Thursday, October 3, 2019

Home again, Home again jiggity, jig

or My Trip Back Across the Mountains

For years now, I have traveled across the Allegheny Mountains to visit my parents. Whether it was flying in from the Gulf Coast and then crossing the hills or traveling from our home in Maryland, we've had a long, focused drive to get there. There was beautiful scenery and interesting things to see and do along the way, but because spending time with my parents was always more important than taking time out to see the sights we pressed forward without much stopping. But this year is different. With no more on our agenda than a family reunion on Saturday, Ward and I are going to traverse the state and see some of those things we have wanted to see for years now. And maybe find somethings to see that we didn't know about.

Day Seven:
Chips, Cataracts, and Cats

We decided that even though we had been enjoying this trip, it was time to go home today. 

We couldn't leave West Virginia without getting a bag of Mr. Bee
potato chips, the only potato chip made in WV. They are made in Parkersburg
which was the 1st part of our trip.


We had about a five hour drive back, so we decided we would stop along the way at Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland and take a hike. On the map it seemed just a little out of our way. But it seemed a lot our of the way as the GPS took us on miles and miles of dirt roads to get there. Earlier in the week, we had been happy to explore several places on back roads, but when you are starting to think about getting home, they can be annoying after an hour or so. But we eventually found the back entrance to the park.


 The park had a loop hike that went past four different falls on the Youghiogheny River. The water levels were very low so the falls were much smaller than normal but they were pretty all the same.


On the way out, we finally found the front entrance to the park.


We are home now and the car is unloaded, but much of our stuff will have to wait until tomorrow to get sorted and put away. The cats are demanding that we pay attention to them. Even though Theo took good care of them, they have missed our laps.


Until next time...