Day Four, My Trip 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 Four:

Telescopes, Towns, and Twisty-turny

Today we had rain showers on and off as we drove about 2 1/2 hours east to our first destination. Because of the different days of when things are open and closed, we are driving further some days than we originally planned.

We saw some breathtaking scenery today, especially at the higher elevations. However, we were only able to get a couple of pictures because there was no safe place to get off the twisty-turny mountain roads. It's hard to get perspective, but that mountain in the background is far away.

Our first stop was at the Green Bank Observatory. The observatory is home to several radio telescopes that can detect faint radio waves from far outer space. Because man made radio waves (think cell pones, gasoline powered vehicles*, etc.) cause interference, it is in the middle of a radio quiet zone. No chance of getting a cell phone signal for miles around.

This is the largest and newest telescope at the facility.  It is almost 500 ft. tall and weighs 17 million pounds. Recently it discovered the most massive neutron star ever found. We got this picture at the one spot we could get a photo before we had to turn everything off. The  Allegheny mountains that surround it help protect from man-made radio waves. That is one reason for its location.

I think this is one of the coolest places I've ever been. I was awed to be in a place that was detecting things from the "edge" of the universe.

Next we went to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. As you might have guessed, they have regular steam engine train rides from here. However, the trains don't run on Monday, so we explored the town.

Cass was built in the early 1900's as company town for a pulp company. After about 50 years, the the business left and there was not much but a ghost town left. The state bought the town in the 1960's and made it into a park featuring the train rides up the mountain to where the logging was done. In the picture, you can see the company row houses that still exist. The whole town is now on the the national historical register.

Timbering is one of the oldest and largest industries in the state of West Virginia and still going on. We saw two log trucks go through town while we were there.

To take a break from the twisty-turny roads, we stopped at Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. Droop Mountain was the scene of an important Civil War Battle.

The park was a pleasant place. You can see Ward heading toward the log cabin that houses a museum.

Until next time...

Day Three, My Trip 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 Three:
Destinations, Distractions, and Discoveries

Today was a transition day as we moved from the Parkersburg area to go south to a new base in Beckley. We had planned to take about a five hour drive to get there with one stop along the way. But we got distracted and it took us about 9 hours to complete our journey. But we discovered a lot of interesting, fun things. That's what is great about having flexibility.

We made an impulse stop at JR's Donut Castle before we even got out of town. In spite of having breakfast just an hour a go, I felt hungry as we passed and told Ward we had to go back. JR's has been making fresh donuts for 40 years and in fact one of my uncles started his day there every day for years.

We drove south along the Ohio river which forms the western boundary of West Virginia with Ohio. Ward has been curious about dams along the river since we saw it the first day. And, lo and behold, when we saw this sign we just had to stop.

This is one of 10 dams along the Ohio River and accompanied with four locks at this location. Ward is always happy when he gets to look at dam construction.

West Virginia is rich with natural resource of coal, oil, gas, and silica which means there is industry up and down the Ohio River using these raw materials. The river provides inexpensive transportation to get the raw materials to the plants. This is the APG Polytech plant along the river at Apple Grove, WV. The business went bankrupt a few years ago, but some of the employees convinced the bankruptcy judge to let them go in and shut down the plant properly with no pay. This kept the equipment in working order and allowed another company to buy it. The new owners reemploy many of the same workers and brought back prosperity to the town again.

Next, we finally arrived at our first planned stop for the day, Hillbilly Hot Dog in Lesage, WV. I only learned about this place recently when one of my sisters said I should visit it. Apparently people come from near and far to eat here and it's been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

It would take a tome to thoroughly describe Hillbilly Hot Dog, but basically it consists of several old school buses cobbled together with lots of junk artifacts piled everywhere that serves all kinds of hotdogs.  Ward had a nacho dog and I had a basic hot dog with chili and both were delicious.

After Lesage, we headed east away from the Ohio River. We were enjoying the change in scenery until we came up the Pumpkin Festival Parade in Milton, WV. All of the roads were blocked that we needed, so there was nothing to do other than stop and enjoy the parade. We watched with a group of very friendly people and now we have a standing invitation to stay with Jerry anytime we are back in town.

After the parade, we headed on our way taking the scenic route. We made another stop when we saw this sign.

The Kanawha Falls are natural falls where a water powered power plant was located. The plant has since closed and now the area has good fishing according to the several people we met with their poles in the water.

After our full, but fun day we finally arrived at our destination at dark.

Until next time...