Thanks for your Kind and Complimentary Words Too!

Our Great Hills and Woods!,-(Though Nothing like Yosemite or Yellowstone!), -We Have in Abundance, -and It's one of my Most Liked and Loved Things about this Area! We Have Pretty Much a "Half Fields-Half Woods" Mix, -once you Get Beyond our Suburbs. I Grew Up in that Countryside South of our City!, -Though I Be in the City Itself now, -"You Can Take the Boy Out of the Country, -but You Can't Take the Country Out of the Boy!" Fortunately in this Area, -I Don't have All that Far to Go!,-to Get Back Down There!

Your First Run-In with the Appalachians,-at Chestnut and Laurel Ridges,-is some 50 miles Southeast. Your Ligonier is of Course a Part of This Area. We're Also Arnold Palmer Country!,-Both a Man and a Golfer that I Much Like, Respect, and Admire! (And I'm only Half into Golf myself!) Taking in the Westward View from Laurel Caverns (our Nearest Cave), -is Essentially the View Iv'e had the 2 or 3 Times that I've been Up on a Demo Flight! From Laurel,-It is that 50 Mile View Northwest,-to my City and Area.

( Pardon some of my Choppiness and Chogginess if you Can. -I'm Working on This, -and Have been Getting Much Better on This Lately! And It Gets a Lot Better After the Following Parenthetical Section on Stone Mountain! )

(But Don't Expect to See our Skyscrapers Off in the Distance, -Like you can from Atlanta's Much Closer Stone Mountain! -16 Miles,-I Think. BTW,-I've Climbed Stone Mountain!,-Though by the Rather Easy "Tourist Route" And a Real Caution thats Occurred to me while Doing So!, -It's Being Nothing but the Smooth, Rounded Granite Monolith that It is!,-Absolutely No Soil at All!,-to Speak of,- -I Thot of what it would be Like!,-to be Caught in a Really Good Downpour Anywhere on It! -Or even in Not so Good a Rainfall. The Water has Absolutely Nowhere to Go!,-but to Run and Cascade Down the Side of That!,-It CAN'T Go into the Mountainous Ground the Least Bit at All!, -I Knew by the Quite Smooth, Polished Granite Surface that I was Walking On! -That It'd Be Utterly Slippery as All Heck!. Shud One be Caught Up There in a Rain or Downpour! -No Footing at All! One could Only Hope to be on one of the Not That Many,-More Level Approaching Stretches,-of the Trail. I'm Sure this Figures Into Precisely Why it is Smooth!,-All of the Millions of Years of Rains and Downpours which Have Occurred on It! But Everyone Please be Forewarned and Prepared!, -Shud you ever be Caught on Stone Mtn or any Other Rock.-Like That! OK now, -Back to Talking About my Own Area! )

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia!, -is Right Below! We are Only 3 Counties Above the Mason Dixon Line,-and All that is Good and Great About the American Southland!

Fort Neccessity,-Where George Washinton and His Group Camped Out During French and Indian War Times,-is There Too,-Right Near the Point where PA, Maryland, and West Virginia Meet. I Camped there once as a 12 year old Boy Scout!,-During an Allegheny Trails Council Camporee,-in 1970. I Learned the Hard Way,-to Prepare for Rain!,-on that Campout! When after a Few Days,-the Sky Finally Cleared and Blued!,-and There was that Beautiful, Patchy, Mackeral Cloud Sky!,-a Cheer Spontaneously Went Up!,-at our "Troop Spot"! -Obviously,-I Too Joined In! April 1970, -Right when Another Special Event in my Life was Going On,-Apollo 13. I Only Went on One Other Scout Campout,-During my Relatively Brief Time in Scouting. -An Also Very Special and Memorable Patrol Campout Not Far from Home,-( Washington County at the Time),-a few Months Later,-in Early June '70. At Neccessity,-We Walked Right Thru the Fort and Surrounding Grounds.

As you say, -There is Much Watershed History in This Area. -A Lot of French and British Rivalry for Influence, -The Strategic Westward Value of our Three Rivers or "Forks",-We are Called the "Gateway to the West"! ( St. Louis with It's Great Gateway Arch,-I Beleive Made Here,-is Also such a Western Gateway), -The Whiskey Rebellion, -and of Course the French and Indian War. This Area was a Heart of All These! PBS by the way,-I Hear is Soon Doing a Really Quality Documentary Series on this F & I War! It Sounds to me like you're the Kind of Person who'd certainly Like to Catch It!

And we of course for Decades Now!, -Are No Longer the Smoky City!

Thanks for your Kind, Sincere, and Complimentary Words on my City and Area!,

-But Along with my Own Sincere Compliments and All concerning my Area, -I'm Gonna Also Offer some Due Constructive Criticism Regarding It! There is Much that I Basically to Much Like or Love About this Area, -our Many Little, Winding, Blue Collar Roads and Houses, -Snaking Up our Wooded and Semi-Wooded Hills,-is Yet Another! But There's also a Good Number of Things, -That I'm Personally Less Than Pleased About!

Despite our Once in a Blue Moon Spurts of "Renaissance", -We are Quite a Non-Progressive City! Too Many just Want to Smoke their Smokes and Drink their Beer!, -and Don't Care Much for Such Things! As an outside Consultant once said, -We're the Champion of Studies! We even Do Studies on Studies!

What we Really Need!,-Instead of Unneccessary New Stadiums,-is Infrastructure Like More and Better Highways, Parking Garages, and the Like!

We also, -for Example, -Have a Lot of Litter and Trash Strewn About! They've got People Regularly Picking it up, -from Downtown Sidewalks, -but Between their Appearances, -You'd Never Know It! I'm Embarrassed for my City and Area,-in This Respect. We Long Ago Cleared Up our Legendary Smoky Skies!, -but Havn't Yet Gotten Anywhere Near a Full Handle on our Sidewalk Trash! ( I know this is Unheard Of!,-in Places like Toronto and Various European Cities. And I KNOW It's a No Go!, -in Trusbx's Singapore! )

Sorry.-my Town, -But I'll Call Both our Good and Bad Points as I See Them, -and for Exactly What They Are! ( Pick Up,-if you Don't Want me Talking on It! )

On the Plus Side again,-We Quite Well Followed Steel with Technology, and are World Class First Rate!,-When It comes to Medical Facilities and Research. We also are a Great Cultural and University Center, -and Have One of the World's Largest, Most Top Notch, -of International Airports!

I Know that my Areas of Honest Constructive Criticism, -Can Seem or Be At Odds, -With your Sincere, Well Meant Compliments, -of Which we in the Area Also Have!. I've Had to Say such Words on this Town and Area of Mine, as Well. -For I Personally Have Mixed Feeling about my Area, -Not All Good or Well Reflecting, -but Certainly Not All Badly Reflecting either!

Thanks Again for Your Words and Compliments on my Town and Area, -Both Outdoorswise, -and "Townwise"! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Presumed Lost[/email]