly over the top and around the sides so that the leak on Mary's side wouldn't get too bad. All I can do is laugh right here, when I picture the all-out PUDDLES that accumulated after the second night. By the way, no one seems appropriately impressed when I mention that. We opted for Holiday Inn the second night as you know, but left our tent to camp on its own. When we returned to take it down, there were two large puddles, at least an inch deep each, inside on the low side of the tent. Puddles, people!