Look! Up in the sky....

It's a bird! It's a plane! No...It's Superman!!!

When you are going to Metropolis, IL you automatically think 'hometown of young Clark Kent' and the town fathers have planted this huge statue right in the middle of the downtown square so that you never forget. Poor Lois Lane has her own much littler and much less colorful rendition a few blocks down the road.

She doesn't take up nearly as much space nor make the splash that the new Harrah's Riverboat and Casino do down at the waterfront.

Since I have a whole gaggle of cousins that live in and around this area, I try to visit every few years. This year was especially rough getting there as while driving into Nashville the skies got completely black and opened up with a downpour that took visability to zero in about 2 minutes. Even though the Jeep has a little top, and if you are moving fast enough, rain water doesn't come in, there are large gaps between the doors and the top and when you slow down, it pours in - which it was doing it large amounts. I managed to pull off the freeway under an overpass and get out of the rain. (I have since learned that is not the safest idea in these type of situations, but I wasn't the only car or motorcyclist there!) While the big trucks and crazy drivers continued to drive past, I stayed put until the rain had stopped enough to actually see where I was going. I'm really glad I did as it took way over an hour to get out of Nashville because of the horrible wrecks this storm had caused. I dodged every type of emergency vehicle while passing 4 cars that had literally flipped up and over and off the freeway - and that was just on my part of the freeway system. It was a mess. I was so glad to get out of the downtown area and off the Interstate just north of there.

When I arrived in Metropolis, I thought I would see more visible damage caused by the massive flooding of the Mississippi earlier this summer. The town was almost destroyed, along with nearby Cairo, when the the river flooded. My cousin Robbie's house was saved by lots of sandbags, but her yard had 3 feet of water surrounding it - and she is miles from the river. She said what saved them from complete destruction was the blowing of the levee a few miles down the river in Missouri.

But enough about water. Here is a picture of just some of my relatives - now don't you wish you were related to these folks?!

My family, ever since I was a little girl, has loved to play card games. We all gather around a huge table and play for hours on end, stopping only to eat delicious, homemade food, talk, eat, talk and laugh. This is exactly what we did for 2 straight days. On Sunday, we took a break for a trip into Paducah to attend church, have lunch and see some of cousin Gae's husband, Scott Morris, latest paintings displayed at one of the local galleries. He only gets better and better with time.

Sitting outside the gallery was this really weird car! Everyone walking by grabbed their cameras or cell phones and were snapping pictures. Once you see the picture, you'll understand why. Then try and read a few of the 'sayings' that are on this glittering piece of "art" work!

I loaded my car on Monday morning, which included a huge picnic lunch filled with Robbie's yummy homemade chicken salad, and hit the road. More storms and interesting side-stops, but that will have to wait....

Until next time.....