On the Road Again

 

Ward and I went back to West Virginia this past weekend for a family reunion. We have made this trip across the mountains many times to visit my parents and other relatives. For most of those trips, the destination was more important than the journey, so we made few, if any, stops other than gas and bathrooms. 

Now that we have more flexibility in our schedule, we try to fit in at least one activity along the way. Last time, it was a visit to the river trail in Morgantown, WV. This time, our stop was in Mt. Davis, PA, the highest point in Pennsylvania at 3213'.  Blog friend Kris recently visited there on her vacation, and when I found out it was only about 30 minutes off our route, I thought it would make a good stop since it was around the halfway point. 

We left at around 8 am, with a planned arrival at around 5 pm. After a stop at the Sidling Hill Welcome Center, we made it to Mt. Davis by mid-morning. During the first couple of hours of the trip, we drove in and out of rain, but the rain miraculously cleared by the time we reached the park. Here are a few pictures from our stop.

As we drove into PA, we soon discovered we were in Amish country.

Mt. Davis has a 50-foot observation tower built in 1931. Ward climbed to the top, but I did not follow him because I have a healthy fear of heights. The sky was clearing, and he said the views were good.

Just behind the tower is the marker for the highest point. It is on the leaning rock on the right side of the picture.

Just down the road was an overlook that you didn't have to climb to see. I always take note of Eagle Scout projects because Wally and Theo each did one.

The trees were cleared in front of the viewing platform so you could actually see out over them. A nice touch that you rarely find.

After our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and apples, we were on our way again. The park didn't have bathroom facilities, so we made another stop when we were back in Maryland at Grantsville. Here we discovered we were in Bigfoot Country.

Not only was there a Bigfoot statue outside, inside the store there was a 6' Chewbacca statue.

Back on the road, we made it another hour or so before we decided to take another detour. Ward had never driven around the town of Clarksburg, so we went exploring. But soon we were settled in for the last 1 1/2 hours of our trip. 

But wait, we stopped again when we needed to find a bathroom. (You know, sometimes it's hard to coordinate these bathroom stops. 😉) We exited where we thought there might be a Subway, but as happens in rural areas, the attractions are far from the exit. In fact, we never found any public bathrooms. However, we did find part of the North Bend Rail Trail to stretch our legs on. 

I was fascinated by the mass of red bugs we saw on the rail trail. I knew I had seen them before, but couldn't remember what they were. A little Googling told me that they were box elder nymphs.

We made one last stop in Parkersburg before we continued to our final destination of Williamstown, about 20 minutes away. We were checking on some work that was being done on my grandmother's headstone. And guess what, we arrived at my cousin's house precisely at 5 pm, just like we planned.

Ward and I occasionally talk about driving across the country, but I told him it would take us a year at the rate we go. But you know what, it's nice to be at the stage of our life when we have time to meander if that's what we're in the mood for.

More about other days on our little excursion next time.

Until next time...