WV Visit 2026, Ohio River and Back Roads

 Recently, Ward and I took a trip to West Virginia to visit family and friends. I am sharing parts of that trip here. 

We stayed with my cousins in Williamstown, WV. Williamstown is a small town on the Ohio River directly across from Marietta, Ohio. We went frequently between the two towns. The river was the backdrop to much of what we did in the area. 

The bridge from Williamstown to Marietta.

Williamstown side looking across to Marietta.
If you squint, you can see a big boat on the Ohio bank.

On the Marietta side, we saw the American Melody up close. It is a riverboat that started in New Orleans and was headed to Pittsburgh. They spent the night in Marietta and toured the area the next day. Marietta was the first settlement of the Northwest Territory and has a lot of interesting history associated with it.

One day, we took a river cruise on the sternwheeler Valley Gem.

While Williamstown and the land close to the river are flat, that is unusual for West Virginia. WV is a state made up of steep hills and hollers (narrow valleys), with the hills turning into mountain ranges in the east. Ward and I went to visit Spencer, my hometown, one day over the hills and down the curvy roads. BTW, it's not a fun thing to grow up on curvy roads when you were prone to car sickness. But this time I got to sit in the front seat and fared much better than in my earlier years.

Buffalo Church was built in 1878.

About 45 minutes into our drive, I spotted a sign for the Historic Buffalo Log Church. I never met a historical road sign that I didn't want to investigate, so off we went. We drove quite a ways down a gravel road before we spotted the church. I was disappointed that the logs had been covered with white clapboard. And it was fenced, so we couldn't look in the windows. We continued on and traveled a while longer before we met back up with the main road. 

We traveled along a ridge for several miles until we reached the main road, Rt. 14.

One of the few signs of life we saw on our detour. The notice on the tree reads, "No trespassing. I have a gun and a backhoe."

After another 25 miles or so, we were in downtown Spencer. The flowers were done by local blacksmith artist Jeff Fetty. His work has been shown not only locally, but around the world. But I knew him back before he was famous. He used to be our paper boy. 😊

I think this is enough for today. Next time, I'll show you more of our visit to Spencer.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday

 I am thankful to live in the US.

The scouts getting ready for the flag ceremony.

Yesterday, Ward, Wally, Theo, and I ran/walked in a charity race. The race is sponsored by the Rotary Club, and the proceeds go to families with unexpected medical expenses. It is a fun family event that has a real sense of community to it. Before the race started, the Boy Scouts did a flag ceremony during which we said the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we sang the National Anthem. I found them all quite moving, as they reminded me how lucky and thankful I am to live in America. 

Of course, there are problems and disagreements here, but the passion that comes with those is because people care. So, for the privilege of being an American, I am thankful.

WV Trip, Travel Day

Ward and I just returned from a five-day trip to West Virginia. As most of you know, that is where I grew up and where many of my relatives still live. Returning to West Virginia and places from my childhood gives me a special feeling of familiarity and belonging. I haven't lived in WV since I finished college, but it is still home. I think that happens with most people, but West Virginians may have an even deeper connection to their roots. It's like we find the hills and the backroads and all is right with the world. 

I don't go back as often since my parents passed away, but we usually make it there once a year or so for a family reunion, or unfortunately, a funeral. Those trips are hurried and exhausting. So, I decided that I wanted to visit with no particular agenda and for more than a day or two. I made that happen this week.

The drive to our destination takes about 5-6 hours, and we were in no hurry, unlike some other times. The halfway point is around Morgantown, WV, home of my alma mater, West Virginia University. Most of the time our stop here is a quick one for gas and a bathroom. This time, I wanted to see the trail that has been developed along the Monongahela River in the middle of town. 

It had been raining most of the trip, but cleared up just as we reached Morgantown, so we took our chances and left our rain jackets in the car. The first part of the trail is a park, and the later part is a rail trail. Here are a few things we saw on our walk.

The trail starts out with a bridge over Deckers Creek, which joins the Monongahela at this point. 

Along the bridge, we saw a new-to-us Princess tree. Apparently, it is invasive and host to the dreaded spotted lantern fly. But it was impressive to see.

There is a 1,500-seat amphitheater facing the river where they have a free concert every Friday night during the summer.

Some of the old buildings along the river have been repurposed, and some have not.

However, the WVU women's rowing team has a new building.

Inspiring words for the day: "Those who keep trying cannot be defeated."

The "Singing Tree of Diversity" art.

Over three hundred people made leaves for the tree, and they are supposed to represent that the strength of a community is derived from its diversity.

More inspirational signage.

and there were gardens along the way.

After our walk, we headed for our next destination--the Don Knotts statue. Don is from Morgantown. I love the nod to his character, Barney, with the hat.

On our way to see Barney, we spotted another fun mural.

Then it was back to the highway for some serious driving, reaching our destination by late afternoon, just when we planned.

This post is already longer than I had intended, so I'll pick back up on the next post.

Until next time...

Thankful Sunday

 I am thankful for a quiet morning.

Surprise lilies blooming among mums.

In a short while, Ward and I are leaving on a trip for a few days to visit family and friends. Soon, we will be hustling to finish up the last-minute preparations. But before that, I woke up to see the last of the sunrise and take a walk around the yard. The bees and bugs were already at work, but the birds were unusually quiet. Maybe they were preparing for the rain that is coming soon. 

White spider on allium

Getting ready for a trip is always busy, so for the few quiet moments I had this morning, I am thankful.

Rocks and Minerals

 Wally recently discovered a new store, GTC Rock Shop, that he was totally fascinated with. He told Ward and me that we needed to visit, and he and Theo gave me a gift card to the store for my birthday.

We did visit, and what an experience. The store is advertised as a science education center, and they hope that someday they can sell enough to become an educational non-profit. They have case after case of crystals and rocks, educational toys, jewelry, a panning activity, and a classroom with a museum. I expected a few rocks and crystals for sale, but got much more. One could spend hours just studying everything that was there.

I didn't choose anything to get on this trip. This visit was more of an overview of what the store was like. And as I told my sons, I had to figure out what we had in all of those boxes of rocks we have in our basement. Did I mention that I have a degree in geology and Ward has one in geophysics?

Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Amethyst (purple quartz)

Citrine (orange quartz)

The minerals were identified with name, chemical formula, and place of origin. I thought it was a nice touch that they added the country's flag in the description. If you look closely, you can see them.

The classroom.

The classroom had display cases of various things, including this one of minerals and how they are used in our everyday life.

As I said, I wasn't sure what was in all of the boxes of rocks in the basement. I know we had gotten rid of some, but it seemed like every time we did that, we would find another one. I unboxed them last week and did a first-order sort of fossils, crystals, ores, and rocks (unspecified). We're not sure what we're going to do with them now, but Ward may build a coffee table with a glass top to display some of them. Unfortunately, we don't know where many of them came from, what they are, or why we collected them. Eventually, some of them will find new homes. We certainly don't want to put them all back in boxes to hide in the basement for more years. Here's what I found.

Fossils, both plants and sea creatures.

Ores and some specific rock types.

Crystals

There was no obvious reason why we kept these rocks.

And we had a few other things with the rocks, like arrowheads and these Civil War cannonballs.

Sorting this all out is going to be a big job, but we will figure it out eventually.

Until next time...